How a Book Happens: From Idea to Printed Page

(Progress Report)

There are writers who churn out a book a year. Those with a great formula can pull off three.

I am not one of those writers.

Here’s the story of my next book, from its first glimmer to publication date.

One bright blue morning, January 2006, in Playas del Coco, Costa Rica, my neighbor Lenny, emerged from a three day bender into dazzling equatorial daylight. And got into a bilingual fight with a mynah bird.

This was the perfect tale to tell at my sister’s restaurant/bar, the Pato Loco. Off I went to find Rosie, who polishing off her pancakes. Rosie proved a most appreciative audience. Major dopamine hit for this storyteller. I went home and thought—I have to write this down.

All those years when I was working on Prozac Monologues, I’d write in the heat of the tropical day and the cool of the air conditioned office. Then off to the Pato Loco at 4 PM to listen to other storytellers. And home again to capture the dialog on paper.

Then came COVID and I didn’t spend time in Costa Rica. Instead, I started submitting my sketchy notes of bar tales to my writer’s group. Over the next couple years, they helped me turn these into living breathing stories.

Writer’s groups rock!

In June 2022 I returned to Costa Rica. A research trip! I walked around Coco with phone in hand, making voice memos as I noticed and remembered details. I edited each story to include sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.

That’s a malinche tree there. It features in “Bar Scene: In which the scene changes.” I learned the tree’s name when I interviewed a woman giving massages on the beach right near it. It’s a tough job but somebody’s . . .

I do lots of editing. Editing is my favorite part of writing, when I breathe life into the dry bones of the earlier draft. This particular editing pass, adding the senses and the remembered details, was my very best.

After this rewrite, it was time to submit to my publisher, who was pleased to give me a contract and publication date of June 2024 to Bar Tales of Costa Rica.

That was the original name of the book. But the working title is like the name one gives the baby before it’s born. I have never called my son Schnookums since he made his appearance.

What I was calling Bar Tales of Costa Rica, my publisher was calling something else. We were not coming to a mutual understanding.

Then something else happened. I was offered a position in the Church of Ireland on the Dingle Peninsula, and was applying for a visa.

If you have been following my writing for some time, if you have read Prozac Monologues, you know that my brain is a delicate creature and easily thrown off balance.

File January 2023 under #toomuch.

After a sleepless night, I considered not publishing at all.

Seriously?

In the light of day, I came up with a less drastic measure. I put the book project on hold.

But — ta da! It is now 2025 and I have been in Ireland for nine months. I do not have my driver’s license yet, but otherwise am well-settled. Back to my publisher.

And God bless her, she gave me a new publication date of

June 7, 2026

Did you catch that?

June 7, 2026!!!

So next came the cover design memo. My publisher wants authors’ input into cover design and asks a lot of questions like:

What is the emotional mood/tone of your book?

• Mostly lighthearted and hilarious, framed by poignant, thoughtful and philosophical. Warm.

Describe your ideal reader. Adult? Teen? Age range? Gender?

• Adult who is on vacation or wants to be

• Adult thinking about moving to another country

• Anyone curious about other cultures

What are the key themes of your book?

• People’s lives are heroic, silly, tragic, inspiring, sketchy, generous, and hysterically funny – all these things at once

• Everybody has a story to tell

• Life changes, there is always loss, life goes on

• We build community as we tell stories

• Community helps us navigate what life throws at us

I just turned that in, at which point more discussion will ensue. First issue out of the gate:

So what is this puppy’s name, anyway?

My current working title is:

A Gritty Little Tourist Town: Memories of Costa Rica

We’ll see if that one sticks.

Now the cover design magicians at She Writes Press get to work.

But before I could take a breath, I was handed another assignment: the dread tip sheet.

More on that later. . .

So what about you? Have you ever been to Costa Rica? Would you like to go?