This has been a rather full week, and I'm really, really looking forward to the weekend now!

If you are looking for something to while away a little time and haven't done so yet, the Free 14 at Maney is still running until Sunday, so if you like conservation, heritage or archaeology journal articles, that might sweeten your weekend a bit.

Me, I'll take care of two or three little things now, and then I will sit in the sun and unwind. The Beast is finally finished, edited, proof-read, proof-read again, our changes carefully considered and sent in, all remaining questions answered and it is off our desks for good. It's been wonderful, nerve-racking, exciting, exhausting, painstaking and demanding work to get this thing finished for print.

Actually, the whole work on the book was wonderful and nerve-racking and demanding, and at times it became hilarious, and at other times it was deeply frustrating. There were times when one of us tried very, very hard to get a point across to the other one, because only one could see the issue and the other couldn't. There were times when we sighed in frustration because the literature was too scarce, or too biased, or doesn't explain something clearly and we couldn't find a better book or article for the topic. There were times when we wished we had about a hundred more pages of leeway to explain things about the cans of worms here and there, things fraught with so many issues from research history and old biases and uncertainities that we could either write "this is a disputed thing" or start to do a few weeks more research and write many more pages (for which we did not have the space). There was much nitpicking about the exact phrasing of this or that so it would be as hard as possible to misunderstand or misinterpret.

It wasn't all sweat and toil and sighs, though. We had a lot of good times and a lot of fun doing all this, and you can bet that there were ample little jokes we made, and there were even a few puns in the draft at some stages.

The Beast has given us three years of collaboration where we managed to solve all these issues of writing, and all the other issues that came up through language differences, time zone shifts, cultural differences and personal preferences. Oh, and the mis-timed illnesses that had a tendency to hit us both at the same time when we could both not afford to let the Beast rest for a few days. So sometimes it was tough going, but we both did persist, and it was an amazing, wonderful ride altogether, and I am very proud that we did persist and never got too mad at each other for too long. 
I'm also very proud of what we wrote, together, standing on the shoulders of giants, merging our expertise and our passions and our voices.

Now, soon, it will be out in the world to be enjoyed by many other people. I'm thrilled about that, and a bit nervous (will people like it? will it be the helpful book we intended it to be?) and very, very happy that we found a lovely publisher who did a lot of work, too, to make the book look as beautiful as possible.

It's finally, finally really done. Finished. On a sunny Friday. I am happy.

Remember how, not many days ago, I happily told you that the Beast was finished? Well, it has returned once again to haunt me (though I am to blame for that myself) - we were offered to have a last look at the second stage proofs, and we decided to do so.

Which means I'm currently reading it again. One last time - though this round, it's just to look out for any little remaining typos and inconsistencies, and reading is not as demanding or as slow as for a full edit.

I hope to be finished by tomorrow evening with all the read-through, leaving the weekend gloriously Beast-free...

There's this German saying "Lila - der letzte Versuch" (purple, the last effort). While I'm on the last effort to make the Beast as nice as possible, the wooden trough here has purple flowers as a last effort to make it useful, since its bottom broke during production... making it a not very good trough, but a very nice flowerpot.

This, my friends, is the last time that the Beast will have kept me from blogging in a timely fashion due to totally eating my brain and whacking me about the head with a deadline... because it's done.

Done, finished, dealt with, packed up nicely and sent away. Of course, there were a gazillion little things we would have liked to change in that last read-through (mostly little glitches in style that slipped past us in the last Big Edit), and of course there were still some typos left (some of them quite amusing, such as a stray paddler trying to sell spices), but we refrained from fiddling with style (and the editor will deal with whatever needs dealing with, much to our joy and relief) and now it's done, done, done.

Which means that in the future, if I totally and utterly forget to blog in the morning, I will not have that wonderful scapegoat anymore. And you know what? I don't mind at all.

Before I toddle off into the weekend, though, here is a fitting link for the springtime that is in full spring at the moment: a brand-new system for beehives to harvest honey easily and without disturbing the bees. Fascinating!

And there's also some news on the Digital VAT issue - the Commission is rethinking the rules. There's hope!

Deadlines, I am convinced, are Eaters of Brains. They especially seem to like those parts of the brain that are supposed to keep track of things already done or still to do - such as doing a blog entry.

Tomorrow, though, is the last day this particular deadline will nibble on my cranial capacity. And since someone recently made me promise to post more pictures on this blog, you are now at least getting a gratuitous cat picture to make up for the very belated blog post:

This day today (much like yesterday) has been totally and utterly devoured by the Beast. That is, of course, the book due to come out soon, which has been privately named the Beast for ever and ever... or at least since before I came in on the project.

The fact that it's coming out soon means that it's been typeset, and edited, and we are currently reading the proofs, trying to catch any remaining errors. Which means that Gillian read it all, and I read it all, and we are now making sure that our edits don't contradict or overlap and are getting it all nicely in shape. That, in turn, means another chat session tomorrow, when we will hopefully get through most of the remainder...

At least I got to sit in the wintergarden and look at nice garden flowers while doing the reading. Like this one:


And that one:


And now back to get a little bit more work done today!

The date when our book will be available is creeping closer! Monday, June 15 will be the day. Meanwhile, you can take a look at the book at our publisher's page, here. You can also pre-order it there (or, probably, at the independent bookstore of your choice).

It is thrilling to have a book come out, and I still can't believe it. We've worked a long time on that Beast of a book; so long that it seems really weird that it is finally done and finished and the work is over!

I'm also going to sell it via my online shop (and if you want, I'll even sign it for you). You can pre-order it there!

News from here: The cat is sleeping, hazel pollen are flying prolifically (much to the chagrin of my poor nose), the sun is shining, and I have planted tomato seeds on Sunday.

Probably more interesting to you is the fact that after the mad rush to the finish line for our book project, Gillian and I are now patiently waiting until the book has done its things at the publisher's and we'll get feedback and the edits.

Apart from this, the blogosphere has provided me with links to things that you might also find interesting. Such as this Digventure piece about pioneering women in archaeology, which also fits in very nicely with Women's History Month.

John Scalzi has an opinion on opinions, and is voicing it on his blog.

Finally, a paper about medieval bread: