It is done.

At this point, Mrs. Medigovich, my senior English teacher at Bisbee High School, would be pounding the blackboard and saying, “Faulty pronoun reference, people.”  A pronoun is supposed to refer to the noun immediately preceding it.  As you can see above, there isn’t a noun anywhere in sight.  Nothing at all precedes the word ‘it.”  I have a sneaky suspicion that there are a number of young people out there reading this blog who have never heard of a pronoun, much less a preposition, but I digress.

To my way of thinking “It is done.” sounds a bit classier than “Downfall is done.”  Sort of Biblical.  (The preceding is NOT a proper sentence because it doesn’t contain both a SUBJECT AND PREDICATE.)  More words, I’m afraid, that have gone the way of the buggy-whip in terms of current educational dictates.  The thing is, I know that some of my readers are old school sorts, and those folks are probably smiling long about now.  Please, no blowing coffee out through your noses.  That would be bad for your screens.

So Downfall is done.  Yes, Joanna lives to tell the tale.  She’s older and wiser by the end of the book, and so am I.  

This book was written in a smooth-flowing stream—at least that’s how it felt on this side of the keyboard.  Bill and I have been in Tucson for six weeks now, but I’ve hardly poked my head outside the yard because I’ve been writing in long, concentrated stretches.  Yesterday was a doozy.  Writing?  Yes.  Steps?  No. I ended up with a paltry 6453, fewer than when Bill and I were down with the flu in November.  (Have I mentioned that the old saw about how getting exercise improves your concentration is a pile of you-know-what?)  

My goal when we arrived in Tucson just after the first of the year was to finish the book by the time the tour started, and I’ve managed to squeak by—barely.  The first TV interview is scheduled for this afternoon.  I’m off for hair, nail, and makeup appointments at my local “adequate” shop any moment.  (In most instances calling salons “BEAUTY” shops is overstating the case.)  

Here’s the odd thing.  I love Downfall.  That’s highly unusual.  By the time I fight my way to the end of a book, I often find myself hating it.  My trusty first readers are busy doing their jobs.  While Bill and I are traveling this weekend, I’ll be installing their edits.  The book will be in New York in my editor’s hands by early next week.

Here I am, taking a deep breath, and launching off on another book tour.

AND AWAY WE GO!!