Editing . . .

Life has been quite intense over the past month and a half. My Dad was putting under Hospice care on June 4th. He is stable and at home now with constant loving care. My dear friend, Marguerite Barringer, died suddenly. She had a heart attack on the 4th of July and was off to heaven on July 10th. Wow! That hit me really hard.

I haven't been getting all my normal work responsibilities done. Finally over the past 4 days I've started to find myself again. The intensity of loved ones failing or passing over left me emotionally raw. Through sunshine, rest, swimming and a tiny bit of gardening I've regenerated myself. Most of the work responsibilities are accomplished and now I'm free to edit my manuscript.

I have a book under Publishing Agreement with Llewellyn Worldwide. This is my first time as an author publishing with a large publishing house. In order to provide a good final manuscript I have hired an editor to help me finalize the project. The majority of the work is done and now the process of tweaking, removing non-essential anecdotal stories and molding it into a professional book is at hand. I've started working on the edit sent back to me by this fabulous editor and I am enjoying the process.

Because I already have a heavy workload, I've had to cross off all the days that I have free and made an appointment with my manuscript. I'm looking forward to finishing it so we can go through another round of editing. I didn't know that birthing a book was such a process and I'm happy to be learning the process.

So enough dilly dallying writing in my blog . . . . off to the manuscript I go!

Sequestered with my book, Crystal Consciousness

I'm tucked away with my laptop working on my book. I've sequestered myself within a hotel looking out at skyscrapers. Some authors go to a mountain cabin. I guess you can't take the New Yorker out of me, so I'm gazing out at tall buildings overlooking the Miami River! It's not NYC but it is an easy drive away to change the setting to keep me focused.

Really . . . how focused am I if I'm having a moment of diversion writing in my blog? Oh well, I've achieved quite a bit this morning so a little break of writing on my blog is still writing, isn't it? I'll just consider this diversion a bit of time dedicated to creating a pre-publication buzz for my book.

It's really a great book. I'm extremely excited about it. Although it's primarily about crystals, colors, chakras, aromatherapy, herbs and resins - Crystal Consciousness is much more. I've incorporated spiritual teachings from various indigenous cultures including Toltec, Native American, Mayan, Italian, and Buddhist philosophies. The book is a tool for transforming your life and incorporating spiritual practices into daily life with the sparkle of gemstones and the scents of essential oils, plants and tree resins.

I'm really ready for the final editing process to be complete. My good friend, Melissa, is working with me to edit and tweak the 12 chapters.

The publication of Crystal Consciousness is set for Fall 2009 by Llewellyn Worldwide. That is, of course, dependent upon the actual completed manuscript getting delivered within the next 10 days or so. There are many pre-publication jobs on the to-do-list. But for now, I must stay focused on completing the editing. So now I return to my sequestered state of consciousness!