What happens before a book release

So it’s a Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Central time I typed the final sentence of Book 5 in my series. As always when I finish a book, for a brief moment I just stare at the screen. It’s like I’m in shock that it’s finally done. And then depending on how tired I am sometimes there are tears. There weren’t tears as I finished Book 5. There was a huge sigh and a sense of accomplishment.

Next I announce it to the world because I want to see if they are as excited as I am! I tell anyone and everyone, I’m done, I’m done, I’m doooooone! It’s a fantastic feeling. For those brief few minutes it’s like you have solved the dilemma of world peace, or found a cure for the common cold, it’s just fantabulous.

But after every climb to the mountain top, you have to come down. I save the document and prepare the email to send it to my editor. Then I get in touch with my ARC readers and let them know I’m ready for their input. That’s when reality sets in. I’m not really finished.

The emails start coming, page 35 characters name is wrong, page 155, continuity is off, and so on and so on. I’m so grateful for the ARC help because it’s just one more way to catch errors. I go through the lists and open up the document and begin the tedious job of fixing the problems, and it always seems that there’s just one more.

In between the edit emails, I’m contacting bloggers asking for help on release day. “Please have my book on your site, we can do a give away and interview or whatever you’d like. The leg work is constant and though time consuming, so very worth it.

Finally, finally the editor sends the final document back to me. One more pass through, one more time to spend with the characters laughing, crying, yelling, cheering, feeling all of the things I want so desperately for the readers to feel. I save it one final time and then head off to Amazon and Barnes and Nobles to upload it. Then the waiting for response and reactions begins. It’s a scary few days as I wait to hear if I’ve fallen flat on my face or if my book as at least made one person dance through those emotions and connect with the characters.

It’s such a journey. It’s painful and scary and time consuming and although writing it is an incredible challenge, often times it’s when the writing is done that the true work and challenge begin.