Getting Closer

This is going to sound familiar: the proof copy of In the Shadows is on its way to me!

Let me explain. Yes, I did already receive a proof copy, as I reported earlier, but it wasn't long before I realized I didn't have a finished product in my hands. As I told you last week, the cover seemed to have problems, which I hope we've resolved, although I'm not sure. Also, there were a lot of changes to make to the interior.

Changes to the interior? Wasn't that done? I thought so, but I was wrong. I discovered I had two chapters that were simply too long, so I broke those up. I also realized I'd made a big error in one scene, so I rewrote that. I made a few other changes, too.

Since I made so many changes, I didn't feel right approving the novel until I can get another look at it, so that's why I've decided to order another proof copy. This will be the first time I've ever done that for a novel.

So I'm afraid we're back to waiting. The ETA for the proof copy is January 27, so that will give me a few days to check it closely and still release the novel by the end of January. We'll see if it's possible. I hope so!

Thank you for your patience.

Slight Delays

Now that I have the proof copy of In the Shadows, I thought I'd just sail through the rest of the process ... but I wasn't quite right about that.

My biggest problem is that I happen to have a job where I basically proofread all day. During the week, I get home from work to discover that more proofreading just doesn't sound fun, so that mostly leaves the weekend. By then, though, my eyes are tired and need a break. Because of this, I'm moving a little more slowly than I thought I would.

Another issue involves the cover. When I took the proof copy to the artist, the first thing she noticed was that part of the right side of the image was cut off. When I picked up a ruler, I discovered that the width that CreateSpace lists on their site for my cover design is actually about .25" more than what the proof copy width is, so that's a problem. The artist and I are working on that and hope to get it resolved soon. (Actually, she's doing more of the work on that right now.)

So things aren't moving quickly. I promise I'll keep working on the proofing, but I already see that one scene needs a rewrite, which will take a little time.

I'm still aiming to get this novel released in January, but it's starting to look like it will be late January.

Stay tuned for updates.

It's Here

Happy New Year! 2015 has arrived and we are now responsible for making it the best we can.

The proof copy of In the Shadows has also arrived! I almost missed it because we'd already brought in the mail when the carrier apparently made an extra trip to deliver it. My husband happened to be going next door and stumbled on the package tucked in our box. Thank goodness!

The first thing I noticed is that it seems small! When I hold it up to Outsider or Another Shot, it's a little smaller because it's a little shorter. This one is 291 pages (Outsider is 359). I guess you don't have to worry about me getting too wordy this time around.

Since I got it late in the afternoon and I'm working on the fourth novel today, I had to make myself put down the proof copy so I can look at it tomorrow. Once I start, I'll probably be studying it non-stop, so I need some unbroken time. I keep looking over my shoulder at it, though.

Meanwhile, work on the fourth novel continues. I think I have a title, but I need a little time to mull it over and decide whether it will work. The novel has chapters, though! That's never easy because some chapter breaks are obvious but others are hard to shoehorn in there. There were times I thought I'd have a 20-page chapter because I couldn't decide where to break the action. Let's hope it will work the way I have it.

Don't worry, though: I will start checking the proof copy of In the Shadows tomorrow. I want to get that part done so I can keep my promise of publishing it this month. It shouldn't be a problem, but I'll feel better when it's done. Then will come the scary part: seeing if anyone will 1) buy it, 2) read it, and 3) like it. That part is out of my hands (which is probably why it's scary).

Stay tuned!

Another In The Shadows Update

Good news! I finally finished the blurb for In the Shadows, which means I was able to submit the whole book to CreateSpace.com for review. After waiting 24 hours, I got the word: it's good to go!

I've now ordered a proof copy that's supposed to arrive around January 5. (It's hard to wait!) Then I'll finally be able to hold my latest novel in my hands. What a feeling that is. (And it lasts until I start proofreading and find the inevitable mistake. Oh, well, that's part of the process.) I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, believe it or not, I've starting working on the next one! (It already has a rough draft.) This one will need A LOT of work: it doesn't have a title and it isn't even broken into chapters yet! (I think I have a good title in mind, though. I'll give it some thought and let you know once I'm sure.)

Remember to tell all of your friends and family members about the first two novels. They'd better hurry and read them before the third one is out, right?

I hope you had a peaceful holiday and will have a wonderful New Year. Look for the beauty that's around you, sometimes where you least expect it.


From Photography Workshop, November 2014

Thanks, as always, for your support.

In the Shadows Update

I've made more progress since last week, so here's the latest update.

On Monday, I got the final image from the artist for the cover. It's now on my hard drive, ready to be submitted.

On Wednesday, I registered In the Shadows with CreateSpace.com and received an ISBN for it. (That's always one of my favorite steps.) I then typed the ISBN on the copyright page.

On Thursday, I submitted the interior and it was accepted. Whew! I paged through their Interior Reviewer, which shows me what the interior will look like once it's printed, and it all looked pretty good. I also got some Likes for my posting about it on my Facebook page, which I really appreciated. Thanks for your support, everyone!

Now I'm frantically trying to write the cover blurb. I've told you a little about this in the past: I need two blurbs, one for the cover and one for the Amazon page. I think I've got the one for Amazon done, but the cover blurb is proving to be pesky. I'm getting some editorial help from my husband, who keeps telling me to "punch it up," so I'll work on it some more and try to get that finished today or tomorrow. Once that's done, I can start working on the cover at CreateSpace.com.

The book is starting to come together! Don't forget, though, that I'll have to order a proof copy and proofread the whole thing again, so we're still looking at January for a release date. I feel I'm getting closer, though!

Thanks again for your support.

Interior Finished

That's right: the interior of In The Shadows is finished!

You may be wondering, "Diane, what does that mean: interior?" The best way for me to explain is to ask you to grab the nearest book. (If you don't have any books nearby, shame on you! Ha, ha.)

Okay, once you've got a book, flip through it and notice everything that isn't a cover. See all those pages at the beginning that tell you copyright information, legal mumbo-jumbo, possibly other works by the author, etc.? See the pages in the middle that contain the story? See the pages at the end that might have information about the author and other material? All of that is the interior of the book.

And my interior is done! Woo-hoo! I went through the whole thing and cleaned it up before I added the front and back pages. I crossed my fingers when I added those because I was afraid it would mess up the page numbers, but it didn't! Big relief there.

I'm hoping to finalize things with the artist this week. Then, with luck, I'll be ready to get an ISBN by next weekend!

We're on the way! Stay tuned!

Continuing to Format

I finally feel I'm making some progress on In The Shadows!

The artist and I have been meeting and emailing, and we're getting close to the finished product for the cover image. I think the black and white version is done, so now she'll add color to it and we'll see how that turns out.

Meanwhile, I've started to format the novel in earnest. I typed In The Shadows before I had the template that I used before, so there's a lot of work to be done. I already worked on the headers (which I talked about in a previous post), so now it's on to the rest.

First I worked on the margins. I use custom margins, which are set up in Page Layout in Word. Once I set it for mirror margins, I could set the margins for the top, bottom, inside and outside, using the guidelines from CreateSpace.com.

After that I justified everything except the chapter headings, so the text goes all the way to the edge both inside and outside. It looks a lot cleaner that way. I had to watch out for the last line of each paragraph, though: if I forgot to press Enter at the end of the line, it was all spread out and looked very odd!

Next I set the trim size, which is 5"x8". This is also set in Page Layout and is applied to the whole document.

I had to wait until after I set the trim size to set the Drop Caps. I learned the hard way that these might look great in one size, but then look absolutely wrong in another size, so I don't set them until late in the process. If you don't know what Drop Caps are, that's okay (I didn't at first either). If you look at the first line of each chapter in either of my novels, you'll see that the first letter is much larger than the others and extends down to the next line. I set this to "drop" down two lines rather than three, because I think it looks better that way. I have to manually set this for every chapter.

Now the slow part: I need to scroll through the entire thing, looking out for bad page breaks, bad scene breaks, bad line breaks, etc. This takes quite a bit of time, but I don't mind. It's kind of an excuse to run through the story again, although I'm not rereading the whole thing. It gives me little reminders of scenes that I particularly like.

And that's where we are for now. I need to keep checking the format and the artist needs to apply color to the cover. After that, I'll be ready to try submitting the whole thing to CreateSpace.com. I'll let you know more about that when the time comes.

Onward!