SHE'S ARRIVED!!!
Almost exactly 3 years ago (give or take 2 weeks) I reached out to @davetheshady (author) and @inclines (artist) to ask permission to print this book, which they graciously provided. I'd seen inclines' absolutely gorgeous print and fallen instantly in love, and they were kind enough to provide the cover and Word files when I asked for their help in getting it set up for printing.
Then I decided I wanted to format the text body like an actual book. And do an editing pass over the whole thing, just to clear up any egregious typos. And justify the text, which meant monitoring the entire 700-page novel for hyphenation. And learn what the fuck 'gutters' meant for book printing??? Suffice to say, after about a month of feverish editing, I got Extremely Burnt Out and couldn't bring myself to do the second pass I knew the thing needed, so the near-complete document proceeded to languish on my hard drive.
Fast forward 3 years later! I now have a roommate who I can force to proof the draft for me! I have a spare few days! I finally complete a personal project!!!!!
I am so, so, so happy with how this turned out. It is so hard to communicate her Weight and Width in pics, but trust me when I say: the darling is a brick. I love her immeasurably but she is 710 numbered pages plus front and back matter, she could probably kill a man. I will read her voraciously and keep in mind her heft if ever I am victim of a home invasion.
ENORMOUS thank you to both davetheshady and inclines, for your permission, your generosity, and (if you're still around to be reading this 3 whole years later) your patience. This project was begun in my freshman year of college at one of the loneliest points in my life, when having something big, meaningful, and time-consuming to work on was an enormous comfort, and now I've finished it just a month and a half before I'm set to graduate. Life, amirite?
