April 28, 2011

Getting published is very much a process, not a discreet one-shot event. I’m realizing now that acceptance by a small press does not equal “getting published” but is the first step taken on a long road with many side-streets and forks. So until my book comes out, I am not technically published. Therefore, I will continue to blog, continue to hope that the actual production of my book will occur before I’m wrestled to death by cancer.

 Strange, to me, that just after the elating news that my book had found a publisher, after the start of an enormous amount of work that I must contribute to this endeavor, my cancer treatments became more trying, more taxing, so at the same time I was searching for unnecessary commas and struggling to distill my book into a press release, I was suffering enormously from the first chemotherapy I’ve been on since a routine round twenty years ago.

March 25, 2011

I've neglected my blog for some months now. More severe treatments have affected my energy level. But more than that, I feel as if I've arrived at some terminus since my book will be coming out soon and I'm pretty sure that I'll live past that release date. [More information can be found here.]

I thought to write a bit about the process of publication. The initial elation can sometimes recede as the picky-pickiness of editing ensues. And working with a publisher is like any other relationship--a process that inclues challenges and doubts.

The distinction between physical books and those published on demand and those in e-book format is not really beyond my unerstanding but fragments my grasp of what I should be doing to promote my book.

There are so many books out there, yet so few readers, so I'm told.

January 1, 2010

I must admit that I’ve known for a little while that a certain possibility was lurking in my future. But before finalizing it, I had some loose ends to tie up. Some waiting, some deciding to do.

And now I am so pleased to reveal that my novel will be published this coming spring by a new small press (details later).

The process of getting it accepted for publication has been fairly long, disheartening, maddening, and exasperating. I’ve arrived at the finish line beaten down and with bruises. But every time I’ve told someone my news and hear the excitement in his/her voice, I heal a little more, and I wiggle my fingers, my toes, starting to get my feeling back. Yes, this is very exciting for me.

October 11, 2010 (posted December 25, 2010)

Today I had a CT scan, a procedure that would be tolerable (except for the radioactive faux lemonade I must drink first) if it weren’t necessarily followed by a horribly suspenseful few days before the doctor tells me the outcome. I’ve tried so many approaches—assume the best, prepare for the worst, imagine either or both—but none can do away with the inherent tension of the situation.

I’ve been thinking about hope and all the health benefits that supposedly derive from it. For me, hope has started to become something of a duty, like a workout that I don’t enjoy but know is good for me.

September 24, 2010

There are those of us who labor away in the literary trenches—writing, revising, editing, submitting –without an audience. No copies of our novels in circulation. No mention of them in Kirkus Reviews. No appearances on Oprah.

There are those of us who open ourselves up to any chemical or potion that might slow the growth of our cancer.