I am officially past the point when I can change or edit my book before Amazon publication now – or at least, I am for the paperback and will be for the e-book at midnight. The Library of Congress Control number came through just a couple days ago, so I am all official. I just need to send them one of the author copies I ordered, that arrived today. Now I really need to start the struggle to publish the PB on Ingram, so that libraries and indie bookshops can order it without going through Amazon.
In other good news, I’ve got a good chunk of wordage pinned down on Book 3 (though no title chosen as yet). I think I’m about a third of the way there. It’s a balancing act; it turns out that when you’re writing a series it naturally wants to grow in scope and complexity as you go, but since it’s a cozy I need to keep some kind of leash on it. It’s a bit of a jar for a reader when you start out focusing on what’s happening in one tiny town and end up saving the world. Luckily, my book doesn’t want to do that (at least, not yet) but it does want to dive deeper into all kind of other questions including those not appropriate for the dinner table (no, it will not be having raunchy sex. Or maybe the characters do, but if so it’s all offscreen and they don’t talk about it in any kind of detail.)
I need to remember two things for the future: I can’t do it this year, but apparently there’s a really cool workshop on astronomy for writers that happens in July in Wyoming. I need to apply next year!
Second, if I get to the point where I can do freebies and extras for readers and all of the other things writers do to delight their fans, I need to remember that people see things differently on different apps and devices and with different brains, and not assume people are picking up all the cues and clues I’m laying down. (I suppose that kind of thing is also why spoilers are such a hot-button issue for so many online book discussion groups.) The act of writing is fun. The business of writing … can be daunting.