Galley

Yesterday I received the "Galley" for a new book to be published in October of this year.  This galley is not for sailing, but is essentially the print-ready version of the book that is used for a final proofing and correction--though with a very light hand.  Having read the first chapter of the manuscript (again) I have found three typos, all of the one-letter variety (think "has" instead of "had"). 

Reading the galley is meticulous work and for guys like me, it will be essentially the last time I read this book.  Once it shows up at my door in the form of final hard-bound copies, I'll shelve the first copy out of the box, closet another one, and then give the remaining copies away to those few family and friends who, most likely, will not read it either, but will likely use it as a doorstop.

The Galley is the last refuge for most writers.  Once I send it back to publisher (in a mere two weeks with my freshly-created index, nonetheless), it's a done deal.  And while I'm waiting for the book to be printed, or otherwise released in both print and digital copies, I'm working on other books, writing other essays, etc.  Why wait around on opening a box of the final product?  Writing does not wait for writers.  One must keep the keys stirred.

But this book did require a great deal of me.  Two years of research and writing, all told.  (Yes, I was writing other things, too, during these two years--even other books.)  And yet, how the time has flown.

In the meantime, I have many late nights ahead of me . . . many early mornings.  Maybe one or two "all-nighters" . . . which I am, of course, too old to endure any longer.

But I like this Galley.  It should be a fine book.  My name is even spelled correctly on the cover.