Q: Why did Humpty Dumpty have a great fall?
A: To make up for a lousy summer!
I heard that joke sometime around 1975, possibly having read it in Highlights for Children. For some reason, it stuck with me. At 55, I’m amazed at some of the stuff from the distance past my brain spews up. Some good and some bad – like that joke.
Yes, summer sucked. No need to go into details here, let’s just say personal and medical issues had me preoccupied. Oh yeah, also financial issues. Can’t forget about those. All of these circumstances had my attention and efforts focused elsewhere, which meant that I was unable to spend much time on my latest novel, Laughingstock.
Summer’s gone now, and good riddance. Time to get this book out the door – although at this point, I can’t see it being released before 2024. A year ago this time, I figured it would be on the shelves by March 2023, at the latest.
Ah, but the cosmos often has other plans, so you need to be flexible. I’m now ready to get this thing out the door and get onto other projects. I’ve already gotten an editor lined up and will soon be talking with cover artists. Then, I have to figure out how to sell the thing, which has always been a challenge for me. Ersten dingen zuerst, however.
And the first thing today was assigning an ISBN number. I’ve bitched in the past about how Bowker has a monopoly on ISBN numbers, and about their aggravatingly elastic pricing. Fortunately, I had stretched enough a few years’ ago to shell out for the 10-pack, and I still have four more shots left in the magazine. Now Laughingstock has its very own ISBN: 978-1-7332699-6-4. A small step, but a good one. I’m looking forward to the editorial process (sorta) and definitely to getting a cover put together. I also hope to be posting more often as these exciting events unfold, etc. Stay tuned, etc.