The First International Tour of an Unfinished Book
There is something different about seeing your work on actual pages.
A few months ago, my friend Miangliang Li, who goes by Lan, had read a few chapters of the book as a PDF and told me he wanted to help edit. He was planning a trip to China and asked if I could print a physical copy that he could write all over if needed. At the time, the first draft was close to finished, but not quite there yet. His trip gave me a deadline. If this book was going to China, I had to finish the draft and get it printed.
I have always had a strong affinity for books, especially hardbacks. I am, without question, a self described bibliophile. Unfortunately, if you looked at our house, you would quickly notice that we have more trophy books than read books on our shelves. And yes, that is shelves, plural. So the idea of holding my own book in my hands, even as a rough draft, was a tantalizing one.
So off to FedEx and Kinkos I went with the intention of printing three copies, around 600 pages each. What I did not realize is that printing a single book is expensive. Printing three is a small fortune. But there was no way I could send a copy on an international trip to China without making one for my wife to edit too. Sorry Mom, I promise you will get a hard copy to keep when it is officially published.
“Stories are meant to travel. And this one, it seems, already has.”
Before the first draft was even truly finished, the book had an unofficial international tour scheduled. One copy headed to Fujian, China with Lan, who, among other things, was planning to explore China’s matchmaking services. Another copy went with my wife and me on a road trip to Toronto for our ten year anniversary, where she edited chapters while we explored the PATH and stayed at the One King Hotel before driving to see Niagara Falls, which was breathtaking.
I cannot help but reflect on the layered meaning in all of this. While I was writing a story that pulls from myths and legends from around the world, a physical copy of that story was already traveling across countries and cultures before it was even finished. There is something fitting about that. Stories are meant to travel. And this one, it seems, already has.
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