After five years of drafting this thing and over twenty years of writing in general, I ended 2023 with a copy of my book.

Written in Google Docs with the aforementioned Royal Kludge keyboard, formatted in Atticus, “edited” with ProWritingAid, and print-formatted by my brother Paul, my unofficial “publisher”.

He had four of these pre-production copies printed and they are BEAUTIFUL!

I knew he’d been working on it as it was somewhat of a collaboration, but I was under the impression it’d be a while before I’d ever get to see it. Well, on the night of December 30th, sitting in his car the cold, dark, wet of Pittsburgh, he handed me a copy. Just out of the blue.

It took me a minute to process what it was I now held.

My book.

Eternity’s Irys.

I was holding it.

I never gave any thought to how this moment would play out as I had it locked away as a work of fiction in and of itself.

I broke down and cried. Sobbed, even. Ugly, happy, proud tears.

I’ve been in a state of awe ever since. The copy pictured, 1 of 4, is my editing copy as in the excitement a page got a bit torn. Three more still sit on the shelf beside my desk. One will go home with my brother. The other two will remain with me. I would offer them to some special people, but I’ve found some crazy typos just in the first chapter!

On that note, editing in the book has been AMAZING. I was struggling so hard with doing yet another pass on my screen, but putting pen to actual paper, BOUND paper, not just printed out on a laserjet, adds a level of realism to the process I’ve never felt before.

The copies themselves are hardcover with a dustcover, lined with purple paper, printed on satin pages, and includes a beautiful little purple bookmark. They’re perfect.

I intend to design a limited “Release Edition” once it’s all ironed out. As of right now, I’m editing the physical copy and the cover artist has a June 2024 deadline which we will be strongly targeting in the coming months. I have to work on obtaining rights for the embellishment image I’ve been using. As of right now it’s for personal use only and these are only personal copies. I’d like to clear it for printing. Finally, I’ll have to obtain IBNs for it and get it officially listed as a real book for real people to buy.

A mid-2024 release is VERY possible. Scarilly possible.

I am both nervous and excited, but mostly determined.

Happy New Years to everyone and I hope its everything we all need and deserve!

2024 is going to be a BIG year for Eternity’s Irys!
Stay tuned!

🦑💜🦇