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By Adilah Barnes
The month was December of 2008.
I saw the brown
UPS truck pull up on the side of my home and I knew what that meant. When
the driver rang my doorbell, adrenalin began to flood throughout my body..
This was the moment I had been waiting over three years for, and yet I met
it with some trepidation.
I opened my
front screen door and received the small brown cardboard box from the man
who was color-coordinated in his brown uniform. Once he had descended my
porch steps, I looked behind me in the kitchen eyeing my housemate who was
washing dishes.
I said, “Kristal, my galley copies
of my book are inside this box!”
Making sure she knew what a galley copy was, I explained these were
the bound copies of my book that needed proofing before going to final
print.
Understanding
the magnitude of that life changing moment, Kristal asked simply, “Really?”
I suppose the
closest thing I can equate tearing that box open and seeing my eyes staring
back at me with the cover’s title ON MY OWN TERMS One Actor’s Journey, and
my name ADILAH BARNES underscoring my face, was akin to my first glance at
my son when he was presented to me in my hospital bed as a newborn.
I had given
literary birth to my artistic life story that was contained inside the
covers of 300 pages. Unlike my nine months of pregnancy, this incubation
had taken close to four years.
I held my
hardback and softback copies in my hands. I felt the slickness of the shiny
covers. I flipped through my life, feeling the air as I fanned each page
and inhaled the scent of paper.
Yet my work was not yet done.
I still needed
to read the galley copies and check for any errors that may have been
missed, see if the font size and font type were easy to the eye, look at
formatting, check the back cover and inside flap of the hardback to see if
I had said everything I wanted to say to engage a reader who might pick my
book up. I checked to see if the colors of the covers felt right for my
book. Did the graphic design and layout work? Did the photos come out
clearly?
There were many
considerations and there were
changes. I found a few typos and I even found printing errors that were not
in what I thought was the final manuscript version. I also found a few ink
spots on a few pages. They had not double-checked the quality of the
printing. They had no let the ink dry completely on all pages. The galley
copies had to go back to the printers to make yet more tweeks.
My work was not done.
It was a
tedious process because I had to go back and forth a few times to get
everything to my liking. Either I found another error on the printers end
or I chose new words or phrases with the galley returns. Though I wanted to
just complete the book at that point, I knew I could not rush that final
step toward perfection. I had to allow the galley stage its time, without
rushing the process. I had come too far to carelessly sign off on my work.
This book would speak for me and I needed to be heard properly.
But like giving
birth to a full term baby, the time finally came where I could not find
anything else to correct. I had begun to tire of reading the same words
over and over and I had lost objectivity. My primary editors and English
professor friends had given their feedback along the way and I did not want
to go back to them. Gladly, I had stayed with about 99% of my words and I
wanted to maintain my own voice.
My water had
broken and I had to push the baby out. So push I did.
It was time.
For those of
you who are at the galley copy stage (and I know the feeling of just
wanting to finally be done!) know that in some ways the galley stage is the
most critical step toward completion of your book because you are one step
away from a final print. Unless you go back for a second printing, the deed
will be done. The step after galley approval is receiving your completed
book. The final step is releasing your finished book and sharing it with
your readers.
My book no
longer belongs to me. I have absolutely no control now over whose hands it
lands in nor how widely it is being distributed. I did my part and my book
now belongs to every reader who has lived my life vicariously through my
words, images and emotions.
My book has now
been on the market for nine months and already it has reached an Essence
Magazine Bestseller rating, Xlibris Publishing Author’s Spotlight and
recently a 2009 African American Literary Award nomination. All the
accolades so far have everything to do with me taking my time with my book,
especially at the end of the process.
If you stay with your book from beginning to end,
you will reach the galley stage. Once there, allow that stage its time
because it will pay off when you experience your finished book!
Adilah Barnes can be reached by
e-mail at abpro1@sbcglobal.net
at the retreat in Sharpsburg, Georgia.
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