When I Came West (Part Fifteen)
On May the first, I emailed Matt that I was mostly finished but needed a phone consultation. I was still struggling with the need for a definitive introduction (I had written and rewritten several) and I asked a colleague, who was one of my early readers, to write a forward to the book to see if that might help me clarify my objectives. After speaking with Matt I got back to work once more.
Finally on May 29, 2007, nearly two years after I had first pitched the project to Chuck Rankin, I sent Matt a newly revised manuscript, both on disk and a hard copy. I expressed my gratitude for the fact that he believed in my book and that he was willing to go the extra miles to see that it received a fair and objective response from new readers. And, most of all, that he was willing to champion the book through another round of board approvals.
On June 18th, Matt emailed to say that the manuscript was out with readers. He expressed that he had reread the manuscript, that it read extremely well and that I did a great job revising it.
On August 24th, I heard from Matt that he had received back reports from the two readers, both of which felt the manuscript was very strong and they highly recommended publication, but they also asked for some more revisions. I would need to respond to those readers about their suggestions and indicate whether I would be willing to invest more time in rewriting. Matt also added, "I will forward a third report soon.
I had to go to a scholar in western literature to receive a proper 'expert' reading of the manuscript before the impending approval meeting." On September 11th, the response from the third reader came in, also recommending publication but he or she also had "some very helpful observations for final manuscript preparation."
Meanwhile, I was still pounding my poor brain against the wall of an introduction that did not want to be written.
