Patience is a virtue, but waiting is a pain in the butt.
Last night I got this in the mail:
bad photo of the book
Yup, the prePress check copy of my book, There was a Time.
I’ve release the book for publication and hope to have it up on Amazon soon.
More about this as I work through the process.
Andrew
This week’s writing activity was: waiting.
Waiting for the printer to send me the first proof copy of my poetry book, There was a Time. I should have been working on my marking plan, media kit, and so on. But, I’m a little creatively tired at the moment so decided to take the long weekend off and just —
wait.
On Saturday Heather and I walked to Starbucks for a treat hot drink and walked over the foot bridge of the nearby creek. The rains had filled it and this is what it looked like from the bridge:
Los Gatos Creek after a heavy rain.
Normally there is just a trickle of water down the middle, but after a rain it does this. This picture was taken from a bridge about 40 feet above and the water is about 40 or 50 feet across. It’s an impressive sight but far from flood stage.
On Sunday it was off to the opera to see a production of Moby Dick. Yup, there is now an operatic version of the novel. It sounds weird, but the set design was stunning, the story told very close to the book, and the music appropriate to Melville’s story. If this ever comes to your town, go see it.
Monday it was as John Masefield say in his poem, Sea Fever, time to “… go down to the seas again.” So Heather and I drove over to Santa Cruz for a walk along Cliff Drive. You couldn’t have asked for a better day to take in the sun and sea.
The view from Santa Cruz across the Monterey Bay. The distant hills to the right are Monterey. This was a rare day when it was clear enough to see that far.
These little outings may seem like I’m not working, but I find that this kind of thing is important to recharge my creative batteries.
and an idea for a new poetry collection came to mind while I was driving to the sea.
Next update, next week. If you need me – check the beach.
Andrew
Haikus are easy
sometimes don’t make sense
refrigerator
Some of you have seen reports of flooding and lots of rain here in California. Some levees have been breached, there have been mudslides and Interstate 80 will likely be close due to heavy snow.
First, Heather and I are safe. Our biggest problem is restless cats who can’t go out and play in the garden.
Second, the media is over sensationalizing things – again.
The house that slid in the mudslide shouldn’t have been built there in the first place and was coming down sooner or later. The levees break all the time and generally flood land that’s not in use or it’s not an immediate danger (fallow farms, parks, wildlife preserves, green belts) – in fact some levees are meant to break to relive pressure.
And finally there are about 30 snow plows in the whole state and the stores don’t sell snow shovels. Two inches of snow can paralyze the whole state.
The only news story here is that, it’s not rained in a few years and this is what happens when it rains.
If you need me – I’ll be trying to figure out what causes water to fall from the sky,
Andrew
Yesterday I got a call from the publisher and the typesetting is complete on my book, There was a Time. Last night I reviewed the final PDF file for the book and approved it to go the press. Now they will print a press check copy and send it out for my final approval.
I thought writers had a need for lots of validation and approval for their writing, but wow – publishers are really needed.
Next step is to work on my marketing plan. I’ve got a few ideas there, but that part of the process doesn’t come naturally to me.
Well, it’s a rainy day here in NorCal and I get to head out into it.
If you need me – I’m trying remember where that umbrella is
Andrew
Andrew's View of the Week 