Sunday, June 11, 2017

Responded to an author friend's inquiry about her books. I have published two of her books and she has two others she is trying to bring back into print and there was some misunderstanding about it. So I cleared the air and let her know what she had to do.

I am bringing out a new poetry book this month. I recently finished writing this one. Spent some time today going over it. Counted the amount of poems included, made sure the poems for specific people were where I wanted them to be, and made some final revisions/edits on all poems. Also wrote another poem for this book. Contacted the person who edits these books about her schedule and she said to go ahead and send it so I did. Also contacted the cover designer for this particular book to ask about her schedule, as well. Will get final page specs to her when I have them. We already went over the cover image for this one in the past so that's not an issue and she has the book's title in the email subject line. So now I wait!

Something interesting happened tonight: Years ago, I was communicating with a journalist who was covering haunted places in England. He had a bunch of pictures. He heard about my haunted houses book, when it was a work-in-progress, and asked me if I wanted to include his photos in the book. I said, Sure! I'd love to! He emailed me a CD of pics but when I opened the disc, I was dismayed to learn that his pictures were not there. The CD was blank! I figured it was all erased when the CD went through a scanner at a post office. Unfortunately, I could not include his pictures in the book. Fast forward to present day. Martha Jette and I have spent some time working on a brand new edition of this book that has since gone out of print. Well, we are bringing it back, and it will be bigger and better than ever! I was going through some old CDs this evening and I came across the CD from the journalist. I thought 'Why not?' and popped it into the CD-ROM. BOOM! There were the pictures! Oh my gosh, they were ALL THERE! HOW AWESOME! I am going to contact this journalist and ask him if I can still use his pictures, because I want to put them into the NEW edition of the haunted houses book! Yay!

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Got a response from Millie about the train sound info I needed. (Thanks, Millie!)

Gave the manuscript a final read-through. Caught typos and some grammar mistakes. As well as gender confusion in some parts!

Did some last-minute double-checking on a location in Liverpool, England and made necessary changes.

I had thought about changing the ending again earlier in the day but after reading the whole story from beginning to end, the new ending I have works.

I am currently reading a novel that has a sequel. This is not noted on the book or the book’s Amazon page. I noticed a review from a reader angry that this information was not made clear with Book 1. So I made sure I cleared up this story and answered questions to make sure it will work as a standalone novel. It will NOT have any sequels.

Satisfied with the read-through. The novel is ready for submission.

April 14-17, 2017

Friday, April 14, Saturday, April 15, Sunday, April 16, 2017:

Novel revisions: Wrote new chapters and introduced the other new character. Had to do some research on how to use a crossbow.

Monday, April 17, 2017:

Novel revisions: Did some last-minute fact-checking and wrote the new ending (which also involved a new chapter). For some strange and BIZARRE reason, I was not 100% sure on how hearing people use cell phones to make calls with or how to hold the phone during a call and where to talk. (I became deaf before cell phones came out.) My kids helped me out with that. And I also saw a young man walking and talking on his cell phone and that sort of reinforced what they said about how to hold it for calls. (I have seen people using cell phones to make calls hundreds of times in real life and on TV and I don't know why I was all of a sudden not 100% clear about it.) My kids could not help me with the train sound part, however so I have texted my sister, Millie, to see if she can help me out with that. However, there was one piece of train info that I needed and my son, who loves trains and knows a lot about them, was able to give me the info. Besides that, I finished the revisions today. The novel is ready to submit! Yay! I am so glad that I finished revising it. The last page was the hardest for me to write. I only rewrote the last paragraph and the last line a hundred times! My son got impatient because I kept changing a word and he said, “Just finish it, already!” So, I did.

Thank you, Jesse and Trevor, for your help today!

Saturday, April 8, and Sunday, April 9, 2017

Novel revisions.

April 8^th: Worked on character sketches as well as creating information sheets about the Vampire Guilds in both England and Ireland, as well as info about the clans. Wrote up history of the new characters I have to introduce. Was surprised to find a website devoted to sharing the timeline of Cardiff. Worked out issues in the story that needed some background and explanation. Revised a scene.

April 9^th: Rewrote a chapter, did some revising in other chapters and changed a scene. The ending needs to be changed. Think about a new ending!