Book Cover Reveal

I was kind of hoping that by now, I would have been able to share a link to purchase my book. I don't know how long each step of this self-publishing adventure might take, so it's hard to plan - let's just go with flow.

I do have exciting news

A little over a week ago, I ordered the first physical printed proof of the book! It means that I made it through the whole process of creating the book. We - my editor-friend Suzan, designer Tosca, and myself - have done multiple rounds of proof-reading, checking for typos, and double-checking design elements. With each round, the adjustments we had to make were smaller. They were things like adding or taking out a page number, deleting commas, or catching other inconsistencies.

Long before these adjustments, early on in the process, I had already made decisions about things I didn't even know were that important. For example, at the very beginning of the process, I chose to use American English. By the end, this meant we had to make sure that throughout the book, we used the same American style of writing. I learned a lot about writing style! Examples of details that need to be consistent and not forgotten in the process: The dash should be “drawing – I mean,” not “drawing—I mean,” with a space around it. Commas, periods, exclamation points, question marks go within quotes: “Like this.” “Like that,” she said. “Like this?” “Yes! Like that!” rather than the European style, “Like this”, or “like that”.

We used quite the checklist with more of these kinds of notes, to keep in mind while proof-reading.

I'd really like to share this note that Suzan added at the end of an email in which she listed a whole bunch of typos she still found during one of the proof-reading rounds. "Also, and this is saying something, I am filled with joy every time I look at and read this book." That makes me so happy - and I know that if this is how Suzan feels even after seeing going through the book a gazillion times, you're going to love it too.

Soon, very soon

I've mentioned it before and I'll do it again: writing a book is one thing, but publishing is another beast. Since I've never done this before, there are many unknowns. One of them is how long it takes for the proof to be printed and sent to my address. Apparently longer that I expected. I kind of assumed (based on nothing) that the book would be delivered in a week after ordering it. You know what they say about assumptions, right? Thanks to the mail tracking system, I do know that the proof has been dispatched, and it's at Dutch customs right now. Let's hope that it won't be held long at customs.

I will be practicing a little more patience, and I hope you can too. Fingers crossed that, once the proof is delivered to my house, the printing quality will be like expected. If it's not, that will add another step (and another unknown) to the process. But we'll cross that bridge if (not when) we get there.

Drumrolls please... cover reveal!

Two things are for sure: 1. the book is very well professionally edited, and 2. the design won't be disappointing. Every time Tosca sent me a new PDF of the adjusted design, it made me so happy to see. I mean - look at the cover (eeek I haven't shared this anywhere yet!):

Even though our patience is being tested, I am very excited to be where I am now in this process. A little less than a year ago, I started to take some notes, thinking that perhaps I could finally start writing a book. It's finished - it's just not a finished product quite yet.

Of course, I'll let you know as soon as I have more news!