I am still working on getting my bearings back after the break the past couple of days, but have made progress on a number of chaps that were in the finalization, printing, and assembly process, including the batch of titles that released right before I headed out over the holiday. There is something soothing about correcting and proofreading galleys and saving them that final time (actually the nice thing is is that barring copies already printed, we can always go back in and make adjustments if we missed something the first time ( the benefits of POD model vs.larger print runs.) I have a few stragglers from 2016 that will be unveiling soon that are in the final stages of layout, but will soon be starting in on the first of the 2017 titles and starting to work on covers. Crazy hamster wheel mind, of which I seem to have been afflicted with the past week or so (part of it my own internal border collie running rampant and some other external factors I'd rather not go into) needs order and procedure and the simple finite task of tending to layouts and proofreading marks. I guess it's the difference between editing work and creative work that seems to help slow down the hamster wheel. Or at least steady it a little.
Fortunately, theres a certain similar soothingness in some of my day job tasks that are luckily needing attention, spreadsheets and bookstore lists and reserves purging, all of which allow a certain amount of focus and routine, some procedure that gives structure. I think after a certain amount of time off, that structure seems ridiculously important somehow. It might be winter, it might be random circumstances, but when I feel a certain amount of mental slippage, it helps to have these things and that that procedural checklist of tiny post-its in my sketchbook.
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