The galleys for the book arrived a few days ago. I read the suggested edits and started to evaluate the manuscript for the final push to publication. This project is almost done. I am even somewhat thankful that the first manuscript was stolen. The book is definitely better for all the extra work.
Before she was my editor, AEM told me that I should only publish the thing if I want to be the patron saint of pariahs.
Today I walked around this quaint old city clutching the manuscript and considering the point. It is perhaps a bit too late to worry about such things; the contract is signed, the cover art is done, the book tour is being planned.
If I could have chosen a career I would have picked differently. I would have been anonymous, buried in a government agency, quietly controlling my small part of the world from a desk situated behind a row of filing cabinets.
Instead, here I am, about to release a nonfiction narrative of sorrow and secrets. It is interesting to know so many creative people and realize that their work often bears no resemblance to their life, that people who can evoke emotions or delineate values are often nothing like whatever they create.
This new book of mine will surprise lots of people. If you read it, keep in mind that it is a book, and I am a person.