When you're a writer, and you're working on a book, you dance. You edit to death, contemplating if the word "a" is stronger than "the" or if your first sentence is really good enough to grab attention. You spend hours reading over what you've written, tinkering with prepositions and not adding one speck of new content to the manuscript. You change the font to see if that will increase the total number of pages for a feeling of (false) progress. You practice elevator speeches so when friends ask if you're working on your next book, you can say with (false) writerly confidence , "as a matter of fact, I am..."
The dance of a writer who is working on a book is anything but eloquent. It's tedious and embarrassing, humbling and pressured, mind-messing and driven by two left feet.
Having two published books, and about two dozen others in various drafts on my hard drive, I can say that the most important step in the dance is to announce to the world that you are indeed working on a book. (That, and actually working on the book.) It holds you accountable when it would otherwise be all too easy to not do what you're intending to do. Therefore, I'm telling you now, so you can hold me accountable — I'm working on Things Are Working Out: How Fitness Shaped My First 50 Years. Hopefully, the title and subtitle communicate the gist of the content. It's a memoir told through the lens of exercise. I'm almost done.
What do you think of this book cover design? Please comment and give me your thoughts. All credit goes to my super talented, dear old friend Tabby.