Inch by Inch, Row by Row

The author of Paddy: A Ruffed Grouse Chooses Our Farm stopped by this morning to pick up the new pages of her book—we've revised it to include tons more pictures—and its cover. So now I get to work on my own book on publishing because I've set February as the deadline for publication.

Yeah, I'd better hurry.

So what does that have to do with these steps going down to the river?

All books, I don't care what kind, are all created one word at a time. Even those filled with images are created that way. The images may come first but organizing them, placing them on the page, writing captions—it's all the same idea.

One word—like one step—at a time.

Your Book, Your Way: The Hands-On Guide to Book Publishing for Everyone has some significant parts completed. I've gone out of my way to define terms, to explain how the system works (and doesn't), and how to read behind the marketing hype put out there by self-publishing companies.

In other words, how to make sure a book is published in the way that best suits its author's needs.

Even though I've been through this before, I still get impatient. I wonder why my sentences and paragraphs are not right the first time. I mean, I've been talking about and teaching this stuff for quite a while.

But then I think about shoveling or weeding a garden or walking down to the river on these steps. One at a time.

So I go back to the page and work.

And it will get done.