Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Front cover is finalized. Paperback and hardback covers are underway. Formatting proceeds, and once that and the print covers are complete I will have a book ready to go. So hopefully all will be in place by the end of this month. Fingers crossed, but monkeys armed with …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The front cover is finalized, with paperback and hardback layouts to come. The formatting corrections are in process. I have been brave and put The Killer and The Dead up for review on BookSirens. This is part of my time to embrace new aspects of book business, and …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! It has been a week since last I blogged. A long week, filled with nonsense, and not the fun kind that Alice had to deal with. Part of the reason I am not a book business person is I loathe dealing with bureaucracy, with paperwork, with checklists and …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The end of a long day. He says at 7.51pm. I need more days like this. LCCN applied for, ISBN for 3 versions of The Gardener and The Goddess assigned, synopsis written, blurb rewritten and finalized. Cleaned up my office: I’m no longer in danger of being overcome …
Continue reading Long Day’s Rambling into Night (Gratitude and Random Thoughts)
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Final proofing progress now 63%. Getting there. This meant sadly that my self-directed learning has slowed considerably, but hey ho, progress on the book comes first. I did find time to flesh out some more ideas for the next book, writing down what has been percolating in my …
Continue reading The Distraction of Ideas and the Need for Careful Construction
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I have recently experienced an epiphany. I’ve always written fantasy. Soon # 3 will be out, (my proof of a printed version is complete, and many benefits to the text have been obtained by that tactile appraisal of the text) and again, like the first two I have …
Continue reading Finding Voice in a Language Neglected: the Long Road Towards Mastery of Scots
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I did not remain in editing hell, my friends, though I am grateful I visited, because I fixed two small issues that came out on the multiple repeated passes I made as I chased some words and phrases through the text. In short controlled bursts. One would have …
Continue reading Escape Velocity Achieved, New World Sighted.
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Procrastination and doubt. I have written about doubt before, in a series I think. It was quite a long time ago. I thought I had compartmentalized my doubt: not exactly put it away, but perhaps contained it. I felt confident I had developed the tools and the knowledge …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Okay, so the copy edit is complete. One more hill climbed, another mountain ahead. I have started the read aloud proofing pass, and am 5.5 to 7% of the way through that, depending on criteria chosen. No graphical representation employed. So far I have added and removed equal …
Continue reading Reading aloud to the Demon of Perfectionism
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! This week marks the achievement of a blogging milestone for me. This is the 52nd week in a row I have posted a blog on Tuesday. Hooray! Now, blogging isn’t the powerhouse it once was in terms of garnering engagement, especially in my simple words on a page …
Roderick T. Macdonald 