I wish I could say that the journey from manuscript to print is magical, that you snap your fingers and voilá! There you have it. But no. By contrast, it seems like an absolute miracle that you were able to achieve it at all! So, the following account is one of triumph over adversity!

The editing stage went from my terrific beta readers (all listed in my acknowledgements section of the book) to my copy editor Kirin to my advisor Betsey. How fun it was to work with these amazing friends and get to know them better. The only problem was that there were so many words. And that many words take a very long time to edit. Yes, it’s a long book. But for that, I blame Pete Buttigieg. I often would jokingly cry out “Darn you, Pete Buttigieg! My book is too dang long!” And to be honest, there still might be a typo or two in there.

Because I wanted to make sure bookstores could order my book, I chose IngramSpark as my distributor. Once everything was complete, it was like magic the way my title appeared almost everywhere in a search. But on the front end, it was very stressful getting all the pieces in place. I’m not sure you need to know how the sausage was made, but mistakes occurred. Mine. Let’s just say cover specs aren’t as easy as you may think. And I’m lucky Michael Yoder and his team are still speaking to me.

As my website and cover designer, Michael had already rolled with the punches when I abruptly changed the title to my book on July 31. This is because I suddenly realized I probably shouldn’t be using the word “Twitter”, which is trademarked, in my title. In a frenzy, I struggled to find a new title that would be in keeping with the cover art. Soon, Twitter Travels for Pete gave way to Traveling the Trail for Pete. Whew! That was a narrow escape.

The ever-elusive release date was one piece of information several entities wanted from me, but how could I know that if other pieces weren’t in place yet? I kept pushing out my ISBN release date from July to August to finally September, which is a much better time anyway, right? I finally approved the e-proof and ordered my sample copy, but then faced a two week print time, before delivery. For three weeks I had nightmares about the book arriving in various altered conditions. Finally, the book arrived, and it was PERFECT. I could then click on “Enable Distribution”.

And now, the day is here. September 28, that all important release date. And just like childbirth, I’ve forgotten all that pain and can enjoy the birth of my baby—my book—Traveling the Trail for Pete: Finding Belonging in a Political Campaign.