Never Again Yes Again

Every time I finish a book, I think, "I am never gonna write a book again!" It's so much fun to start them out, but then it gets hard. And then you finish and you have to go back and make it make sense. And then you have to make it better. And then you have to make it better.

And then you take it to your critique group and, if they're a good critique group, you have to fix all the goof-ups you didn't catch. And then you have to make it better. And again. And again.

Finally, you submit it for publication. Let's say it's accepted. Then the editor sends it back to you all marked up, and you have to fix it. Then the editor says, "That's the easy stuff, now let's get serious." So you have to make it better.

When the editor is satisfied, the book gets formatted for publication. Then it comes back to you and you have to read it again, to catch formatting errors, and also punctuation and spelling errors that got through all the previous screenings.

Then it goes to electronic publication, and you have to read it again, to catch formatting errors, and also punctuation and spelling errors everybody still missed.

Then it goes to audio, and you have to read the damn thing again while listening to the recording, to catch any errors made by the reader. You'll also catch punctuation and spelling errors, but oops! too late for that. Then you send the reader your corrections, and the reader corrects the narration, and you have to read the damn thing again while listening to the recording, to make sure it's okay.

So by now, I'm really like, "I will never ever ever ever write another book -- EVARRR!"

But I will.

Because it's so much fun to start them out. So! Much! Fun!

Marian Allen, Author Lady
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