Day 287 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

AFTER A WHILE YOU GO A BIT CROSS-EYED.

READ IT. START TYPING. RECONSIDER. START TYPING AGAIN. MAKE CHANGES. START TYPING AGAIN. IS THAT THE BEST PLACEMENT? START TYPING AGAIN.

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Take my word for it, tonight's blog title is only half in jest. That's what the process is like for me. No matter how much time I spend with these poems ahead of time, when the moment to commit them to a format arrives, everything is up for internal debate and negotiation. As I've heard tell, one poet or another has had as many as sixteen versions of a particular work in print, but I seem to go through that many just getting to print. But I am getting there.

 

As a matter of fact, I'd say I'm 95% done. Last night I put together the cover illustration. A spare, to the point of minimalist, line drawing that I feel reflects the title and intent of the work. Then, today, there was some minor re-thinking of page arrangements and the final (Okay, the sort of, kind of like, final) selection of works to be included. Some of these went in pretty much as I pulled them from the files. Others were reworked considerably from the versions they had existed in. Some of this was limited to formatting and some of it included formatting, plus changes in word selection, and usage questions. But I'm down to the last two or three selections, with a decision already made in the case of one poem to withdraw the piece.

 

I actually try to limit what I will allow myself to do editorially. After all, this is the compiling phase and too much angst will not serve any constructive purpose. So far I've been fairly successful at keeping the inner editor on reasonable terms with the CEO of the publishing endeavor. Does that sound a touch schizophrenic? Try self-publishing on a tight deadline when you are known as your own toughest critic. Believe me, I will be glad to send this off to the printer so they can do some of the worrying.

 

I'll also be glad to get back to more creative work. I need to get a couple of fiction rewrites done and start work on something new. I'm considering getting in on this year's NaNoWriMo with an idea I've been kicking around. It has the promise of being darkly satirical and may be just where my mood will find itself by the time I have this chapbook completed. Add to all of this my goals of a daily blog and at least one piece of significant poetry per week. Well, one of these days I'll retire from the day job and be able to spread this out a bit. If I don't just find more projects to fill in the gaps. ROFL!

 

So there you have it. If you're following this, the finish line is in view. That it's at the top of a fairly steep hill is no bother, the pace has the whole thing ahead of schedule.

 

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Meanwhile...live, love, write. Oh, put that one away for now. Go outside, clear your head. You'll do a better job because of it. Ask the Editor-in-Wife.

 

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page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.
 

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/publisher.