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Now comes one of the hardest parts: the part where I take my hands off the manuscript and let trusted readers weigh in. When I send it out to them in the next day or so, I’ll undoubtedly include all sorts of caveats about how rough it still is and how I’ve already identified a few things I need to address.

Most likely, tomorrow I’ll print off the entire manuscript simply because that’s what I do. Reading on the paper page is much easier than reading on the screen page. I’ll try not to read the book for at least a week or two so it can get out of my head and I can pick it up like a regular reader and get a sense of what else needs tweaking. In the past, I’d try to leave the book alone for a month, but with a planned release date in November, time is getting very, very short. I’m hoping that my trusted readers can get it back to me with their comments in a month, which is asking a lot since they have jobs and families and lives and responsibilities of their own.

In a good side/bad side development, last week a client told me he was settling one of the cases on which I was to write an appellate brief, and another appeal for which the brief is nearly half done may be also resolved and withdrawn. Another client reported that his opponent plans to withdraw his appeal for which I haven’t yet gotten to write the brief. What this means in practical terms is that while I’m likely to have more writing time in the next couple of weeks (good side), I’m losing income from three appellate briefs I would have researched and written (very bad side, especially since the bills from last month’s surgery have begun to arrive).

Some might say I should simply take a break from writing for a couple weeks. Maybe they’re right, but now that I’ve developed this habit, I hate to break it. I’ll have to see what I can do to bridge the two notions; for example, tonight I wrote a cat biography for a big, beautiful, laid-back and mellow dude. Not book writing, but creative. So maybe that’s the answer—keep writing, but write other stuff.

Guess we’ll find out.