Consequences and unanticipated benefits

the oft-undesired art of cultivating the patience muscle

I have resisted writing this for hours but my patience has worn thin. I have been watching someone complete the final stages of revision and editing to publish a novel that I alluded to several weeks back. This is the culmination of much work, as we all know, over a long period of time. So exciting to see one’s thoughts read by others!

The publisher assured, stated positively and unequivocably, that it would drop this week. On Monday, the author showed me the cover and I immediately wondered why the title included the word ‘red’ which the book cover had in—inexplicably to me—white. I guess I should not have thought it weird but this seemed odd to me since the word ‘red’ usually appears on book jackets as…red. The author agreed with me, notifying the publisher within about 3 minutes.

The publisher said they would of course change it by close of business Monday. The publisher and author ended up in a couple of discussions about truly last minute format changes but no change in the book cover was forthcoming Tuesday.