thoughts on writing a book

It's been a while since my last post, I know. Between then and now I revised my book manuscript twice, and I guess I just really wanted to finish and have been focusing on that. I haven't written much about the book-writing process over the last couple years even though many of you have heard periodic updates about my progress.

On Tuesday earlier this week, I e-mailed the final revised chapters and accompanying materials to my editors. They've gone through the entire manuscript twice, and now it's in the hands of the editor above them. He may have some feedback, in which case my editors will pass that on to me. If not, it goes straight to production from there. The production phase could take up to 6 months, so my best estimate is that the book will be published and available for sale sometime this fall.

It feels amazing to have finished what I set out to accomplish. Even though there is still some work yet to be done, most of what remains is on the publisher's end. I may have a few minor revisions to make here and there, and I definitely will have to review the page proofs when they're ready. For all intents and purposes, however, I've done my part.

When I submitted the proposal in March 2008, I felt confident that I could write this book. I felt I knew enough about Victorian literature and library research to teach others how to research it as well. I don't think that I had an overly-inflated view of my own knowledge and skills, but looking back, I'm amazed at how much I didn't know when this project began. I have learned so much about research and writing and literature, and now I can say that I wrote the book on researching Victorian literature. How cool is that? I wish that I had known what I know now back when I was working on my MA. How much more would I have gotten out of my classes?

I feel like this is something I can really be proud of. Because Victorian literature is so heavily researched, I felt a lot of pressure to do this right. I imagined my two Victorian literature professors--Emily Haddad (USD) and Jen Hill (UNR)--reading the book and using it in their classes. All of their writing advice bounced around in my head throughout the writing process. I hope that they're pleased with the outcome.

So far the feedback I've gotten from my editors has been really great. They said it "is a wonderful volume" and that they enjoyed reading it. I can't wait to see the page proofs and to hold the printed volume and to read the first reviews (although that part scares me a bit).

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me through this process :) I know it has been a very long ride.