Busy With The Book

     A couple weeks ago I signed a contract with my publisher Black Rose Writing, 

...for my third book.
      This book, a novel called "Tropical Depression," is the final installment of a three-volume comedy cultured  in the petri dish of contemporary human relationships that starts with "Equal and Opposite Reactions,"  

...continues with "Hail Mary"

...and will wrap up with "Tropical Depression," in which the setting moves from Northeast Philadelphia to the jungle and volcanoes along the border of León, Nicaragua. 
        The projected launch date of "Tropical Depression" is April 27, 2023.
       Getting ready for the launch of one's book is kind of like planning a wedding in that a good nine months out from the Big Day – aka the book’s release day – one must get to work on a list of to-do’s, all of which must be checked off by a specific date about seven months from the launch date in order for one’s book to snag its spot in the production queue.
           Okay, maybe the wedding metaphor doesn’t work quite as well on the page as it seemed to when it was rolling around in my brain, which is nonetheless quite preoccupied at this time – my brain, that is – with the pre-production to-do’s:
       There’s figuring out which genre my book falls under: (Comedy? Relationship comedy? Relationship conflict comedy? Family relationship conflict comedy? Central American family relationship conflict comedy? None of the above?)
         There’s coming up with some spot-on keywords or phrases to use for marketing my book, (Jungles? Volcanoes?  Psychological jungles? Emotional volcanoes?)
           There’s submitting a marketing sales pitch, a back cover and metadata synopsis, an updated author bio, social media links, a description of my book’s target audience and my favorite line from the book.
         I need to give my dedication and list my special thanks and acknowledgements.
         I need to send in a photo of myself for the back cover.​

    This one? ​

     This one?

     This one?

      None of the above? Or just keep the old one from the first two books?

    I also need to give the cover artist some ideas for what the book is about.
  I need to gather some blurbs from other authors who might consent to giving my book a recommendation.

   I need to seek out some advance copy readers to help me proof my manuscript. And I need to seek out some advance copy reviewers and hope that they might find something worthwhile to say about my writing.
    But most of all I need to read, re-read, and re-read again my manuscript, read it chapter by chapter, then read it mixing up the chapters, over and over again, hunting out every typo, every rogue punctuation mark, every misspelling, every linguistic blunder, clunky construction and syntactic faux pas that mars the telling of my story. ​

      And yet for all my hours of proofing and line editing, there’s bound to be some cagey little grammatical gremlin that slips by.
        My deadline for turning in my pre-production requirements is October 1. If anybody is looking for me between now and then, just follow the glow of my laptop screen.