My writer’s group decided to celebrate our tenth anniversary by self publishing an anthology. It is a long and complicated process to get nine people together along with nine manuscripts and figure out what to do with it all.
We started seven months ago with first drafts, then moved on to corrections, emails, more corrections, copies to everybody, paper in and paper out. We will have an editor look at at all anyway, but like nine fastidious cats we are determined to clean it thoroughly first. I think we’re all a bit nervous about letting a total stranger see the finished product until we micromanage it a bit, like cleaning the house before the housekeeper comes.
Once the manuscripts are cleaned up, we have to decide on an order of presentation. I confess to having the longest submission, so I’m happy to fit into any crevice they choose for me as long as it’s not last. I think the last piece should be a strong one, of course (mine is), but also one that will leave a pleasant feeling in the reader before the book is closed and sent off to the local hair salon for ladies to peruse while under the dryers. We haven’t finalized the order yet, but I think I’ll be in the middle somewhere.
We also have to write introductory notes for our works, and our biographies. This has been tough for most of us, because we don’t like to talk about ourselves that way (blogging is just above the comfort zone line for me as it is), but we’ve made progress.
We picked our group name at last. We have been meeting for ten years and we never came up with one, but for identifying purposes we felt compelled. Three of us also decided to use pen names for our work. I don’t think we’re worried about becoming celebrities like Stephen King, but maybe it’s good to start establishing the writer identity crisis early in our careers.
The goal is to have the manuscript ready and off to the publisher in May. I have a feeling that April is going to be longer than normal this year.
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