Well, I finally made my last few quick typo-check corrections, and printed ten loaner copies for friends, family, interested readers, editors, and of course — anyone at all interested in publishing it.
Lulu.com’s do-it-yourself printing (without truly publishing, like a vanity press) allows me to print a small number of private copies and enjoy the book like a real paperback, which is quite nice (though at 525 pages, also quite significant). Amazing how many typos and little mistakes I never noticed in other forms that were perfectly clear as soon as I was reading it like I would any regular novel.
Of course, publishers probably still want some crazy, double-spaced, all-Courier format like they’ve wanted since Guttenberg was printing Bibles, and that’s fine… I can easily supply that. I just don’t quite understand why. I hate reading double-spaced type. Editing it, okay. Maybe. But reading it, yuck. I’d think first-pass screeners would much prefer my format. Something you can sit in bed with.
In any case, I’m still not entirely happy with the draft; it’s only a second draft. I’d like to cut another 50 pages from it (I cut 50 from the first draft to this one), but I’m no longer sure exactly what fifty needs cutting. After two recent reads, I’m once again a bit too close to it to be brutal with my edits.
There’s a lot in there I do like. This is the most personal tale I’ve tried to put to paper. And I do think there’s something to it; I believe there’s an audience on both sides of the story. The nostalgia/angst/pain of childhood/teen years, and the raucous look back at the heydays of the Dot Com insanity.
Perhaps after some feedback and a little break from it, I can find the vision to consider the next draft… Perhaps with a little interest from someone in the publishing world, I can find the excitement for another edit pass…
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