Why I wasn't here

I spent most of yesterday putting the final touches on the Blurb version of the Gospel of Thomas.  I had already completed and printed a first draft, so this one was to implement modifications; mostly minor things having to do with quotation marks, page color, changing en-dashes to em-dashes... 

But I also refined a couple of the reflections and changed the background from black (which was kinda cool) to white (which is cheaper) and changed the main typeface (because my daughter said it was tacky and overdone).  All of which means that in the end the project ate the entire day; the only blog post I wrote was to my neighborhood blog, to announce that someone was baiting rat traps and we shouldn't let our dogs run free for a while...

I miss the blog when I don't write; it has a way of framing my day.  But this project has been so exciting, I just really wanted to bring it to conclusion and get it out the door.  Now -- before you get all excited, too, I have to tell you the book is ridiculously expensive to produce -- which is one reason it's taken me so long to put it together.  Some part of me was saying, "What's the point? No-one will be able to afford it."  But it still feels great to have it done, and it felt truly wonderful to hold that slightly flawed first draft in my hands. 

So that's why I wasn't here yesterday, and why, even though I'm here today, I'm still a bit back in yesterday.  Because even though "I did it for the Lord," I suspect it's my ego that's clapping its hands and dancing around the room -- cuz this is SO COOL!  Amazing, that it took over 5 years to get to this place.  Imagine what it must have taken Lynn to do the translations...

And -- just so you know -- this copy probably won't be perfect either; it usually takes me three tries to get all the bugs out.  So I wouldn't go reaching for the checkbook just yet...