Fragments From Floyd

I'm taking the lazy way out this morning, sharing below an email to my rep and friend at Edwards Brothers. If any of you are thinking of having a book printed, GO THERE. You won't be sorry. Email me for more. And by the way, if you've placed an order by check or PayPal for Slow Road Home, I'm sending it your way today!

Good (rainy) morning, MB...

The books arrived exactly on time, and our contractor and his sidekick (who have had to listen to my laments and paeans re the book now, lo, these many months) helped me move the cartons to the porch where I covered them with an old blanket until the rains slacked. Most of them are now happily resting on the new tile floor in wifey's unfinished addition, with baseboards being installed in the room around them.

Yes, I am very happy with the books. We done good! It was an out-of-body experience, opening the first carton, cutting off the shrink wrap, cracking the actual covers to the actual book--the three-dimensional fruition of so very much effort, care, anguish and joy. I spent most of the afternoon signing, boxing and labeling purchased and review copies, and have about 50 to take to the post office today (plus dropping a few at places in the tiny town of Floyd --pop. 400).

To leave the books at the post office, marked with address of readers among both friends and strangers seems like sowing seeds, that will drift far away across the country and the world, to take root and yeild fruit in new readers--not to mention new orders for yet more seeds! It feels less like a business and more like gardening, I suppose: tilling, watering, preparing; then sowing, waiting hopefully, with as much joy in the process as in the harvest. It feels right and I am content.

I have not turned every page yet, but have no serious second thoughts or regrets about page layout. I might have made the font smaller and produced a readable book for less money. I might have cut out the space between paragraphs with the same effect. But I'm just fine with the extra white space and general readability. It looks the way I wanted it to look, and is pleasing to the eye. And dang, it feels good in hand! Very good. It looks professionally done and could not be told from any other bookstore book. I wanted to avoid a book that screamed VANITY PRESS as some POD printers' books certainly do.

It feels really, really good to hold this three-dimensional embodiment of my writing life--a life which itself embodies in turn my inner and outer world here for these past four years. It's been a good life, all in all (as my old friend John Denver used to sing) and I'm very content with this piece of it. Now, we'll see how readers feel about it. Your copy is in the mail (later today!)