Muddling By – Sixth Draft Finished

Is it finished? Let me close my eyes for a few moments while I decide – and hopefully not fall asleep. (snork) Huh? Oh yeah. I guess it is done -for specific definitions of ‘it’ and ‘done’. I now, grudgingly, concede that the sixth draft of Muddling By is complete! For specific definitions of ‘complete’.

Skipping the word play, the book I’ve been writing, Muddling By, is effectively complete. For this definition of this draft, that means the words are mostly done. What else is there? It is time to edit the words (by me and Grammarly), design and build the cover, format the interior, and generally get the book ready to turn from a manuscript into a paperback for sale. 

So, it’s done, but it’s not done. The words are mostly done, but there’s a lot to do.

So, I should celebrate, right? 

Huh. Yes and no.

I recently wrote about Being A B Writer. I didn’t strive for As. If I got them, great, but there’s a lot to do in this world, and I want to do more of it. Others can work on perfection. So, I should be done. And yet, I hesitate.

It isn’t necessarily the book I intended to write. That’s fine. Few books end up where I originally aimed them. Fire up the keyboard, start typing, let it flow, and let it go. But. This book is more like planning on baking a cake and realizing that maybe I should’ve baked brownies. The ingredients are mostly the same, and for many, it won’t matter, but there’s a realization that if I started over, it would end up different and better. Maybe. But that takes time.

Authors can be expected to display confidence in their work, but work done in complete confidence doesn’t receive the benefits of internal doubts and editing that make it better. There is no point of perfection for a book. Shakespeare would probably edit everything one more time if given the chance. 

Muddling By is not perfect, and yet, that may be a perfection of sorts.

I’ve worked on the book long enough to know where I want it to go. It might be aimed that way. It’s hard to say. If I started again, I’d … I feel I’d do it differently, with a more consistent structure. Hmm. Maybe that’s part of the point. If I re-wrote it, I could improve it, at least technically. If I rewrote it, I’d lose those imperfections that bring it life. If I made it perfect, which is impossible, I might make it so unlifelike that readers might think I had an AI write it.

That decides it. The book is done, er, the manuscript is done.

Books can have timing. 

The long description I use socially has been “A rollercoaster ride through America’s wealth classes”. I’m on that ride now, and close enough to the key moments that my emotions remember the relief of watching a stock rise, the internal implosion as the criminals committed their crimes, and the rise from the long dread of near-poverty. 

The United States is also on a historic track. The best way to bet is to assume that tomorrow will be like today, but my study of history points out that change is inevitable. Empires fall. I don’t know that the USA will go from United to Untied, but I suspect we’re closer than we’ve been since 1861. Rewriting this book could take long enough that it would come across as a historical chronicle rather than a modern commentary.

It is the end of July. I expected to get to this point in a month or two, but maybe sooner is better. Good enough.

My plan:

• Seventh Draft – editing (August?)
• Eighth Draft – book formatting and build (September?)
• Cover Design (October?)
• Marketing Text (October?)
• Upload & Sell (November?)

Hmm. That actually looks like a reasonable plan. My work pace has been elevated for years. I have to practice getting comfortable working at a healthier pace. That may be the bigger task.