A quick update -- not the complete 2nd update I promised earlier because I don't know for sure when printed books will be available. Because the book's getting a real line edit as we speak.

When a big-picture editor last read the manuscript in March, I asked him for the name of a line editor he could recommend, and he said the manuscript didn't need it, that he had marked. That has turned out not to be as true as I hoped, and an edit  became even more necessary as I made final revisions. So I'm having a real edit done by my friend Melanie Mulhall of Dragonheart. She'll be finished within the next few days, at which point I'll be looking at her edits and then sending the finalized version to Nick Zelinger, who will do the interior design.

I'm so relieved to have help from Melanie with my peculiarities of grammar, phrasing, punctuation, italicization, verb tenses, and paragraph breaks. After working on the book for so long on my own, it's just a huge relief to know that a careful editorial eye is looking at every word. Melanie has already pointed out a few things I would never have thought about.

The illustrations are nearly all done, and I'm tremendously pleased with them and with my working process with my illustrator, Cindy Kalman.

Nick's front cover is done, and I'm delighted with that as well. More info as things unfold.