I am happy and proud to say that The Ballad of Stevie Pearl has had its copyright registered and editorial copies have been printed for beta readers!
We’re moving to the part of the book writing process that is out of my hands. That’s always a little unnerving. For one, I’m still hanging on to all the little thoughts gnawing at me to improve a phrase or cleanup a passage. No book ever feels like it is “done.” Fortunately, I still have a few more opportunities to polish things before its official release.
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Two, this will be the first time others experience the story. I’ve been talking about it for so long, but now a handful of people actually get to read it. This is less scary than it has been in the past–don’t know if that’s because I’m more confident as a writer / storyteller, or I’m just older and don’t care, haha. It’s certainly not “don’t care”–having anyone read my work is still full of neurosis.
With the writing out of my hands for the moment, I now need to focus on other aspects of the publishing process and my career. Writing is safe. It’s a warm blanket. There’s only so much time in a day, and I used the excuse of a “writing hiatus” to shut everything else down. Until the book was finished, I focused solely on finishing it… Now I have to reintegrate myself into the world.
I haven’t updated the website in months—haven’t written any new articles on our country burning to the ground, or created videos on all of the tinkering and building projects I’ve had going on. There’s also book covers, promotional trailers, and all of the other tools that need to be created to help with the release. It’s another big project, or step forward in the process, and to be honest–I’m not ready to leave Stevie and Alex behind.
Gosh, I’ve said it before, but I really love these characters… I’ve devised ways where I could write three distinct and separate versions of the story, just so I could be with them a while longer. I’m not sure if that idea will come to fruition–as of now there’s only the original version–but it would be a cool concept to explore. A part of me feels like the book is done–I completed what I originally set out to accomplish, the story I had to tell–but somewhere along the way they demanded more.
Anyway, I’m rambling. The purpose was to update you–The Ballad of Stevie Pearl is real. It’s alive. Things are moving forward and people other than me are beginning to experience it.
I hope it moves them. I hope it haunts them. I know it hasn't left me. I still wipe away the tears every single time.
SW Hammond
