So near...

I am so near to uploading both my interior and my cover files again.

This week, I read my whole book out loud to myself. That was helpful in finding bits that didn't flow well and continuity errors (Character A was sitting on this page, but standing on the next, with no transition. Stuff like that.) I also tweaked the cover; it didn't need much.

I'm at the point where I don't want to look at the book anymore, but I need to. I had to determine a "reading level" for it for CreateSpace, so I tried to use a reading level function in MS Word. It never worked (guess I hadn't set the settings properly) but I did end up going through the whole book with Word's spelling and grammar checker. And whaddaya know, I found more spelling errors (incorrect compound words, mostly) and some grammar stuff, some of which I corrected and some of which I let stand because It's Just My Style, thank you very much, Word. Oh, and I used an online "readability index calculator" to determine my reading level (7th grade).

This morning I've been messing around on the CreateSpace website, resetting my BISAC code (which tells bookstores how to classify the book), entering the price ($8.99), rewriting my book description (which will also go on the back cover)--it goes on and on. But really, I'm so near...

That's my goal for the week--uploading both files. Once they're approved, will I then order another proof copy? Do I want to? Noooooooo (that's a horrified wail). I just want to push the "publish" button. But will I? We'll see.

I think the inside is looking pretty good.

No, I haven't completely polished the front matter yet. But the body and back matter is corrected, as far as comments that I received from my proofreaders go. Whew! And of course, as I was making those changes I discovered some other areas that needed attention. For instance, my capitalization for "king," "queen," and "prince" was wildly inconsistent when the term wasn't being used as part of their name. (E.g., "The king paced back and forth." To capitalize or not? I had it both ways. And had not noticed it at all until now. Yipes.)

Does chaos theory have something to say about all this? I'm thinking of Jurassic Park, where the scientist (as I recall) assures the park builder that SOMETHING WILL GO WRONG BECAUSE IT'S ALL TOO COMPLEX. Is my book doomed to have some errors, just because? I am starting to suspect so. Still, I'll get all the ones I can.

Next up is the front matter and the cover. Check in next week to find out how close I am to publication!

Back to proofing

I have the proof copy back, and I've started making the changes in my file.

Yeah, that's really about it for this week. I've gotten through the first two chapters.

My goal for the week is to get through the rest of the chapters, fixing any mistakes, poor punctuation choices, or awkward/confusing/contradictory passages that my readers noted. Then I'll need to do one last reading, tend to the front and back material and the cover, decide on the price and who knows what all else, and zowie! Ready to roll.

See you next week.

Writing and waiting

This week, I continued to work on the sequel for half an hour each morning, and I ended up writing some new material, not just editing old stuff. So that was good.

My current proofreader will return Just Like Magic to me on Tuesday. I'd thought I might get it back last week, but my reader needed more time.

My mom keeps asking me when she can buy a copy, though, so I'm still aiming at a late September publication date. We'll see!

Almost ready for the last push

Not much to report this week. I worked more on the sequel, got my book back from one proofer, and passed it on to another.

Yup, that's about it.

It's been so long since I worked much on Just Like Magic (six or seven weeks?) that it all seems distant and vaguely unreal. However, my goal is still to get it published by the end of this month. Which means that I'll have to really get in gear when I get the book back. The Last Push.

Well, except that then there's the e-book formatting push, and the marketing push. But you know. Last Push over the First Mountain.

Goal accomplished

Last week, I said I wanted to transfer what I had written of the sequel into a CreateSpace template and work on it for half an hour every weekday morning.

Mission accomplished!

Yes, I had to get up half an hour earlier each morning. Surprisingly, that wasn't hard to do. (5 a.m. isn't that different from 5:30 a.m.) And I was right about it being easier to write in the morning. I had no trouble writing.

Admittedly, it wasn't first draft writing, it was revising the first few chapters to add elements that I'll need later in the book. But there was a little bit of new stuff, adding those elements. Eventually I'll be ready to tackle writing wholly new chapters.

I have some chapters written that I won't be able to use (because I was heading the plot in a different direction), but I was surprised to find sections in those chapters that I will be able to use. One paragraph made me laugh out loud, which is great, because if it your own writing doesn't make you laugh, why should anyone else laugh? I always want my writing to have... sparkle, life. If it just sits there and goes thud, it's time to get rid of it or revise it. Whether I succeed at that or not is for others to judge, too, but at the very least, I need to like it.

This coming week: 1) I hope to get the proof copy back so I can pass it on to my next reader, and 2) I'll keep working on the sequel.

See you next week!

Looking ahead

I should have ordered two proof copies. Because while someone else is helping proof my book, I can't work on it.

That's the situation now and will be for a couple of weeks. I have one willing victim highly valued volunteer currently reading my book and another lined up for afterwards. Then I'll finish my editing.

But in the meantime -- well, I did take a vacation, but now I'm back. If I'm serious about writing besides publishing this one book, there's plenty I can work on.

For instance: I started writing the sequel to Just Like Magic many years ago, and I have several chapters written. I could insert that material into a CreateSpace template, format it, and generally get inspired to keep working on it.

Then: If I'm going to be writing first drafts, I need to make a regular time for it. That sort of intense writing has never been something I want to do after work, when I'd rather collapse, eat, surf the internet, read, or do something fun. (I actually find formatting manuscripts fun, so I have done a lot of formatting for Just Like Magic in the evenings.) Writing takes more psychic energy (it's scarier), and I'm a morning person. I need to stake out a time each morning to write.

Here's my plan for the week, then. Today I'm going to insert The Wicked Stepsister (that's the sequel's working title) into a template and format it. Monday-Friday this week, I'm going to write from 5:45-6:15 a.m. daily. Half an hour isn't much, but if I also use some of my daily hour of walking to plan how I'll use my writing time, I ought to be able to get a lot done. It all adds up, it really does. Even if I write only two pages a day, five days a week--well, Just Like Magic is about 180 pages long. That's 18 weeks for a rough draft. I can live with that.

Tune in next week to see how it's going!