Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Last week I talked about trying to remove yourself, or at least your ego, from your writing, to embrace the other, to try to express viewpoints alien from your own. This week, I will entertain a rather different idea. That you cannot escape yourself: that everywhere you go, …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Strange time to disengage, the week after releasing your book, but that’s what I did. Missed a blog, and a bit more. I’ve been busy. Living life. Losing sleep. Working, and working when not working. There was some all-consuming play in there too. New Orleans is very diverting. …
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! Cover art is almost there! I am proofing the formatted version of the book, and it is hard reading the words again, for what seems like the millionth time. I’ve had doubts, but writers always do. I’ve also had bursts of pleasure, where the words, even a million …
Continue reading The ARC of the Universe is Long, and Bends Toward… Playing Pool?
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I have improved my day to day constructiveness this weekend. At the cost of learning Scots. I’ll take it, for now. In perusing the internet (never advisable) I have discovered I am the worst indie author ever (by elimination), because I first published 7 years ago and have …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! How many times can a book be finished? Many many times. Given that, I have finished making the final proofing corrections. So from my perspective the book is done. I will still read it again, because the last thing I did was a specific word check, and as …
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! Well, I let a Tuesday slip by me at last without a blog produced! It was as inevitable as rain. In Scotland. But I have to say it was a surprise to me. I mean I thought I was going to write one at least twice yesterday, and …
Continue reading The streak is broken… Long Live the Streak!
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! So a few weeks ago I’d finished again. Well, now I’ve started again. This is not editing hell. Exactly. But I have felt moved to fix some detail work. I decided to remove all sets of parentheses (there were three), and will give $15 to the first person …
Roderick T. Macdonald 