Invading Spaces — Complete!

Invading Spaces is complete. So let it be written, so let it be done … or, something like that.

Completing the book has been very hectic, and I remember Commodork coming together much the same way. Even though it’s only been two years between projects, my life has changed a lot during that (relatively brief) span. My kids are getting older and more demanding of my and Susan’s time; as a result, finishing Invading Spaces felt like more of a sacrfice than Commodork did. Other than the writing sabbatical I took last month, most of the work I did on Invading Spaces took place late at night after the kids had gone to bed. A lot of it took place at work, after everyone else had gone home. It’s so quiet up there at night; makes for some productive time.

The past couple of days have consisted of Susan and Dad proofreading my work while I worked on the book’s front and back cover. It’s embarassing how many typos and mistakes the two of them found; then again, it would have been more embarassing to ship the book out with all those mistakes. I once read that the best way to write is to write first and edit later, the theory being that you use two different parts of your brain when writing versus editing, so it slows your progress down to constantly flip between the two. Plus, it’s hard to edit something you’ve just written. It’s amazing how crappy something will sound after walking away from it for ten minutes and coming back with a fresh set of eyes. Next time I would like to add another stage that involves me proofreading before I turn the writing over to the editors. There were a lot of errors in there that I felt like I should have caught before asking other people to sift through it. Between Susan, my dad and Stephen (three prolific readers) there were over a hundred errors found. That’s allot! (That’s a joke.)

What’s that? You wanted to see the cover? Well, here it is.

Now that everything’s been submitted, the worrying begins. Did I remember everybody on the thanks page? Did I leave any topics out or incomplete? Did I say everything I wanted to say? And most importantly, will the books arive before August 9th, where I will be signing and selling them? (Fingers crossed.)

Other than the stress, it’s been a pretty good week. For those that missed it, I was featured in a CNN news story about old videogames, so that was cool; they even mentioned the upcoming book! Can’t beat that.

After finishing the book, Susan and I went out for Chinese food. I got the following fortune in my fortune cookie, and I’m not even kidding. I think it’s one of the most delightful coincidences I’ve ever experienced.

Susan, the kids and I leave tomorrow morning for Chicago. Susan’s got a class to attend and we’ve got family to see. (I’m sure Susan will visit family too — just not while she’s in class, silly.) I’m leaving all the book stress here in Oklahoma with the house sitter and Don Piano.