Finished... But Not Finished

It's now the start of a new month, and there is a sigh of relief to report -- but it's not THE sigh of relief.

Last night, shortly before midnight, Donna finished her final touches on the main body of the Book -- 1,113 pages. That's a great accomplishment, the biggest breakthrough since I finished writing it, three years ago... but it's not time for a party yet. There is still the front and back matter to finish.

Donna estimates that these sections include another 200 or so images, but not all of these image files need digital tweaking. She has been averaging 50+ images per day, so the remaining work shouldn't involve more than another 4-5 days. There are also some minor last minute changes that I need to add to the text -- updating the videography as best I can (including some new titles due this Spring), putting Tudor Gates' quotes into past tense, things like that. These can easily be done while Donna is finishing and won't require any extra time.

Donna is reluctant for me to say that next week will likely be our last week of work on the Book, but I do expect she'll be able to at least wrap up the Book's interior by the end of next week. After that, the hard cover and dust jacket still need designing (the book will have what is called a "French fold" dust jacket), and there may be other loose ends of which I'm not aware, but it's impending completion of the interior that readers of this blog are awaiting -- that, and the news that the book is entirely in the printer's hands. Those announcements will be soon forthcoming.