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Just got word back from my editor. After doing final edits and having two proofreaders take a gander at the story (and find a few errors of their own, mostly formatting artifacts), I am pleased to announce that the story itself is finished.
The only thing that stands between me and my dream is getting my cover art in. I wish I had a timeline available, but for now, it's being played by ear. I am hoping The Legend of Kimberly will be available by mid October at the latest. If not, something bad happened at the last minute. On an interesting side note, saw graffiti on a train today that said "Real Writers Don't Self Promote." How weird is that? That would be like publishing my book and not saying a damn word to anybody. Sure, my story would eventually be purchased, but I would rather at least men
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Got word back from the editor. The first proofer found only a couple errors, and apparently liked the story. That's two things that are please me. Just one more proofer, and the only thing between me and a published book is my cover artist. Hoping to hear from her today, it would make a long week feel that much better.
New greyhound fitting in. Other than a couple of bad habits to break, she has been a lot of fun and very entertaining. The manuscript (Legend of Kimberly: Inheritance) has been shipped off to proofers. Depending on what they find, the story is finished, done, and polished. Now I just need to wait on cover art, and I'll be in business.
Just got The Legend of Kimberly back from the editor. Lots and lots of red ink. So now to apply some polish and smooth out the rough edges. I would much rather have a story that is bad due to content, then bad due to poor spelling, grammar, and whatever. Looking forward to tackling that this weekend.
Got a retired racing dog yesterday. As I type, she keeps wandering over to see what I am doing. The cats have all been scared into hiding, so the house is absolutely quiet. Fun times. On one of the many forums on writing I peruse, there are constant threads about reviews and how they should be handled. There are confirmed reports of "Review Swapping," where authors will trade reviews with other authors in order to help gain their books some exposure.
"Why is that a bad thing?" you may ask. Well, it wouldn't be if everybody played fair and square. If everybody could be honest with their reviews, there wouldn't be an issue. However, some authors have gotten it in their head that if they swap perfect reviews, more people will download their book. What happens when a book, that is honestly a piece of garbage, receives great reviews from people? It discredits the reviewing system, the author, and the reviewers. Say I write a book and everybody loves it. Know matter how many perfect reviews it gets, there will still be people leery of how many of those people are my friends, family, or even somebody I paid for reviews (yes, you can buy reviews). I have well over two hundred reviews on my stories, web-wide. Most of them are on Barnes and Noble, the rest scattered around. I have gotten my fair share of reviews, good and bad. All of them have been honest. Now, some of these reviews haven't made a whole lot of sense to me (good or bad), but those are the values these people have chosen for all eternity to associate with my stories and I have to respect that. So, as far as reviewers go, be honest. A review is your opinion, but make it fair. Don't give an author one star because his scary story was too scary (happened), don't give an author two stars because his short story was too short (happened), and never, under any circumstances, give an author a bad review because he is your/your friends competition (happened, but not to me personally). As far as authors, I only have one bit of advice. Write the best story you can and live with what people have to say about it. Laugh at the ridiculous, learn from the critical, and never take a review so seriously that you become discouraged. One week left before the madness hits the fan. What does this mean? It means my brain has kicked into overdrive with viable story ideas. When I have nothing on my plate, my brain goes on vacation. When I am slammed for time, it laughs at me from the back row of the theater, pumped full of delicious ideas. Oh well.
How should I spend my last week of freedom? I have several WIP's that are currently on the back burner. I could flesh out the sequel for Legend of Kimberly, get to work on a couple of horror novels, or try and squeeze out a few more short stories for the second volume of Threads of Darkness. Either way, I have plenty to work with. Met with a potential cover artists yesterday. She's going to come up with some rough sketches and we'll go from there. This is the last thing on my plate that does not have a resolution forth coming. Ideally, the final edits will be finished in a couple weeks with a cover to follow shortly after, and then...it will be done.
Came up with some potential ideas for the already planned sequel, looking forward to fleshing it out. In other news, at last count, the Operation Backpack fundraiser has hit the 1200 dollar mark. It's a great feeling to know I've been part of something this big. Still 27 days to purchase the book bundle for 10 bucks. So I donated my book to charity. Operation Backpack is meant to raise money for students who cannot afford school supplies. Being a future educator, this really strikes a chord with me. For only ten bucks, you are purchasing several books by fellow indie authors, as well as donating 100% of the proceeds to Operation Backpack. (For the month of August only)
Link: Click me, click me now! Now, helping kids learn is awesome. Reading books is awesome. And most of all, Wil Wheaton is awesome. The man himself plugged the fundraiser on his blog, which could generate huge returns. Already, a little bird told me we hit the 700$ mark. Today is just the first day. Wil Wheaton has a lot of fans, and I am hoping they all want to be generous and buy copies of the book pack. As far as Wil Wheaton goes, he's easily one of my favorites on Big Bang Theory. I also loved his role on The Guild. Physics and nerd games, need I say more? Also, Legend of Kimberly went to the editor today. Hoping to see some good things real soon! |
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