Great leaps and bounds on Restart of late. An oddly productive Spring Break actually, despite all the other chaos. It felt REALLY good to write.. and write a lot! I hate going in spurts though.
So what got done in Restart? Well lets see here.... mmmm... rescued a three year old, hired a secretary, and... oh lots of other stuff. Really... you thought I'd give it ALL away? For shame. I can tell you though that the book is at almost 500 pages and I'm not anywhere near done actually.
Actually I'm pretty sure that I'm the one most excited about this. Sitting down to write is like catching up with old friends and just.. hanging out. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry...but it's never boring. It helps that this is set in Seattle I think.
Other things... punctuation!!! Bleh. The bane of my existence some days. I went back through and fixed the punctuation for the dialog in Soul of Evil, and cleaned up some of it as well. I rushed it to see it published. Not my best idea. However it's fixed now... and yes another proof is on it's way to me.
I've learned something though... especially with Restart. I order proofs when I've made huge changes, so that if I've gaffed it somewhere I can fix it. Does it cost me a bit? Yes. Is it worth it? I think so. It also gives me tangible proof that progress is being made, which for me is necessary.
Now if I could just get the cats to feed themselves...
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Another amazing month..
With two posts! So it's been either productive or educational as far as writing. Well, the last one was productive soooo... you got it, educational.
It's easy to rest on your laurels when you self publish. It's also easy to assume you know what your doing. In the course of starting again to attempt to promote Soul of Evil, I ordered a proof copy. Mind you I'd updated the content LAST YEAR! When I'd updated it I gave a brief look over the interior pages for numbering, formatting, etc... Never bothered to double check the cover proof. Happily put it up and went on my merry way. Didn't have the funds to order a proof copy for myself. I mean... I know what I'm doing, it was just a few little changes, right?
Riiiight... So this year I decide to promote again, and actually order a proof (because it's required!). Well, the proof arrived yesterday. First thing I notice is a white line down the outer edge of the cover. Wait, what? That's not right. Why is that there? Oh well, small fix. I open it. Black and white copy of the front and back covers. Wait..what?! I dunno.. I plunge on.. No page numbers in the opening pages, good. I pause on the dedication page, because something catches my eye. On the left hand page, down in the corner is.... a page number? Okay, that's not good. Make a note to myself and plunge deeper. Things are fine and then...
I look at the corners of the pages and there are NO page numbers!! WTF? I skim through and see that the numbers don't start until like page 83. I spend the rest of the afternoon re-formatting the ENTIRE book! I made a good change though.. I made it closer in size to a standard paperback. It raised the price significantly, because it raised the page count significantly. Ah well.
All of the above issues could have been avoided if I had actually LOOKED at the previews. I didn't, because I was certain that it was fine. I've previewed the new version fully, both interior AND cover. Now we'll see if the print copy works as well.
It's easy to rest on your laurels when you self publish. It's also easy to assume you know what your doing. In the course of starting again to attempt to promote Soul of Evil, I ordered a proof copy. Mind you I'd updated the content LAST YEAR! When I'd updated it I gave a brief look over the interior pages for numbering, formatting, etc... Never bothered to double check the cover proof. Happily put it up and went on my merry way. Didn't have the funds to order a proof copy for myself. I mean... I know what I'm doing, it was just a few little changes, right?
Riiiight... So this year I decide to promote again, and actually order a proof (because it's required!). Well, the proof arrived yesterday. First thing I notice is a white line down the outer edge of the cover. Wait, what? That's not right. Why is that there? Oh well, small fix. I open it. Black and white copy of the front and back covers. Wait..what?! I dunno.. I plunge on.. No page numbers in the opening pages, good. I pause on the dedication page, because something catches my eye. On the left hand page, down in the corner is.... a page number? Okay, that's not good. Make a note to myself and plunge deeper. Things are fine and then...
I look at the corners of the pages and there are NO page numbers!! WTF? I skim through and see that the numbers don't start until like page 83. I spend the rest of the afternoon re-formatting the ENTIRE book! I made a good change though.. I made it closer in size to a standard paperback. It raised the price significantly, because it raised the page count significantly. Ah well.
All of the above issues could have been avoided if I had actually LOOKED at the previews. I didn't, because I was certain that it was fine. I've previewed the new version fully, both interior AND cover. Now we'll see if the print copy works as well.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Oh damn it's been a while.
Time flies when you're so stressed out you can't even think about writing or characters or anything except how stressed out you are. Yeahhh... so that's pretty much been it since I last made any sort of a post here. Fun, yes?
Apparently though recently the stress has backed off because.... I'VE BEEN WRITING!!! Go me! I've also been trying to lose 20 lbs, but that's neither here nor there. So.. the writing thing.. very exciting to me. Maybe I can keep it going for a while. I discovered something today though about me and writing and more specifically working on Restart. I need others to be excited about it as well. I mean excited as in "I want to read the horrible rough draft version because it sounds so awesome" excited.
For that I have one fan and happily they aren't related to me! Yeah, a real live fan. I realized today that their excitement and enthusiasm for the story makes me want to write more. Of course it also makes me want to share more too. I get some enthusiasm from my own child, but... I want others too. Today I reconnected with a friend. Both our lives have been crazy and hectic soo... but trying to get together with her during Spring Break... maybe eat some chocolate fondue and she can hear some of this book.
I have re-written the synopsis on the back cover, because I changed directions. I scrapped the serial killer idea, mostly because I just couldn't bend my brain around how it all works. Also there was enough going on without adding That into the mix as well. Besides, that means I can use it in some other story... Anywho, so new back cover wording is as follows:
Peyton DeLaChat liked Seattle. He liked the weather, the scenery and the blissful obscurity. It helped that he'd visited the area before he relocated there. Getting settled was easy, even with no real plan in mind other than reinvent himself. Preferably with as little drama as possible.
When his daughter comes to him with a request for help rescuing a little boy, Peyton figures why not, sounds simple enough. He quickly discovers that even in this time nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
Sounds better to me... but then of course it would.. I wrote it. Anyone else have a thought?
Apparently though recently the stress has backed off because.... I'VE BEEN WRITING!!! Go me! I've also been trying to lose 20 lbs, but that's neither here nor there. So.. the writing thing.. very exciting to me. Maybe I can keep it going for a while. I discovered something today though about me and writing and more specifically working on Restart. I need others to be excited about it as well. I mean excited as in "I want to read the horrible rough draft version because it sounds so awesome" excited.
For that I have one fan and happily they aren't related to me! Yeah, a real live fan. I realized today that their excitement and enthusiasm for the story makes me want to write more. Of course it also makes me want to share more too. I get some enthusiasm from my own child, but... I want others too. Today I reconnected with a friend. Both our lives have been crazy and hectic soo... but trying to get together with her during Spring Break... maybe eat some chocolate fondue and she can hear some of this book.
I have re-written the synopsis on the back cover, because I changed directions. I scrapped the serial killer idea, mostly because I just couldn't bend my brain around how it all works. Also there was enough going on without adding That into the mix as well. Besides, that means I can use it in some other story... Anywho, so new back cover wording is as follows:
Peyton DeLaChat liked Seattle. He liked the weather, the scenery and the blissful obscurity. It helped that he'd visited the area before he relocated there. Getting settled was easy, even with no real plan in mind other than reinvent himself. Preferably with as little drama as possible.
When his daughter comes to him with a request for help rescuing a little boy, Peyton figures why not, sounds simple enough. He quickly discovers that even in this time nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
Sounds better to me... but then of course it would.. I wrote it. Anyone else have a thought?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)