As I close out an action-packed year of many firsts, these short daylight-hours days are an excellent time to reflect on 2019. Looking at the mountain from my desk, “Ol’ Frosty” wears a spiffy new blanket of snow. Its backdrop, a sunset of muted pinks, creates a lovely setting to recall some of the year’s Big Moments:
- January-February: I spent hundreds of hours working with artists, photographers, scientists, and other experts to assemble the images for the book. This meant finding the perfect image, getting written permission to use it (unless it’s in the public domain), writing its caption, giving the appropriate credit, and marking the exact spot in the manuscript where it should appear in the printed book. So many details! So many emails!
- March-September: After sending the manuscript and images off to WSU Press, Valerie and I enjoyed nearly six months of a writing sabbatical. We knocked out dozens of projects that dedicating 10 years to the book had kept me away from, prompting her to remark, “I love it when you take a sabbatical!” Mount Rainier highlights included following my six Evergreen interns around the mountain as they conducted amphibian surveys at alpine lakes, removed invasive weeds, and patrolled the backcountry. The high point—literally, figuratively, and in terms of pain absorbed—was with our son Dimitri. He’s becoming an accomplished trail runner, and we cooked up the idea to do what we’re calling the “Mount Rainier Quad Shot.” The Quad Shot consists of running up and down the park’s four lookouts in two days: Fremont Lookout, Shriner Peak, Gobbler’s Knob, and Tolmie Peak. It was brutal, but a memory maker worth every sore muscle and overstretched ligament.
- September-December: Speaking of brutal, the copy editing process nearly wore me out! See “The Writing and Publishing Roller Coaster” blog for details. After wrestling with the thousands of suggested edits (yes, thousands), I received the first proofs. This is the first hard copy of the book, and the author’s job is to chase perfection. Spotting typos, noting misplaced images, improving word choice, and other nitpickings are the order of the day. After Press staff responded to my suggested changes, I got to do it again, with the second proofs. More proofreading and more nitpicking. And don’t forget to create the index! The author’s responsibility, there’s no more tedious task on Earth. In Hell, people are forced to write indexes.
Then suddenly, the edits and indexing are complete. Everything moves into the capable, seasoned hands of Press staff. With no fanfare and barely a notice, I enter the book’s next phase. Plans begin for the Launch Party, April 26, 2020—and you’re invited! I’m asked to present Tahoma and Its People as the keynote address at the 31st Annual Rachel Carson Forum at The Evergreen State College. I’m invited to launch the book the next week for the entire campus community. The Press sends me their spring catalog—and Tahoma is the featured new release! The time has come, Valerie says, “That the book will have a life of its own.” And we—family, friends, readers, and I—get to come along for the ride. Buckle up!