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Ask the Author: Paul Chiasson

“Ask me a question.” Paul Chiasson

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what do you think of those guys doing digging on Oak Island? How far is that from Cape Breton?
Paul Chiasson Many thanks for your question. Oak Island is about 350 kilometers from Cape Breton. The Oak Island story has been a mystery in this region for generations, and like most people I look forward to some answers to the many questions the site raises. If there really is some kind of ancient treasure buried on the island and if some hard facts could be established through this modern investigation, it would add greatly to the history of the entire continent. I am excited about what might happen.
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Paul, great book!! I picked it up at Costco--then I was given another copy at my birthday! I do a bit of publishing of old obscure works using Lulu. The price of the paperback is remarkable because you have added all the reference notes, a bibliography and an index.The index is well done; the science involved in indexing is very interesting and good results are usually costly. How did you keep costs down?
Paul Chiasson Many thanks for reading the book, for posting your comments, and for your question regarding the indexing. To keep costs down I did the indexing myself, and even though I knew the material well, I soon discovered that indexing written history can be very time consuming. However, building an index becomes fascinating if viewed as a challenge designed to test your skills of logic and organization. While reading the final edit of the manuscript, I made a list of all the names, events, and categories that seemed critical to the telling of the story. This initial list of subject headings and sub-headings, cross-referenced where necessary, formed the foundation for the rest of the work. My productivity increased once this solid base was established. I added and subtracted where needed and then skimmed through the manuscript several times to make sure nothing was left out. Once the list of subject headings is defined, most word processing programs will help you find their locations in the text, but no program will find a subject when it is only alluded to but not specifically named. That takes one last read through. Understood in this way, as a complex puzzle that needs to be solved efficiently, the task becomes remarkably rewarding.
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