Edward Kay

Spent four intense days this past week doing what I believe – or should I say hope – is one final read of the STAR Academy galleys (pages printed up as they would appear before being cut and bound for the book). I have now read the book at least 25 times during the writing and editing process, and that’s probably a conservative estimate. Not too many errors left to catch at this stage, yet it was surprising what did make it through even this many filters. Terrifying for an OCD type such as myself. But I think that my editor Amy Black and I, as well as typesetters and proofreaders, have caught them all now and also spotted and given any clunky style points an appropriate polishing (I hope). In a strange way, it will be liberating when it’s too late for me to ruminate about the manuscript any longer, and it really is off to the printers. I am well into the sequel, which is slated to be released in the fall of 2010. But it’s hard to focus on it until the first novel is truly finished. Sort of like planning your second child before the first one is born. Still, it must be done, since the gestation period for a novel, from signing to book launch, is much longer than that for a human, and probably any other known mammal with the possible exception of Loxodonta Africana. And as anyone familiar with Loxodonta Africana can tell you, it’s hard to ignore a pachyderm in the room. Especially a gestating one…with a deadline.

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