Yeah, that's me. For my first book I'm publishing, I had an artist named Ina Wong do the illustration, and she did some amazing work. You can find her Instagram here, and she has my cover up. Here's a screen capture of her page showing my work. It's all amazing, so you should definitely go … Continue reading That Prolonged Squeeing Sound You Hear?
I'm ramping up to publishing, and I plan to use the program Vellum for formatting my novel. It's one of the best in the field, and it allows you to preview your novel on different kinds of e-readers and devices. It provide a professional level product, which is the goal. Doing my own formatting is … Continue reading Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth
I'm still plugging along on my novel's final revisions, and it amazes me all the depth my proof readers help me create and the problems they catch for me to repair. Every draft becomes richer and better realized until I hit publish at which point it stops growing. Or does it? JRR Tolkien was prone … Continue reading A Novel Is a Living Document
My novel is turned in! My brains are spaghetti, but I got it all turned in to my proof readers., and responses are positive so far. I got a call from a beta reader that was a huge help and very encouraging too. Before I turned it in, I reread and proofed it one more … Continue reading Novel Turned In!
I'm looking at releasing my novel, 'Still Water', in July of this year, and while that's super exciting and all there's a lot going on on the back end side of things right now. I am in final stages of revision before it goes to proof readers, but these are more technical things on my … Continue reading Book Release Back End – A Brief (And Expensive!) Checklist
A close friend has been talking through my revisions with me on the Ocooch Mountains: Still Water novel. I had come to realize that not having deadlines was hindering me. It was so easy to say 'hey, I don't feel good today, I'll just play Guild Wars instead' instead of buckling down and working on … Continue reading Accountability Deadlines for Still Water
Many, apparently. I cleaned my desk so I could work on revising more, and here's a peek: The stacked file trays are new, and I'm using them to sort feedback/different drafts of my novel: Top level is current draft, next my Alphasmart Neo, then supplies for revising, then feed back from an Alpha reader, then … Continue reading How Many Copies of My Novel Do I Need?
I've been laying out what I want for a cover to my current novel, and I finally sat down last week and tried to paint it for the first time. I expected to have to retry multiple times. It turned out wonderfully the first time. This is watercolor and colored pencil: I had to color … Continue reading First Peek at My Cover Illustration
I am taking a short story writing class from Holly Lisle, and my birthday is coming up. So I decided to take a HUGE STEP and request Vellum for my birthday so that I can test my nerves and publish a short story! Vellum is a Mac Only publishing software that allows you, in addition to … Continue reading Taking a Huge Step Here – Vellum
(Or we're not made of plastic.) One of the things I worry about in that far distant future of publication, should I ever be happy enough with my own work to through it into the self pubbed wilds is covers. I haven't found any stock models (hush, of course I'm looking early, that's what I … Continue reading Cover Art and a Reminder That Skin Has Texture
