Milestone

 

Late last night my blog views rolled over 2.4 million.

I knew it was coming - I do monitor the numbers.  But still it happened and it feels...all sorts of things.

First of all, thank you to those who were early readers.  You helped me through a trying time.  Thank you to those who stuck with me.  You helped me through ups and downs, triumphs and trials.  Thank you to recent readers.  All y'all are why I keep writing.

Well, truth be told, I'd probably write even if there weren't as many of you as there are.  

I write for a number of reasons.  If you go back to the beginning (August 2008) I began the blog after coming through the sudden death of my brother, then being diagnosed with the same sneaky cardiac blockages, then found I enjoyed the near daily review of my days as a weaver/teacher, then author. 

Yes, I already had one book under my pen (so to speak) but that was mostly weaving with explanatory text.  It didn't feel so much like a 'real' book.  The Intentional Weaver *was*.  It even sported an ISBN and everything.  :D  I had a 'real' editor, too.

But writing is how I process things.  It was a coping mechanism I learned about in therapy - write it out and let it go.  The blog became my escape valve.  If things were bothering me, I would write it out and then I could let it go and continue with my day, just like they showed me in therapy.  Sometimes it was the writing it down that brought clarity to my thoughts and I could finally see a way through, see the path that would take me forward.

I used the blog as I went through more cardiac issues, broken ankle and surgery, cancer, more cardiac issues and now, an aging body breaking down.

While the blog only looks at my life since 2008, Weaving a Life is truly an accurate title for my blog.

Yesterday I got the next round of edits back and today I will begin wrangling commas.  I also have an unconventional idea for an index but my editor isn't 'sold'.  Yet.  :D  OTOH, I *am* self-publishing so I don't have to follow the 'conventions'.  Rebel to the end!

So the full title of the book of essays is:  Stories from the Matrix:  weaving a life

The sub-title was at the suggestion of my editor and since the essays aren't just about weaving, but some of my adventures AS a weaver, it made perfect sense to me.

I think we are very close to being done.  Which is good because we will be out of town the last week of June so I can get another jab.  But that is time where I won't have access to my desktop so can't do much about the ms while I'm away.  My goal is to have the last edit done over the weekend, then come to some decisions about the cover and index so the editor can do the final formatting.

We are also considering offering the book (perhaps just the pdf, it depends) in a dyslexic font.  I know a number of people who struggle to read so why not?   I used to offer some of my teaching handouts in a dyslexic font and several people thanked me for it.  

Why not make things easier for people who may be struggling?  I don't know if blurb supports such a font, so it may not happen in the on-demand print copies, but the pdf should be ok.  It's one of the things the editor will have to figure out and they need time to do that, so I feel pressure to finalize my 'polishing' asap.

Not to mention I really seriously need to clean up my desk.  It's no wonder I am having trouble finding things.  :(   It's really gotten out of control and I have too much brain fog these days - I need to simplify!

Anyway, today is busy with appointments and meetings - and while I'm going to be at the guild anyway, check the Handwoven magazines to see if those listed in their index are written by me or just mention me.  Picking nits.  And commas.