Yeah, the title of this blog entry probably isn’t going to really win anyone over to thinking I might be the least bit saner than they thought I was originally.  A high price, but I’m willing to pay it.  This is where the magic really does happen…

Honestly, until I get to this point, the book is very much just an average, unformatted word document in a default font.  It seems about as much a “book” as a lump of clay still sitting in the box, or, perhaps, acorn versus tree is adequate metaphorical fodder.  Yes, I’ve read it aloud, and I’ve had the computer read it back to me, but again, it’s just plain text along these lines…

Chapter 13 – Firestorm 

     The first time Sahnassa looked into the distant skies … blah, blah, blah, and so on.

There is none of that surrounding stuff that makes it look and feel like a book – chapter headings, dedications, table of contents, headers and footers, first letter caps of the first word of a chapter, proper spacing, proper font, line dividers, copyright pages, or the little Thurian reference at the end.

Once formatted, however, pulled over one chapter at a time into a copy of an existing work (to keep the “look and feel” consistent), this mass of stuff I’ve been working on for so long starts to look legitimately like a real and true book!  It’s a very encouraging sight.

Now, I do have some more to do before I print out my own draft review copy.  First, I have to tailor the introduction (generally pretty standard), and then update the Thurian reference in the back.  Then, for this copy, I’m probably going to take a stab at the cover art (at least conceptually) to see if I like the look.  Once I’ve gone through the book in the printed version and made my edits, it will likely be time to pass it off to others for review.

In this period, although I still have “stories” roiling around in my head, I’m content to take care of the one in front of me, especially since I get to enjoy little rewards like this.

Take care…

JTL