Finishing a Book

It's often difficult for authors to let go of a book and send it off to the publisher or printer. "I know that if I work on it for just a little longer I can make it better." We all have to adopt the same philosophy that poets have developed. You work on the manuscript (poem) until you're tired or sick of looking at it. At this point you send it off. It's complete. No book, no matter how perfect it is judged to be by others, is totally complete or perfect. An author, reading their own work many years after the work has been published, will often be heard to mutter something like, "I can't believe I got this published, it's terrible." Don't despair, just work, write, get tired of it, and send it off. It's good enough. There are those few of us who can't live with, "It's good enough." These writers will not publish very much. Write often, be prolific and put your work out to be read and looked at by others. So what if some of them don't like it or you have a dangling sentence once in awhile. Make it your style and work every day if it is possible as your work will get better. My set of children's books that I'm working on are an example. Writing a book and doing the illustrations takes me about four months. It takes another couple of months to edit it and do the corrections. I've published, "Astronaut Training," late last year and expect to receive the proof for, "A Visit to the Farm," today or tomorrow. I'm working on, "Moving." These are all in the book collection, "The Adventures of Curtis, Connie, and Cosmic Cat." The books are written for fourth and fifth grade readers. Are they any good? I''ve been told that they are and that I have a good sense of humor and style. Only time and my readers will tell.