Greetings blog faithful. It is yet again another Thursday Blog Day and it’s yet again another fine day to finish copy-editing my book. Doing it myself was pretty much of a “no brainer” after I learned it would cost me more than $5,000 to have a professional do it. I also knew it wouldn’t be perfect, because copy editing is hard work and I’m a “big picture guy” who isn’t all that great at it. And, I had no idea how long it would take me. I’m still not done.

Cliches. You gotta love ’em, and here I get to use one: Better late than never! The whole day got away from me and all of a sudden I realized it’s Thursday Blog Day and I hadn’t written a word. What was I doing? I was saving more than $5,000, that’s what.

In the long saga that has been “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” there have been many landmark moments. This week provided another such moment, and it was a big, although unexpected, one. Going into the process with publisher Outskirts Press, I was not aware that my manuscript would undergo an editorial review after submission, and I assume my lack of awareness about that subject had a lot to do with my focus on writing. I have done very little digging on the Outskirts website, in terms of policies and other obligations, throughout the process. I just stayed laser-focused on the writing. Either that or I used the writing as a perfect excuse to not dig into the minutia.

Back in ancient olden times when the only way to know what day it was involved looking at an actual printed calendar, the dates for major holidays were printed in red instead of black. Hence, the words “red letter days” denoted something special. Today was yet another one for me. I officially hit the “Send” button on my email program and shipped off the entire “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” manuscript to Outskirts Press. That makes the writing phase of this project officially complete.