Of Forewords and Self

I'm spending late nights this week going through the pages for my upcoming Steampunk Style Jewelry book--due out in January from Creative Publishing international.

Going through these large-format color-laser pages is both exciting and grueling with a new book. Exciting because it's...well...going to be a new book and this one is particularly wonderful. Grueling because this is the process where I fine-tooth comb each page to make sure the designer didn't cut anything out, place things incorrectly, or cause strange computer glitches to happen...like turn every "c" that comes after an "s" into a "k". (I've diskovered quite a few of those...I'll need to diskuss it with the publisher.)

My treat this week: The executive editor of this book, Deb Cannarella (a queen, mind you), arranged for the talented and prolific author Paul Di Filippo to write the foreword for the book. Mr. Filippo wrote The Steampunk Trilogy and is considered one of the seminal writers in the Steampunk literature movement. We're talking big leagues, people!

Anyway, after the giddy squeeing (just learned this new word from Joann in the UK--isn't it a good one?) settled down, the self-doubt settled in. I became unusually nervous when I heard through the grapevine that Mr. DF was looking through the manuscript. He's not a crafter, I thought. Would he like or hate it? Did I get it right? Were the materials I gathered true to the heart of Steampunk? The cold slithery feelings of insufficiency were crawling up my back. (Why do I do that to myself? Why do any of us do that to ourselves?)

To cure the feeling I:
1) ate some chocolate,

2) looked at his website and found that he IS a crafter, engaging in one of my absolute loves--mail art,

3) read his essay. It's a great essay--worth the price of admission. And yes, he likes the book! All is good.