Update on My First Novel

Today, I received the page proofs for The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival. While still a stack of unbound pages, it is a stack of unbound pages on which the words, page numbers and other things have been typeset as they will be see once the book is printed.

There is the title. There is my name under the title. And I’m suddenly all nervous. Why? At this stage, it’s too soon to worry about sales. No, what’s been worrying me lately is the prospect of anyone in real life assuming anything in the book is based on them (uh, rather than all of it being based on me).

I guess the “pure” artist would say, “To hell with what other people think and feel. The novel gets what the novel demands.”

Myself, I think “pure” artists are assholes.

Then again, as I didn’t base any of the characters off of real people, I shouldn’t be worried about it. I guess it’s just realizing I’ve crossed the point of no return. There’s the line in the letter accompanying the stack of papers. “Please be aware that only corrections can be made at this time; text cannot be rewritten at this stage of production.”

Dear lord, it’s set in stone. Except on paper.

So that’s that. Okay. End of nerves. No one likes a neurotic. Especially when the neurotic should be celebrating his good fortune rather than nibbling on his nails.