The book is done.
It is on my editor’s desk and she has not yet phoned me to tell me that it is the worst example of writing humanity has every produced, which is a relief to me, but shouldn’t be. Up until recently I had always thought there was a sort of a safety net in writing. That publishers wouldn’t publish anything really terrible that a writer produced, for fear of embarrassing themselves or injuring their professional reputation. Then I read a bad book, probably not the first one I’ve read, but it was the first time that I read a bad book that it occurred to me that bad manuscripts get published all the time (well, not all the time…but more often than you would hope) and that I, as a writer, cannot attempt to avoid humiliation by counting on my publisher to reject a bad book, and instead, I really needed to write well and critically and I have been frightened to death ever since.
A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public eye with his pants down.
Edna St. Vincent Millay
A book is offering yourself up for a public mocking. The author will endure valid (and invalid) criticism about their work, and will have to take to heart that the things that other people say about what they have written. Authors struggle with hearing that criticism and wondering if they really wrote badly…or simply not to their critics taste. There are tons of people who find work that is critically acclaimed rather weary…writing well (or even brilliantly) will absolutely not spare you painful commentary. (The worst is the commentary for things you are not in charge of…like covers, paper, fonts or even titles. I prefer to get slagged for the stuff I can actually have some power over.) Knowing this criticism is absolutely inevitable, should be rather freeing…but it’s not, at least not for me.
For reasons that I can’t describe, I always think making a book everyone will love is just a matter of focus. As my deadline approaches, I work harder….even if the book is technically done. Editing. Revising. Putting things in a new order, rewriting paragraphs….or in the case of this book, Having my mother point out that I had desperately overused a word or two, and then having them be all that I could see on the page. There I was at 1am screaming “Do I only KNOW THREE WORDS! What is WRONG with me!” (It was a particularly low moment. It’s fine now.) I keep scrabbling and working all the way down to the deadline because….well. I don’t think a book ever really can be finished. You could always work on it forever….just like if you had agreed on a day to go into the public eye with your pants down you wouldn’t ever really be ready for that either.
Writing is the flip side of sex, it’s good only when it’s over.
Hunter S. Thompson
In a way, the deadline is good…because it stops the madness. There’s a finite end to how long you can sob at the table, how much coffee you can drink…how many times you can think about getting a better job. Come hell or high water, you have to stop on the deadline and hand it over…and one way or another, that day marks the release from whatever self imposed psychosis you’ve managed to come up with this time. At that point, no matter how insecure or worried you are, at that point you are done. You’re finished. Forced to be finished. It’s time for the book to go on to its next phase of production. It’s both horrifying and, I must admit, one of the most profoundly satisfying feelings of relief I’ve ever experienced. At this point I love the book and I am horribly protective of it, as though it were a small child going off for the first time without me. I also love what my life will be for a few days before I go back to work.
A vacation. No book. No avoiding the book. No thinking about the book….no explaining about the book, no staying home or awake because of the book. Don’t get me wrong, I love the book and I think it’s good and I’m also a little sad to see it leave me and what we made together…but I still sort of want to say “Goodbye my little book. Good luck with the editors, I hope they aren’t too rough with you. I will miss you horribly, and I promise I’ll see you on the other side….
Also…My darling little manuscript?
Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.
Congrats! Can’t wait to see the new book!
Holy Cow…I just realised I’m the first Comment!
Neat!
Congrats on finishing your next book. I love the book I own of yours and have plans to read them all so I’m excited there is one more to read.
Happy Knitting.
I read this: “(The worst is the commentary for things you are not in charge of…like covers, paper, fonts or even titles. I prefer to get slagged for the stuff I can actually have some power over.)” and immediately felt bad, because in the last book, that was my gripe. So I’m sorry because if you saw that gripe, you would have been upset by it. Forgive me?
Can’t wait for the new book – what’s it called, when’s it out, when are you coming back to Ottawa? Ottawa LOVES you!
Well, I thought i was first…and Snort, giggle, choke re “don’t let the door hit you in the arse…” Dear Harlot, you are hilarious. Hope you are enjoying your rest 🙂
Congrats on finishing your book! I love all the books you’ve written so far. Missed seeing you in LA. Hope to see you somewhere soon. 🙂
Slainte! And oh, man; what you said. Every bit of it. And I haven’t even written a book. [g] Congratulations on finishing and not having your head explode, and welcome back!
Now make sure you really *do* relax. We’d like our Harlot to survive, y’know.
(So, do we get defenestrated if we ask what the next knitting project is? ::giggles and runs::)
Congratulations on finishing your book. I eagerly await your trip to Memphis (ahem…) so that I can get a signed copy!
Cheers!!!
So what’s the name of the new one? Just like a new child, we all want to know what it’s called. And now if you get back to the gansey, maybe that will inspire me to get back to mine–but finishing Juno is so seductive! I think it was Hemingway who said something to the effect that no writer likes writing, but every writer likes having written.
Congratulations! I hope tonight you will be at some lovely local pub, drinking a few pints of “real beer”.
so is there a title yet? can you give us some hint as to content?
Go knit! Go spin! Go shag Joe! Just enjoy that release of ‘FINALLY’ being done!
Congratulations on finishing the book and WELCOME BACK!!!!
I am a writer, and an editor, and believe me, the only time you have total control over your work is when you’re actually writing it. I also tell people who write for me — don’t attach your soul to every comma. As soon as you think you’ve written the world’s greatest sentence, here comes the editor with the red pen. It’s a wonder anything makes it to print. :o)
Enjoy your work, please know that we do!
Bravo!! what an achievement..wheoo. You write so well about writing too; you could probably do a bit of teaching about writing or guest workshops…? I see the spinning wheel in the background of that photo, perhaps now moving to center stage? Will you spin today and play with color and texture, or too flagged to attempt? Thank you for the next book of your I will soon be reading. I look forward to it.
YEAHHHH! Congratulations. I have all your books and can’t wait to add the next one to the list. I don’t even know what it is about or what the title is or when it will be out I just know that it will be mine! I read your second book on an airplane and at some parts giggled hysterically with tears running down my face and had some really strange looks but did not give a darn. LOVE THE BOOKS!
I have enjoyed all of your books. Congratulations on the finish of your most recent. Good job!!!! Am really looking forward to it. When is it due out?
Congrats!
I am sitting with a computer that looks just like yours 😉 Love my little macbook! How long does it take for it to be _here_?
My little 9yr old had a fortune cookie:
“Buy things you need, not because they are on sale. ”
We’ve been listening to Casts Off, and he ran up to me with it, saying, “this one is for the Yarn Harlot!” I think he means that thing about the Yarn Trick and yarn you hate…..
Congrats. Seems that us scientists and you writers are in the same boat. Who knew? A great quote by Dr. Peter Stepens comes to mind that is applicable all around, well if you replace Rietveld refinement with book: “A Rietveld refinement is never finished- merely abandoned.” We too obsess about fixing every detail. Enjoy your next few days.
One of my former teachers, Ellen Bryant Voigt, says, “It’s all a draft until you die.”
Congratulations! You almost make me believe that I too can live through that writerly agony/ecstasy. 🙂
Congratulations! And welcome back to (wo)mankind. Your guest bloggers are wonderful (I love that you do that) but it’s good to see you resurface.
I am always impressed by your respect for The Deadline. I work in academic publishing, where nothing is under any circumstances ever remotely on time. Deadlines are ignored/broken 90% of the time. But I imagine things are a little better run in commercial publishing, and at any rate having a deadline is good for you, as you point out. Congratulations on getting the book in the mail!
Congratulations!
I’ve got to say, though, that that last picture gives me horrible flashbacks. In April I dumped a mug of coffee that had been sitting pretty much where the coffee is in that picture all over my laptop, and fried it. (Well, it was possibly the not waiting long enough for it to dry out before reattaching power sources that fried it, but it’s all related.) This was complicated by the fact that I was in Russia at the time, and planning on being there until the end of June.
So, please, back up! And be careful with the coffee!
Stephanie — I edit and proofread legal opinions all day every day, and your writing is among the highest quality and most enjoyable I read. You. Are. A. GOOD. Writer! Congratulations on finishing the new book — I can’t wait until it’s available to buy.
Congratulations! I imagine it will take you a few days to truly believe you are free, without that nagging feeling of “I should be doing something.”
I kind of read that “flip side sex” quote too fast. I thought it referred to, um, switching positions mid, you know, stream. My next thought was “why do guys do that, anyway?”
Anyway. I tip a toast to you.
Allow me to add my congratulations. Welcome back to (what passes for) sanity!
Congratulations!
Congratulations on making the deadline with your hair still stuck in your head.
Letting go of the manuscript must be a little like letting go of one of your kids. Life isn’t the same without them around, but damn it’s quiet and there’s more room for yarn!
Woo Hoo!! I can’t wait to get it, WHATEVER it’s about. Because you are the author, and that makes it worth reading to me!
Stephanie, you do not have thousands of fans because you write crap. You have thousands of fans because we love what you write and you are GOOD at it. Looking forward to seeing the new book. Enjoy your much deserved little vacation!
I love your books; they let me know that I am not alone in the madness; however I have one tiny question . . . .what were the three words? =)
YAY RAH RAH! I hope you enjoy the lack of that “something” that you had to do!
P.S We’ll be waiting for you in Massachusetts again! 🙂
I am quite sure that you would be unable to write a bad book.
Well done Stephanie.. well done.
Everyone should get a round of applause when something is well and truly done!
So, I am standing at my desk, yelling “bravo Stephanie” and applauding!
Carolyn
Congrats on finishing!
I know what you are saying about bad books. I thought the same till I read one last year. Didn’t know that such craziness could actually make it through publishing! But it was a mundane topic, nothing like knitting! *winks*
You always have interesting stories to tell, which you relate in a way that makes me come back for more.
I’m not worried about your lovely little book. It will do just fine…
YIPPEE!! Go have an Irish coffee now. You deserve it.
And I would now like to mention (because it would have been too cruel to say it before), that Christmas is only a couple of months away. As entertaining as it is for all of us to watch you go through “it”, I thought I would spare you a little pain this year.
Congratulations on finishing! One day, I fully intend to finish a book. So far, I’ve failed to because of all of the reasons you mention, but mostly it’s the pantslessness. Yikes. You are very brave.
Only three words, huh? You…must…work on that.
Welcome back!
Now that you’re free, if you wanted to take a lovely jaunt over to Southern Maine this weekend, there’s beautiful leaves, lovely people, and a couple of knitters getting married 😀 It’d help you shake the book off. Also, there’s Halcyon Yarns. 😉
Wishing you lots of knitting and kind editors!
Yeah! It’s done!!! Maybe now you’ll be able to concentrate on Christmas…:-) I just started knitting my Christmas presents. Good luck!!
YAY! BOOK BOOK BOOK! can’t wait for it. 😀
Big congrats. Now go have some coffee (or something stronger) and chillax.
By the way, if you don’t mind my asking, what kind of wheel is that?
K
Congratulations on finishing the book. I can’t wait to read it. I have loved all your other ones, and I am sure this one will be great too. You are a wonderful writer. I missed your blog entries the past few days (as entertaining and interesting as the other ones were). Good to have you back!
Hooray for Steph! Hooray for the book! Does the wheel in the picture mean you will be using this Tuesday for spinning? 🙂
Congrats on finishing the book, and welcome back to the land of the living! Looking forward to reading this one when it makes its way through the editors. 🙂
Beautiful! Congratulations on finishing. As for the critics, you know the mean ones aren’t knitters. I haven’t met a knitter yet who didn’t love your books.
I love how that final picture shows the spinning wheel in prime position. Isn’t Tuesday for spinning? Or perhaps Tuesday (today) is for relaxing and doing absolutely nothing.
Again, well done!
Welcome back to the world!
It must be surreal going on one book tour, when your head is completely stuffed full of the next one.
And I appreciate the previous comment about editors. I *like to believe* that I write well, and I really do believe it! So when something I write is edited as to word choice etc., it rather torques me because I made that choice thoughtfully (usually). Now, run-on and elliptical sentences, I freely admit that I am prone to. So that’s the good part about editing, I suppose; to rein in my excesses. But I have to remind myself not to take editing personally. (“The only time you have total control over your work is when you’re writing it” — have to remember that.)
Kinda like kids; at some point, you just have to release them even though they’re not ‘perfect’! And off they go into the world!
Congrats, mazel tov, yaaaaay Steph!
You are so right about deadlines, sweet, sweet deadlines. That’s one reason why software technical writing is infuriating: never, never, never does the release happen at the first announced deadline, or even the second, which means more time to stew over the documentation. (I am well and sadly aware that much software documentation is itself infuriating, but I didn’t write most of it, and what I did write at least doesn’t have my name on it.)
Given the angst I experience when I publish a pattern (by which I mean put it up on my own web site for free public use), I can only begin to imagine what you go through with a book. Once again, louder this time, I say: CONGRATS!
Ahhhhh, congratulations…!…. now go off and relax, rest, did I mention… relax? yep.
Sounds like writing a book is similar to having a teenager ready to go to college/university. When they are ready to go you are ready to see them leave! Congratulations and let the knitting and spinning begin!
I can’t even imagine the sense of relief and accomplishment. Delicious! Enjoy! Love the wheels standing at the ready.
As for those publishing details completely out of your control, I truly understand. I have a couple of friends who are successful romance novelists. Talk about cover art/title being a make it or break it proposition. Oh, the angst when they get a real stinker.
Congratulations.
I can’t wait to meet your book baby in person.
I just finished a 2006 tax return that has been haunting my office for months. Not as monumental a task as writing a book, but still can feel the euphoria. Congratualations! Work on a project you love, with a beer, and surrounded by friends.
ROFL!!!! Oh goodness. Every word of that the absolute truth. Oh goodness. And thank you for the encouragement on my book when I most needed it at a low point myself; you knew what it was like.
Thank you for these words, Stephanie.
They are just what I wanted to explain to my husband, who is stuck with an exam paper for (it seems) centuries…
Congratulations to you!
Congratulations, what an awesome feeling, accomplishment,everything. Your work ethic astounds me, shames me, and makes me strive for better.
I can’t wait to add the new book to my collection. It’s a regular library.
It’s off to Taos for the Wool Festival tomorrow; ready for that vacation?
Good on ya’ again.
I just turned in my first book yesterday and all I have to say is WORD. So true. All of it. I could tweak the thing forever, but I like that there’s a point where someone just shouts, “Pencils down!”
I love that you finished.
It means you’re back to blog.
It means there will be a new Steph book I can read one of these days in the forseeable future.
It means you may come back to the Tattered Cover in the forseeable future.
Yep, it’s a pretty good day, all the way ’round.
Oh, my! I hope you get a nice long rest/relaxation in before jumping into your next thing–as we all know you will. You’ll get a break before “book touring” again, won’t you? As much as I loved seeing you, I look at your travel schedule and just feel tired.
What an accomplishment! It is a bit like having a baby, writing a book. And it is a relief when it’s over, and you do worry about what the world will do with it. All art forms are like that and it takes a lot of practice to learn that once it’s out there, it has a life of its own.
You’ve done your best to prepare it for the world to see. And just like your children, it will stand on its own and take what the world gives it. And knowing what your other publications are like, it will withstand anything the world throws at it with poise and humour and a touch of humility. Just like its mom.
I can’t wait to see it.
So now, of course, I’m wondering if that awful book was mine…
Congrats on being finished with this stage! It’s all downhill from here. But you knew that.
Congratulations! Now, please, please, please finish the Kauni during your victory lap. Since I haven’t been seeing it on your blog, I’ve been finding myself able to resist the temptation to buy the yarn to make my own. I’m begging you! Be a bad influence on me!
The bit at the end? Kind of reminds me of how you feel about teenagers at the end. LOL.
Congratulations!
And your description of writing is spot on. It describes the process of my Ph.D. dissertation perfectly (especially the very last line!). Of course, you keep doing it, whereas, the fates willing, I will never have to do it again! On the other hand, I suspect that the pay is better for a book than for a dissertation ;o)
CONGRATS!!!
And on a completely nit-picky note, let me say that I, at least, appreciate your mom pointing out word overuse. 😉 I’m sure it was a perfectly good word, but I might have been distracted by it. On the other hand, I can get over that sort of thing…it doesn’t make me hate the book, it just rips me out of the all-encompassing experience for a few minutes. Kind of like when you’re seeing a really good play and there’s suddenly gratuitous nudity….
I think that a lot of people will think it’s a good book. And if some people think it’s a bad book, weigh the happiness of the first group heavier than the scorn of the second group. =)
Yay! Welcome back!
YAY!
You rock. ‘Nuff said.
Congratulations! And now you can spin and knit, guilt-free.
Perhaps on the gansey. . .
Good news for you (the book is done) and better news for us (we’ll be able to read another wonderful Hartlot book!)- as lovely as your guest bloggers were (and they were!) it’s wonderful to have you back! I’m also a writer who wants to do more of it but this work thing keep interfereing with that and my knitting…early retirement is coming in a few years…Blessings on you, your family and your wool as well!
As a writer myself, I’m loving that quote comparing writing to sex. I decided to be a Creative Writing major because I thought I loved to write…It’s only on as my thesis is impending that I realize I don’t love to write, I love what I write, the finished project.
Anyhow, congratulations and job well done. A lesser woman wouldn’t have made it. 🙂
Holy crap, you were in my head again. When I’m the one racing to finish a book (as I will be, come the end of November), I have to constantly remind myself that it’s only the things we truly love that can make us so crazy. If the book (or the sweater, or the child) didn’t matter to us, then we wouldn’t give a rat’s patootie how it turned out. Great fits of despair are nothing more or less than an indicator of great love for the project at hand.
That, or a sign of total raving lunacy. But I prefer the love explanation 🙂
You’ve got a better writing gig than I. As a technical writer, I’m constantly getting to go back to it for bug fixes and patches. And what I write is deathly dry stuff.
Also, I wish we could get the same level of “done-ness” for our kids. Seems to me I’ll be putting bug fixes on that job for the rest of my life.
Congratulations! Can’t wait to pick up a copy when it is available for the masses. Reward yourself…go knit.
Congratulations!!! And now you can tell us what it’s about, right? =)
I see that wheel hiding behind the manuscript – is it the return of Tuesdays are for Spinning? I hope so, for your sake! =)
Hooray!! I second and third the suggestion of going to the pub. And it seems to me that was pretty fast work, Madame Harlot – it wasn’t that long ago that the last book came out and you’re still on the old one’s tour! Add the “extra-large Newfoundlander” and the teens, and hell, I’m impressed. Well done.
Congrats on finishing the book! I can’t wait until it is published so I can snap it up and read it in one sitting. ‘Cause I can’t pace myself when it comes to your books…I must read them in one glorious sitting and then go back to them multiple times. I will also be sending my muggle friend a link to your post. She just finished her first book and I think that she will find comfort in the fact that a published author went through some of the same revision/editing anxieties that she did.
Yay! I can’t wait to see more about your new book.
Glad to have you back too! (not that Laurie wasn’t fabulous:)
whewww! While not actually experiencing your pain, I’ve been vicariously feeling it through the lifelines your lovely and talented Guest Bloggers. Welcome back and, I too send, Congratulations on your latest birth.
Congratulations.
I always wonder what Old Time writers — that is, pre-word processor — felt when sending off their handwritten manuscripts…Did their thoughts fly out more fully formed, just because they didn’t have the technology to fiddle around as much as we can? (Because I am the queen of the fiddly edits.) Do we have a whole different way of seeing and thinking about our writing because of hyperlinks and MS Word and multiple multiple multiple drafts and four-color, er, colour, printing and iTunes? Makes you wonder!
Congratulations!
This gives me hope that I will, in fact, actually finish the book I am writing at the moment. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy reading yours 🙂
Welcome back to the land of the not-writing 😉
So when are you starting your next book?
How wonderful! Congrats on yet another book done! We are all looking forward to reading it…rest…relax….glow in the aftermath…and Steph, thank you.
Hooray! Another book finished- which means another book tour? And perhaps a return for spinning on tuesdays? Take all the time you need- you should be rightfully proud of yourself. If need be, remind all those around you of your book-finishing prowress.
When you are feeling low:
I read your work – both books and blog – out loud to my spouse (a non-knitter) so that we can laugh together.
Whatever your technical skill in writing, or the stress you put yourself through – remember that, because it’s the hightest compliment I can offer to anyone’s work – writing, painting, or whathave you – I use it to share joy with someone I love.
Yay! You’re done, you’re done!
So, what are you going to start knitting next? Because you *certainly* deserve some just-for-fun-for-you knitting after getting the book done *and* doing the book tour *and* all the other things you’ve got going in your life!
Yeah!! Congratulations. Thank You for writing another book. I can’t wait to read it!
::snort::
Congratulations on finishing your book. What a weight lifted off your shoulders, eh?
Woot!
Way to go Steph.
Cannot wait to find out more.
TT – who is still slowly slogging out from under that which is the Operation Shop. If I had aspirations of becoming a general contractor I would have CHOSEN that career path. Sigh.
Granted now I have a fall back if the whole programming doesn’t work out. lol
Hooray Hooray! Congratulations on finishing, and best wishes for a vacation full of deep breathing, much sleep, and a houseful of family who will obey your commands. Or at least two out of three.
Congratulations! Enjoy your vacation, I’d send you a couple of the cinnamon rolls I’m baking right now to celebrate, but I don’t think they’d take the trip well. Even if they did, there’s a good chance that they’d “dissappear” at customs.
Congratulations!! I am currently working on a dissertation proposal and can’t wait to feel how you feel right now. I can’t do anything other than work on it and not feel guilty. Also, I get to look forward to “defending” my work and justifying its worthiness. ugh. I only wish my dissertation had more to do with knitting b/c I envy the fact that you get to knit and it’s legitimately considered work.
One of the immortal Impressionists (I think it was Monet, could be wrong) used to sneak into museums with one of his friends to stand guard while he touched up the bits of his paintings that he thought still needed a little work. At some point you just have to trust and let go, but that’s obviously hard to do.
Thanks for the new book–looking forward to it!
Congrats.. thanks am looking forward to it… and hugs enjoy the rest.
PS PUT ENGLAND on the next book tour. If you want to know the good shows and places to visit just yell.
Ha! I know that feeling. I actually have a good reputation as a competent indexer, I do indexes for very technical works and I do them well. But inside, I’m sure that every index I write is, in reality, abysmal, and every time I send the finished index off, I’m sure that THIS will be the editor that finally figures it out. And then Noah and I will starve.
Here’s a first: I not only haven’t read all the comments yet – I haven’t read past the first line of the blog! “It’s done”…do you realize, dear YH, the delight, the joy, the downright zingling anticipation that produces?? Well OK, I admit to reading ninety-hundred other books at the moment, but I’ll be there so lickety-quick when you start hinting that it’ll be AVAILABLE. Merci, ma chere petite, merci beaucoup! (Now…where did I put my knitting??)
This may be the same story Phebe posted about, but the version I heard was that Degas would take back his paintings from people’s homes, saying he just wanted to change a little something, and then he never gave the paintings back, because they were never “done.”
I can’t wait to see/read your next book. Congrats on finishing. Enjoy the freedom!
Congratulations. I wish we could bottle up some free time to yourself for you. On the other hand, I wish I were half as productive. Didn’t you just finish a book?
Congratulations!
so what’s the book called and when is it going to be out?
Congratulations! We’re all waiting anxiously for your new book to be released (or available on Amazon for pre-order)! Enjoy your break from the laptop slave-drivers.
Bravo Stephanie! I cannot WAIT to pick up your new book. You are one of my few favorite writers, and judging from these comments you don’t have anything to worry about regarding your writing skills….
I wish I could send you a good beer! Cheers! 🙂
Excellent! Congratulations! Can’t wait to see it on the shelves here in Philly! 😀
Hey! This means a book tour in the near future, right? Dare I hope that Jamie the wonder-publicist will book you in or near Philly? Pretty please? Does she accept bribes? I’ll be your hat lady if you come. I promise!
Too true about the criticism that writers endure! I was appalled to read a scathing review of the recent book of one of our fellow bloggers, Yarnstorm (http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/knitblog/).
I am sure the media will be far kinder to you, based on your many successes. But you never know, the darned Muggles, always knocking things they couldn’t possible hope to understand.
Anyway, congratulations on the new chef d’ouevre!
Hi! I can’t even picture what it is like to have gone through this process as many times as you have and survived, and then taken on the challenge again. The only thing I have ever written that was faintly comparable was my master’s thesis – and those folks are pretty found of deadlines too.
Maybe in a day or two, after some restorative beers and inspirational knitting you can let us know how everyone is doing at chez Harlot. I have to admit that I have been wondering how the start of school went for the girls!
Congratulations on finishing!
Be glad it’s not an anonymously peer-reviewed journal article- that’s brutal. Editors are generally kind.
You don’t get to choose your own book title? Huh. I never knew that. I’m looking forward to reading your newest “baby!”
Congratulations and welcome back!!
So, if publishing a book is like being willfully in public with your pants down, is posting a blog like asking to change your clothes in front of a window with no drapes?
CONGRATS on finishing another book!
Congratulations. What an amazing accomplishment to finally be finished (again). I hope that today (notice it’s tuesday) can be for spinning. As a non-spinner who is interested in it, I love to see your amazing creations. Whatever it is you decide to do, enjoy your break. You have definitely earned it!
Congratulations.
I so understand the bit about how it feels to find things you would do better after the thing is out there. At least with my middle of the night blog posts I know few of my small group of readers will see it before I catch the glaring stuff that only shows up once the thing’s on line. I have to limit myself to edits of anything other than factual errors just after I post or I’d only ever have one post out there, constantly re-edited.
Have an especially nice honeymoon. Don’t do anyone else’s laundry. Revel in your own stack of clean underwear. Ride the bike to the market and notice the change of season. Make it last at least one day.
Hmmmm I think I need a book doula;)
Sounds like you could use one too- or BE one! Congrats- now relax…n knit;)
First of all, congratulations on getting the manuscript in! That’s an amazing thing and you totally deserve a victory lap.
Next — get that coffee away from your laptop, it’s making me nervous.
Third, what’s the vintage of your Ashford Traditional? Mine has the same spindles but has a light maple finish.
Congratulations again. Maybe I can swipe a little bit of your glee to help me START writing the book I’m telling everyone that I’m working on.
I’m not entirely convinced there is a finite end to the amount of coffee You can drink…
Congratulations on a job that I have no doubt is well done. Have some Screech and pineapple juice, spin, snooze, brush the cat, make the kids do their own laundry.
I hope your package arrrived safely. Please take a short moment to drop me a line so I know it got there in one piece.
I don’t suppose you’re going to tell us what those 3 words are. Is there any way you can tell me how long until I can look for them myself?
Congratulations – may the editors be gentle with your manuscript.
i’m so excited!! i have spent 3 hours on the road today (work related) listening to you read your last book. i can’t wait for the next, and hope it hits itunes in a hurry.
congratulations, and good luck with normalacy (whatever that is).
Thank you for yet another delightful post! Congratulations on completing the book; clearly, I’m not the only one who is glad to see you back on line. (Though your guest bloggers were great, they weren’t you.) Since I am a professor who teaches freshman writing, I plan to use this entry, along with some of the comments, to show my wonderful, terrified students that they are not alone in their fear about their writing. Hope no one minds. You are definitely the best!
And baby makes… five? Congrats, prolific one!
Who would have thought that writing five books would be faster than washing, spinning and knitting the wool for a gansey? 😉
I love that last little Line! Congratulations on finishing. After seeing all the photos you take of everyone and their first sock. And all the photos of your traveling sock. I finally tried a sock. I was dreading it thinking it would be to hard. But I love it.
Yay you! You survived until the deadline! Now, listen carefully…Go buy some GOOD beer, you know, the kind you always say, I can’t that’s too expensive. Buy one. Buy two. Then go buy some EVEN BETTER yarn. Now, go drink the beers and pet the yarn. Repeat for as long as needed to feel human again. Better yet…intersperse chocolate with that, just don’t get any on the yarn. Or do…it’s your damn yarn anyway.
I am so excited for you (how fantastic and freeing it must feel for you to be done!)!! Of course, the greedy little knitting reader in me is excited that you have a new book coming out down the line soon … but I am sure there a number of us that feel the same way (shared joy for you AND greedy anticipation for ourselves). Stephanie, your book signing was the most laughs I have had in an hour – ever!, your books make me laugh out loud, and I adore your complete and total way of gettting inside the heads of knitters. I hope you get back to Halifax on the next book tour.
“just like if you had agreed on a day to go into the public eye with your pants down you wouldn’t ever really be ready for that either.” – Its funny , but when I read this line from your post, the first thing that popped into my head was “Yeah, but i bet she would be wearing a knitted thong, and wool socks to ease the action!
Take care! I am soo excited that you are done!
That’s how it felt. Good only when it was over. “Oh, you’re writing a book? That’s so exciting…” (no, really it feels more like I am going to throw up. continually. for weeks.)
And I have felt like my pants are slipping lower and lower every day for the last 8 months. By December I suspect they’ll be right around my ankles and I will be trying desperately to not trip and land flat on my frelling face.
Congrats on the birth of B-5. It seems labor & delivery doesn’t get any easier. I’m sure though that it will be a beauty. I can read your working title in that last picture!
Congratulations! I hope you get some much needed rest after all the scrambling to finish!
Whoo-hoo! And just in time for NaNoWriMo! Will you be participating? (kidding!)
Can’t wait to see the new book, I’m sure it’s great!
You know, I listened to the Harry Potter books over the summer while I was knitting, and I noticed that Rowling used several words more than I really wanted to hear them. I did not turn it off or mutter hateful things about her. I simply NOTICED. And I was completely OK with it. So if I read your next book and see a word or two overused, I’m letting you know ahead of time that you’re completely forgiven.
Congrats on finishing the new book! Can’t wait to read it!
Welcome back.
No doubt you are familiar with Anne Bradstreet’s poem, “The Author to her Book.”
I admire what you do. Congratulations on what I am sure will be another fine insight into our world.
Doing the happy dance for you! Congratulations! I can’t wait to add this to my Harlot section of my personal library:)
I know it’s all part of the game, but it must break your heart a bit to not have control of all the tasty esthetic aspects of the book. Your books should leave the house wearing your own incredible artwork. Fight the power Steph.
(This message brought to you from the independently published dark side. Picking our own fonts Baby!)
We’ll love it too – we’ve loved all the others ones!
I see your wheels……do a little celebratory spinning. Don’t you always say that Tuesdays are for spinning?
The only thing wrong with your books, is that you write slower than I read. I offset that easily by knitting – my knitting is much slower than molasses in winter but for socks- much much slower than you write. Add 10 or so much’s and you’d be approaching accurate. I’m looking forward to it.
You have wonderful guest bloggers. A big round of applause to them.
We have the same computer =) And I can’t wait to read your new book (I bought “Casts Off” and “At Knit’s End” at Lettuce Knit during the summer).
Well done on finishing your book!
Your post described exactly the feelings I had when completing my dissertation, which dragged on and on, due to the general looseness of academic deadlines, as described above. That was two years ago though, and I’ve missed the writing. It’s frightening to find that I’m actually thinking about writing again–a book this time.
Welcome back. And congratulations on finishing the book. Can’t wait to read it.
Congratulations!!!! I can’t exactly identify, since I steadfastly limit my writing to 30 pages or less and even then only in an academic environment, but my boyfriend is a writer (novels, the poor thing) and he’s in the process of getting his first completed one out to agents. I showed him this post and he thought it was really great (he also liked the one about your stove installation).
Take a break! You’ve earned it. Go knit something fabulous.
Can’t wait to see your newest child . . . let us all know when the pub date is.
I’m sure we shall all love it – can’t wait to clutch it to my bosom.
Wow. Another book already? You have amazing output. Can’t wait to see it!
Congrats on finishing the book!
It is striking, the similarities between children writing – both are something you have created, help grow, help become – you love it so desperately.. and yet you can’t wait for that little bit of space that will let you breathe once again.
Happy Breathing Steph – enjoy it while it lasts!
Did you cry tears of joy when you handed the “”darling manuscript” in ? Sure hope you celebrate finishing it up. I have several ideas for celebration but I’m sure you already have your own. Is there any hope at all of having the book 5 for Christmas ?
Just to let you know, all that work that you do really does pay off (for me at least). I am throughly enjoying your book Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off (in audiobook format). I have laughed out loud on public transportation many times now forcing people to stare. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. I love that you did it in audiobook, it makes complete sense being that most of your readers are knitters and our hands are too busy to hold a book or turn pages. I really love that it is you that is reading your book and not some hired voice actor person (I have no idea what their title would be). Thank you. 🙂
I’m hooting out loud at that last line. Good one! And so true.
I think once a writer has several good books that I have loved under their belt, even if they write a bad one it doesn’t make me think they are a bad writer. Every other kind of worker has their bad days (ever taken a trip to the frog pond?). No one thinks twice about it. But, as you have pointed out, writers by definition sometimes have their bad days laid out in transcript format right next to the good ones for the rest of the world to pick at. As a reader, what that means for me is that I admire the likes of you even more because of all you are willing to risk in order to provide me with the pleasure of reading your work. It is a gift. Thank you.
Now on to the important stuff . . . what’s the book about????!!!!??? (Other than how how many SPMs we get on socks?
congratulations!!
you will sleep well tonight (and many more to come!)
CHEERS (and yarn!)
<3
Nice & Congrats. Of course what I notice is the Ashford Joy wheel in the picture.
Supposedly it was Dorothy Parker who said, “I hate writing, but I love having written.”
Congratulations on, once again, having written.
Congrats on the new book!
But more importantly, did you know that in honor of the Canadian dollar equalling, and then passing, the American dollar in value, that http://sakinaneedles.com/ is giving Canadians 10% off this week? MUST. ORDER. YARN.
I SO can not wait till I can pre-order this book! Thank you for all your hard work, patience and determination.
Congrats missus!
Now, please make sure that your publisher schedules your photo shoot for the book in Los Angeles. I know great hair, makeup, wardrobe, photographer, studio space… etc.
Drink wine! Yay!
I will toast you from Kansas City! (I think this is me making an excuse to have a drink. It’s been a rough week here. And it’s only Tuesday.)
Congratulations – can’t wait to read it!
Have a stiff drink. Who am I kidding? Have at least 3 stiff drinks, lie down, whimper a little bit then sleep for 24 hours. You will feel human again!
Congratulations on your fifth! Can’t wait to read it, having now caught up on all of your others. I can only imagine the giddy sense of accommplishment & exhaustion you must be feeling right now. So put your feet up, have Joe or one of the girls bring you a beer or 3, & relax!!
A poem is never really finished. One simply ceases to work in it.–Robert Frost
Writing is like ripping your brains inside out through your ears, tenderized forever, then thrown on a barbecue to be dissected, sampled, and bitterly critiqued by the mean judge on Top Chef. Editing is like having the left-overs minced, mixed with eggs, sugar and fat, then deep-fried with churros and served with ice cream.–Amy Lane
If it’s so good it makes you cry, someone is bound to come make you cry about it.–shanny mac
I’m so glad you’re done! Huzzah! Lots of knitting, some real food, and a night watching movies with family should be in your future!
You may not realize it but that is exactly how a staff accountant feels when a particularly long and nasty tax return goes out the door. “Yay! You’re done! Gone! All that hell I went through is now over” (until the next nasty return)
Congrats, and pour yourself a beer. Although I bet you already did…
if the above posting is not the
intro to your new book surely
the next and a fine article
and or opening speech when
the awards are passed out
we could all nitpick but
hope you rest and perhaps
you will do something really
differnt to refresh and surprise
i did not know she could do that
she wanted to what she never told us
*clink!* (virtual champagne toast)
Wish I were there in person to help celebrate…
Congrats on (starting) and finishing a new book. Spring is getting to be my favorite time of year. Not just for all the wonderful weather, flowers and growing things, but for all the fantastic books that come out in the spring! You, Jodi Piccoult and Harlan Coben make springtime totally worthwhile.
I harbor fantasies of going back to my alma mater to get an MFA in creative writing. Right now, I have nothing to motivate me to produce anything but some durn fine socks, and some blog comments! Maybe a self-imposed deadline or two would help me get back in the writing groove.
Congrats on getting the new “kid” off to the publisher!
And, really hon, if you didn’t know waaaaay more than three words, we wouldn’t be reading . . .
CONGRADULASHUNS!!!! (just in case you’re tired of accuracy)
So when can we order it on Amazon.com?
Well done – I know that feeling of sending something you have nurtured out into the world for the nasty editors to have their way with it – but I’m sure it will be funny, witty, deep, delicious! (and I will cry laughing reading it!)
YYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
As far as the darling little manuscript…
This is how I felt when my second child went off to kindergarten. 😉
Congratulations Stephanie, it’s another seemingly impossible task that you’ve conquered. I need to impose some deadlines so I can get stuff done–but it’s never the same when it’s not a deadline set by someone else, is it?
That’s the best summation of publishing a book that I’ve ever seen.
Now go knit something.
Your books do not have to be perfect. We love you (and your work) because of your authenticity. You write in such a way that I can imagine the “pants down” quote feels real to you.
We love you because you let us know parts of you that are not the ones your mother would brag about at bridge club. Of course we do not know everything, and we should not. Writing is about intensifying the truth, a focus, a sort of magnifying glass. It is picking out one truth and telling that story to the exclusion of others that might have been told.
Thank you for reaching out to us, we who make up your community… whether you’ve met us or not. By being one of us. By being real about some of your imperfections. By being able to laugh about them rather than trying to hide…
Congratulations.
Congratulations, but don’t tell what those three words are. You know that someone, or several someones, will obsessively count every occurance that remains when the book comes out.
Still, would one of them be “arse”?
Kudos to you! While we all look forward to the finished product, you can now get on with your life. Is that a spinning wheel I see, over in the corner, behind the laptop?and…oh, my word, it’s tuesday, isn’t it?!
Congrats on completion! Is it kinda like finishing your last final and not dying before that? I’d assume it’s something like that.
“Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant…The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.” –Winston Churchill
Congrats on the death of the monster. I can’t wait to read it. 🙂
How long does it take you to write a book? It seems like it was just the other day you were finishing up the last one. Well the last one to be published since I guess this is technically your latest book. I think you must write as fast as you knit!
The universal human urge to fiddle with things indefinitely applies to more than writing. We engineers feel the same way, ready to change, improve, refine, etc. forever. When I was an employed-by-others engineer, I kept a sign over my desk that said “In the life cycle of any product, there comes a time when you have to shoot the engineers and put the damn thing into production.”
And of course, I find it with writing as well. I wrote a short story once. I fiddled with it for three years before it came out well. It did come out well, but still. I am now slowly working on a novel; I hope to complete it before I die of old age.
PhilB
Congratulations! Knit on!
I’ve always thought revealing your writing was rather like putting your newborn out in front of people and then watching them poke it with forks.
Very vulnerable, very scary.
I am an English teacher and I think you’re an excellent writer, Dear.
Read. Rest. Knit. Ignore the mess that the girls.. er.. Joe made of the house. Congrats!
Mighty BIG three words to fill all those books…
We are our own worst critics.
Is it too soon to ask if you spun today?
Has anyone commented that you have, in actuality, been out in public with NO pants? (Even if only in a hotel) So that has to be worse than being caught with your pants down. Right?!
Mazel Tov on meeting your deadline.
Congrats!
Will you be at Stitches? 😉
Many congrats!!! Now, go enjoy yourself. Have a pint, knit something you love 🙂
Stephanie, you realize that many people, if they ever for some reason appeared in public with no pants, would try to prevent other people from finding out about it, while you would tell everyone all about it. Oh, actually you did.
It’s still Tuesday. Are you spinning?
Congrats on finishing. I’m looking forward to reading it. Now relax.
Woohoo! Congrats!
Yep, you said it well. It’s like the holiday buildup and post holiday let down, and playing with the holiday gifts, and then getting tired of the holiday gifts, and then feeling guilty that you’re tired of the holiday gifts, and they being thrilled that the holiday is behind you, and then the trauma of the post-holiday bills, all rolled into one. The biggest jolt for me has been the time warp I feel when the book comes out and I barely remember what it was I was working on all that time ago!
Jan Smiley
http://www.jansmiley.com
http://www.jansmiley.blogspot.com
While reading Hunter S. Thompson’s quote the Carly Simon song…”Nobody does it better”….sang through my mind…along with a picture of Hunter S. Thompson singing and the Yarn Harlot typed her way through the closing chapter.
Then the final sentence…Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out….
Stephanie…you draw pictures with words, that or it is the cold drugs I took earlier…
Woo hoo! Great news. I raise my beer in toast to you. 🙂
Way to go, Ms. Harlot. Glad you met your goals, finished your deadlines, etc. Does this mean Tuesdays are for spinning again, and not sobbing at the table?
P.S. I’m glad you’re not sobbing at the table anymore. That’s a sad thought.
Miss Knotty, who loves your way with words.
I am so happy for you, I am hoping to be reading it when you come down to Jacksonville, Florida for a stop on the book tour… wait was that obvious??
Anyhow get back to spinning and enjoying the fall.
Did you know it is Squirrel Awareness Week?
Be aware my friend and mentor!!!!!
kimber
Congrats on finishing the book! Have you ever read The Artist’s Way? Julia Cameron
The hopeless insomniacs of the world salute you!
I am in awe of anyone who can write a book. You have written … um, I’m running out of fingers here. Many. Yes, many.
You da woman. Now get some sleep.
Congratulations!
In regards to a book never truly being done…I remember hearing that Monet was caught in the Louvre at least once touching up one of his paintings. I don’t know how true that is but don’t you feel in good company? 🙂
So what is the average turnover rate for sending in the manuscript to having the book released?
Congratlations indeed!
LOVE the quotes! Have you read Joni Cole’s newish book called Toxic Feedback? I found it while in New Hampshire, published by a New England press. It is funny AND definitely helps one gird the loins in preparation for editors, critics and even readers.
Congrats! I can’t wait to read it!
Love the last picture – the spinning wheel in dark outline in the background. The promise of fun after the “agony & the ecstacy!” Enjoy the afterglow.
Congrats, lady. Big cyber high five!
By the way, there is a cool article (also on the cover) about Hunter s. Thompson as a young man in ‘Rolling Stone’ this week. He’s one of my favorite writers.
Ang
“Come hell or high water, you have to stop on the deadline and hand it over”
I am an editor and how I wish the above statement were true – if only every author was as punctual as you my life would be so much easier!!
YAY! You ROCK. Enjoy your vacation.
Issac Asimov once said that a story is never finished… it just escapes into the wild. As he wrote somewhere around 400 books and stories, I’d believe he knew what he was talking about.
Congrats on finishing the book. I can’t wait for it to come out!
Congratulations, mama. Giving birth is difficult, even more so with books, it appears. I hope your forget the book-birth pains after you see its beautiful shining face, with its new book jacket and all!
Neither you nor Ms. Millay nor Mr. Thompson (fine writers all, I might add) will talk me out of finishing my novel. One of these days. 🙂
Congratulations!
My 16 year old, looking for something to do other than study for impending exams, pulled half a dozen of my (many) knitting books off my shelves and perused them for knitting inspiration. One of the books she had selected was ‘Knitting Rules!’. She flicked through a few pages, started reading, read on for a little, and then laughed out loud. Your writing efforts are widely appreciated!
Or like YARNSTORM’s review in the paper, didn’t read the book, critisized the person. She must have a rich husband if she can stay home and write. What nerve! Yours will be fine. Chill out!
WOOT! Congrats on finishing the book!! Now go get yourself a really nice coffee, some knitting and a good podcast or music cd and just zone out. You deserve it. 🙂
Congratulations. Our best books are the finished ones. I can’t wait to read this one.
After reading your post I’m debating which is worse: the court of public opinion or anonymous peer review. And then I remember my mother who says “don’t listen to other people”.
I bet your book is great!
When it comes to overuse of a word, is it even possible to overuse the word “arse”? No, no it isn’t.
Since you have already been caught in your skivvies, the peer review can’t be much worse! And I have yet to read something that you have written that hasn’t made me either stop and think or giggle. Raise your head girl..you rock!
i can’t believe how you juggle it all! congratulations.
WELCOME BACK, Stephanie! And Congratulations on the fantastic accomplishment of turning in the manuscript for your next book!!! Bravo! I have faith that it will be as fabulous and wonderful as your others — all best-sellers! As soon as I can pre-order it, I will. I can’t imagine you writing badly. Nothing I’ve read of yours has been bad.
PS – I enjoyed seeing at the Borders in Bailey’s Crossings, VA — Ijust wish I had a DVD of your talk so I could watch it and laugh when I’m having a crappy day — like today!
Good on ya, Steph!
You don’t sleep, do you.
Hello knitters-
First, congratulations to Stephanie! I’m so happy to know that there is another good book out there.
Second, I am looking for machine knitters and thought that this might be a great place to post my message.
Experienced, talented machine knitters!!! I need you to help me build my line of scarves & shawls. Please contact me at:
wrapmeup@atlanticbb.net
Thank you!
Catherine
There it is again- the clean house. You are such a fibber. Your house is so clean. And while in the midst of writing a book no less…
🙂
I don’t know if it helps any…but this is midterms week for me. I’m only taking three classes. Five credits of German, and four each of Calc 2 and Physics 1.
I don’t like German. I suck at math.
I have two midterms today. Calc, and then Physics. I’m going crazy with the studying, to the point of putting the cat’s food away in the microwave for five minutes. Oy, the smell.
The only thing keeping me teetering on my thin, precarious knife edge of not running off to the Canadian wilds is your writing. I don’t have time to knit, but every few hours, I sit down and read a few scraps of your books or your blog. They’re reminding me that there are still good and wooly things in the world.
You’re just fine as a writer.
Amen to your remarks about sending your book out to the world. I published my first book this year with all the accompanying terror – but fortunately I can console myself with the fact that it’s poetry, and so no one will read it. At least it has a pretty cover.
WOOT! Congrats on finishing the book!! Now go get yourself a really nice coffee, some knitting and a good podcast or music cd and just zone out. You deserve it. 🙂
Congratulations Stephanie! Well done.
Bravo Stephanie, you’ve finished another one, and now you will just have to put up with we adoring fans going, “is it out yet? huh? is it?” until the book is released.
BTW – in the interests of preserving your sanity, you might want to move the coffee mug from the laptop. I say this after spending the weekend comforting someone who erased an entire marketing campaign when her mug upended on her laptop. . .
Congratulations on the new book, Stephanie. I look forward to reading it!
Rosane.
Hooray for completion. I’m sure the book will be great!
Congratulations on Finishing Of The Book.
I enjoy your tales of the deadlines, the finishing and the “After it’s done & out the door”.
particularly enjoyable that whether your art is with words or sculpture, the experiences of the stages of finishing ring the same bells.
Excuse me while i stop reading your blog & go and finish my proposal to a gallery now.
I am absolutely positively sure that your book will be great. I have all of your books and I love them so much! The world can always use more knitting humor.
So glad you survived!!! Now back to real life, whatever that is. We will be waiting to see just what you have to say in your next book! I know it will be great!!! Now, back to some knitting (and spinning)!
Next book, perhaps , “Knitting Between and Because of My Life”. I as a knitter think about why I knit. It’s because of my life not due to my life. Food for fodder. I look forward to your book. You are an inspiration to my knitting self.
congratulations . . i’m sure it’s wonderful. and everything is wonderful anyway, since it’s done now! can’t wait to read it.
Yee-Haw!!!! & a hearty congratulations!
Can’t wait to read it!
Now….go pour yourself a cold one…you deserve it 😮 )
I know I’m days late with this, but your entry is very interesting to me, as I sent my two and a half year old off to a nursery program Without Me for the first time a couple of weeks ago.
I worried all night and all morning before we left. I fretted and second-guessed and I balked when he wailed as I left, with that look of absolute betrayal on his face….
And yet I couldn’t suppress a little skip and a hop of guilty glee on my way back to the car.
Congratulations!!
Congratulations on finishing the book.
You look so gorgeous and youthful in your Bohus. It fits perfectly! The gold coloration seems to highlight all of your features in a very flattering way. And the jacket? Turned out wonderfully.
Both of these projects are taunting me just as I took a paycut to boost my career… darn animation. I should move to Canada where the National Film Board appreciates people like me. Haha. 🙂