Yesterday, I put the final touches on the galley and cover for animal, vegetable, monster and uploaded it, which means it is one step closer and I should have a proof copy within a couple of weeks. No doubt there will be much tweaking once I see that before it's finalized (margins are always a beast) but I am getting speedier on the process than I was a year ago when I was working on feed, which took significantly more trial and error to come into being (and even the end result still had a couple errors I plan to fix when I order a new batch of copies, but for the moment am well-stocked..) dark country was definitely better, despite the changed up trim size that made it trickier. I am getting the hang of it, which, if all goes well might mean some anthologies might be possible on the horizon (that is, once I am able to knock out the book art-ish one devoted to mermaids I may actually finally have time to make happen now that I won't be at the library so much of my days.
I am also getting more comfortable in this strange world of self-publishing (well, longer books, I've been issuing my own work for a couple decades now in smaller installments.) There is something great about working with a press to bring a book into world, but also something singularly enjoyable about this. (I wrote a comparison last year that sums it up.) I hope I will continue to be able to do a little of both--I have many, many projects and some earmarked to submit / already under consideration elsewhere. Someone asked me recently if I wasn't worried a little about that nasty little hobgoblin "legitimacy" but really, at this point, I really just want to get things out there for interested readers, which blissfully, since I am not tied to tenure tracks and other limitations in how I conduct this crazy little thing called po-biz. I'm not saying I don't occasionally need an editor's fine tuning hand, but also its finally middle age is paying off in how many limited fucks I really give about what people might say. Which is all a little hilarious since I spent so much time in my baby poet days fretting about it and now it feels exactly like it should be.
