Done

Well, it took about 18 months, two and a half computers, endless coffee, a few emotional storms, and a lot of hand-holding (some physical, most figurative) from doña Taí, but….

…it’s done.

It’s out there, or will be soon. Life, Death and Iguanas is “in review” on the KDP bookshelf. In 12 hours or so, the book will be available on amazon.com.

I’m exhausted.

No, nothing physical. Just emotional. Franny’s death was hard, but curiously public. There was almost no moment when someone else wasn’t there. She stirred around, even in her dying.

Recreating her life and death—as much as I have, as well as I have—was numbingly private. Raf, perhaps, was snoring in the bedroom, those Saturday mornings when I started the book. Or working, those days after I was laid off. Taí was reading, ten islands down the Antilles. Only Loquito, the cat, and I did it.

“You have a lot of energy,” a therapist once told me.

Yeah?

Not enough for this project! Which continued up to the finish line. I added a post yesterday to the blook, explaining what I had been doing in the Wal-Mart Home Office those seven years. 

Seemed like a reader might like to know….

And then this morning, at 9:36, I hit the upload button.

And then, predictably, went into worry mode.

I thought I had uploaded the wrong cover!

Doña Taí, in one supremely dyslexic moment, had sent me a revised cover—excellent in all things except orthography. Which is to say, she misspelled my name!

Well, that’s a trivial affair. Jack, my father, was also a little uncertain about it. He had wanted “Mark” after Mark Twain. Franny wanted “Marc”. She prevailed—except in Jack’s head. He once got it wrong three times on a plaque. 

And Wal-Mart had a hard time of it, too. In fact, the nameplate on my door said “Mark New House” for seven years.

Did I care?

Nah, just stick the money in the bank….

Well, in twelve hours, we’ll know about that cover. No way to tell now.

So, the world has a new book. It’s a curious thing, to click a button and send my life, my Franny’s life, and the iguanas’ lives out into the world. Today, as I write, I’m a little sad.

Another milestone, another step forward, as she remains behind….

The cover with the misspelled name….