Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 169
October 25, 2017
A65 Cover
Long, busy day so not much happening except I got the cover art from Zan Varin --
I like it and will use it for the paperback. I think the only thing it needs is some kind of highlight on the glasses bits so they're more noticeable. Any thoughts from anyone else?
I'm doing a different cover for the hardback, per the suggestion of a book designer I've met. And thinking of making the interior of the hardback something special, but still not sure about which way to go.
Too much going on in brain to continue.
I like it and will use it for the paperback. I think the only thing it needs is some kind of highlight on the glasses bits so they're more noticeable. Any thoughts from anyone else?I'm doing a different cover for the hardback, per the suggestion of a book designer I've met. And thinking of making the interior of the hardback something special, but still not sure about which way to go.
Too much going on in brain to continue.
October 24, 2017
More on A65
I made some notes for the ending confrontation on the jet, inputting them straight onto the file since I don't have the printout with me. I've been told what I want to have happen can't happen in reality, so I've come up with a fix that would sort of make it believable because it just has to happen.
I try to keep everything real and acceptable in the story, but sometimes you have to go with what feels right, even if it's not plausible. I'm not going crazy and having Adam become Superman, all of a sudden, so I'm just not going to worry about it.
I'm all done with the Judy Blume archives. Worked in an open warehouse and sweated my ass off...which I wish I could have done. It was like a Turkish bath, in that place, and I soaked my bandana. Took 4 hours then another 2.5 hours through driving rain to get to Fort Lauderdale to turn in the truck....only to find the location had closed early, for some reason. So I dropped the keys through their night slot and called a cab to the hotel. And it was still raining.
I don't like Florida. Not just because of the politics -- half the places I went to, be it hotel or restaurant or UHaul facility -- had Fox News playing on their TV. That, alone, would be enough to set me on edge. But there's also this very casual attitude in so many people down here to doing what needs to be done. The location for me to pick up my truck was changed 5 minutes before we left the hotel to pick it up. Getting the packing materials at OfficeMax -- which I'd ordered online and paid for and got a text saying they would be ready for pickup -- turned into finding the materials in the store and making do with cheaper bankers boxes because the ones I'd ordered and paid for and been told were on hand weren't.
And then when trying to drop off the shipment, the warehouse was locked up. No one answered my knocks. The only reason we got in was because a driver for the company showed up and let us in, after calling his boss...and he only did that because he remembered me from the Miami Map Fair.
Jesus, as if working in the heat and humidity wasn't tiring enough.
I try to keep everything real and acceptable in the story, but sometimes you have to go with what feels right, even if it's not plausible. I'm not going crazy and having Adam become Superman, all of a sudden, so I'm just not going to worry about it.
I'm all done with the Judy Blume archives. Worked in an open warehouse and sweated my ass off...which I wish I could have done. It was like a Turkish bath, in that place, and I soaked my bandana. Took 4 hours then another 2.5 hours through driving rain to get to Fort Lauderdale to turn in the truck....only to find the location had closed early, for some reason. So I dropped the keys through their night slot and called a cab to the hotel. And it was still raining.
I don't like Florida. Not just because of the politics -- half the places I went to, be it hotel or restaurant or UHaul facility -- had Fox News playing on their TV. That, alone, would be enough to set me on edge. But there's also this very casual attitude in so many people down here to doing what needs to be done. The location for me to pick up my truck was changed 5 minutes before we left the hotel to pick it up. Getting the packing materials at OfficeMax -- which I'd ordered online and paid for and got a text saying they would be ready for pickup -- turned into finding the materials in the store and making do with cheaper bankers boxes because the ones I'd ordered and paid for and been told were on hand weren't.
And then when trying to drop off the shipment, the warehouse was locked up. No one answered my knocks. The only reason we got in was because a driver for the company showed up and let us in, after calling his boss...and he only did that because he remembered me from the Miami Map Fair.
Jesus, as if working in the heat and humidity wasn't tiring enough.
October 23, 2017
Part of writing history...
Well...since it's already being tweeted about, I guess I can say I'm helping move some of Judy Blume's archives from Key West to Yale's Beinecke Library. Picked them up, this morning, and will have them packed and on their way tomorrow. She was there to see them off -- 78 cartons of papers and CDs. She's a very sweet lady. I've never read any of her books because I always felt they were geared towards girls. That and she started writing after I was out of high school, so it would have been a bit late for me.I never did get into the teen angst books that came out, anyway. I read Catcher in the Rye when I was in my late 20s, which is about 10 years past its due date. I thought Holden Caulfield was obnoxious and a very privileged brat. Lord of the Flies was too cerebral to be angst-ridden, really. The Confusion of Young Törless was to arch and symbolic. Plus I found the whole worship of James Dean and Marlon Brando confusing...
At least, I did until I saw the wide-screen version of East of Eden after having read the novel. I'd seen it on TV in the hideous pan-and-scan mode that only showed part of the frame at one time, and I disliked it. And I did still think the music was too much and some of the acting poor, when I saw it as Kazan intended, but James Dean scorched the screen, especially in his scenes with Julie Harris.
It was on a double-bill with Rebel Without a Cause. Between those two films, I got the whole idea of angst and confusion, even though parts of the second movie were just silly. Like Jim Bacchus putting an apron on over his full business suit in order to do some cleaning or cooking or something, and the drag race towards a cliff in a game of chicken was over the top. And Plato's socks switching feet at the end. (I used to blame that on poor continuity, but I've heard from editors that sometimes the director or producer will use a take with an error in it because they liked the performance more.)
Anyway, a lot of the teen angst stuff was geared towards boys, and Judy's the one who got it going for girls. Makes her historic, to say the least.
And I was part of history.
October 22, 2017
Typical travel travails...
I'm in Fort Lauderdale waiting for a flight and it's already been postponed to 8:10pm. Meaning I won't get to the hotel in Key West till nearly 10. This is after I got a call, yesterday, from the UHaul center in Key West telling me they don't have the size truck I wanted; I have to take a larger one. Drive it 160 miles up a two-lane bridge, tomorrow. What fun.
On top of that, this terminal does not offer power outlets for you to use, so one of my phones is about to die. I'm sort of charging it off my laptop, which has a really good battery, but it's not happy.
I read some of Robert Olen Butler's A Strange Scent From A Good Mountain on the flight down. It's a collection of short stories about the Vietnamese in Louisiana. He's got a lovely, tender style that whispers around you like a gentle trail of incense. I can see why he won a Pulitzer for it.
My favorite, so far, is the one called "Fairy Tale", about a former bar girl/prostitute in Saigon, Miss Noi, who now dances in New Orleans. She doesn't understand English, and the way it's written almost like he's channeling a woman trying to understand another language via her own language's thought processes. Its ending is just right and actually brought me to tears.
I will read more of his books, just to see how he works his verbal magic. I'm also going to read some other modern writers' works to expand on my basic grasp of English grammar. I've been too caught up in the classics for my own good. I try to make certain I've done the right thing as I write, but sometimes I'm not sure about when to end a paragraph or how to line up a sentence; I just do what feels right and let it go.
I guess I should reread Strunk & White, just to see.
On top of that, this terminal does not offer power outlets for you to use, so one of my phones is about to die. I'm sort of charging it off my laptop, which has a really good battery, but it's not happy.
I read some of Robert Olen Butler's A Strange Scent From A Good Mountain on the flight down. It's a collection of short stories about the Vietnamese in Louisiana. He's got a lovely, tender style that whispers around you like a gentle trail of incense. I can see why he won a Pulitzer for it.
My favorite, so far, is the one called "Fairy Tale", about a former bar girl/prostitute in Saigon, Miss Noi, who now dances in New Orleans. She doesn't understand English, and the way it's written almost like he's channeling a woman trying to understand another language via her own language's thought processes. Its ending is just right and actually brought me to tears.
I will read more of his books, just to see how he works his verbal magic. I'm also going to read some other modern writers' works to expand on my basic grasp of English grammar. I've been too caught up in the classics for my own good. I try to make certain I've done the right thing as I write, but sometimes I'm not sure about when to end a paragraph or how to line up a sentence; I just do what feels right and let it go.
I guess I should reread Strunk & White, just to see.
October 21, 2017
It worked...
I have another draft of The Alice '65 set in red pen, ready to be input into my crazy-assed laptop. I'm going to wait till I'm back from Key West to do it. Give me a bit of a breather. But apparently getting angry about something takes my focus away from whatever whining I'm doing and lets me get back to the reality of my world.
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, this year. I was planning on working up a quick draft of the beginning of Darian's Point, but if I want to make my deadline for A65, I won't have time. I'm also ready to focus my anger at the filth in Washington and America -- and around the world -- into P/S. It needs me to be angry so I can let myself dig deeper into its events and meaning...and be harsher with them. I think that's half the reason HTRASG came out so brutal -- I was pissed off about those kids getting hanged in Iran.
The probable murder of Zelimkhan has refocused me on the extreme injustices in this world. It also reminded me of how Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland would kill each other for no more reason than they worshiped God in a slightly different manner. People can say The Troubles were politically and historically based, and that's not completely wrong, but it doesn't explain masked men stopping busloads of people, asking who's which religion and then killing only the ones that they disapprove of.
This is how Muslims are treating each other, with the hatred between Shiite and Sunni. It's also how they were treated in The Balkans by so-called Christians. This is how the Armenians were treated by the Turks. And people like to forget the KKK was virulently anti-Catholic in the 1920s and 30s. Hell, even in the 60s, some people so hated the idea of a Catholic as president, there were "wanted" posters plastered all over Dallas prior to JFK's visit...and assassination.
With the rise of these new racists, who like to call themselves by the kinder gentler name of alt-right, we're seeing the sickness lives on and on and on, and will continue to do so until we stop teaching children to hate and let the haters die off.
If ever.
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, this year. I was planning on working up a quick draft of the beginning of Darian's Point, but if I want to make my deadline for A65, I won't have time. I'm also ready to focus my anger at the filth in Washington and America -- and around the world -- into P/S. It needs me to be angry so I can let myself dig deeper into its events and meaning...and be harsher with them. I think that's half the reason HTRASG came out so brutal -- I was pissed off about those kids getting hanged in Iran.
The probable murder of Zelimkhan has refocused me on the extreme injustices in this world. It also reminded me of how Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland would kill each other for no more reason than they worshiped God in a slightly different manner. People can say The Troubles were politically and historically based, and that's not completely wrong, but it doesn't explain masked men stopping busloads of people, asking who's which religion and then killing only the ones that they disapprove of.
This is how Muslims are treating each other, with the hatred between Shiite and Sunni. It's also how they were treated in The Balkans by so-called Christians. This is how the Armenians were treated by the Turks. And people like to forget the KKK was virulently anti-Catholic in the 1920s and 30s. Hell, even in the 60s, some people so hated the idea of a Catholic as president, there were "wanted" posters plastered all over Dallas prior to JFK's visit...and assassination.
With the rise of these new racists, who like to call themselves by the kinder gentler name of alt-right, we're seeing the sickness lives on and on and on, and will continue to do so until we stop teaching children to hate and let the haters die off.
If ever.
October 20, 2017
BAM -- mood shattered...
Seems the fastest way to get me out of a funk is to piss me off. And I am beyond angry, right now. I've been following the story of a young singer in Chechnya, Zelimkhan Bakaev, who was arrested by the authorities back on August 8th...because they suspected he was gay.
Well...the consensus today is that he's dead, and they think he was tortured to death within 10 hours of being arrested. What makes it hard to know is, the authorities insist they didn't touch him, and someone posted a video claiming to be him saying he was in Germany.
So the government just made him disappear, and is flat out lying about it. After all, if he was arrested and tortured and told about it afterwards, he's well-known enough so that people would believe him. Thing is, witnesses saw him being taken not 3 hours after he'd returned to Chechnya for a family event. What makes it worse is, it looks very much like he was fingered by a friend or member of his family, who also had access to a video he shot at an earlier date, denigrating Chechnya and praising Germany.
He is just one of hundreds of gay men and women who've been kidnapped, tortured and killed in that region. God knows how many others were slaughtered in Russia and Belarus and the Baltic states, thanks to Putin using us as a distraction from him looting Russia's treasury. This one, however, is what finally got to me. I watched one of his videos, and he had a fine voice. He had talent and a following, and that wasn't enough to protect him.
But that's not all there is to it. Our own Czar Snowflake gave a speech before a rabidly anti-gay crowd, promising to back them up in everything they want, to their cheers. Those motherfucking devils want to bring this crap here. Scott Lively has already done his part by pushing the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda and helping Russia further her oppression of gays in that country.
I wrote a script about 10 years ago, a horror script, where a preacher uses the bible and god to justify slaughtering several people then inflames a crowd of townspeople into lynching a gay college student. People told me it went too far. Now? It's becoming non-fiction.
And I am pissed as shit about that.
Well...the consensus today is that he's dead, and they think he was tortured to death within 10 hours of being arrested. What makes it hard to know is, the authorities insist they didn't touch him, and someone posted a video claiming to be him saying he was in Germany.So the government just made him disappear, and is flat out lying about it. After all, if he was arrested and tortured and told about it afterwards, he's well-known enough so that people would believe him. Thing is, witnesses saw him being taken not 3 hours after he'd returned to Chechnya for a family event. What makes it worse is, it looks very much like he was fingered by a friend or member of his family, who also had access to a video he shot at an earlier date, denigrating Chechnya and praising Germany.
He is just one of hundreds of gay men and women who've been kidnapped, tortured and killed in that region. God knows how many others were slaughtered in Russia and Belarus and the Baltic states, thanks to Putin using us as a distraction from him looting Russia's treasury. This one, however, is what finally got to me. I watched one of his videos, and he had a fine voice. He had talent and a following, and that wasn't enough to protect him.
But that's not all there is to it. Our own Czar Snowflake gave a speech before a rabidly anti-gay crowd, promising to back them up in everything they want, to their cheers. Those motherfucking devils want to bring this crap here. Scott Lively has already done his part by pushing the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda and helping Russia further her oppression of gays in that country.
I wrote a script about 10 years ago, a horror script, where a preacher uses the bible and god to justify slaughtering several people then inflames a crowd of townspeople into lynching a gay college student. People told me it went too far. Now? It's becoming non-fiction.
And I am pissed as shit about that.
October 18, 2017
Mood swings...
Going through a rough patch, at the moment. Wondering why I keep writing. Seems the only reason I do is because I feel an obligation to my characters and stories. They came to me and I need to do better by them than I have...but I also wonder if I'm capable of doing what needs to be done.
It may be I've relegated myself to a niche market that is not really into reading, unless the story has lots of brutal gay sex in it. My best seller is my first book, HTRASG, and half the reason is because the title is provocative and the anti-hero is a vicious animal filled with excuses for his behavior.
Curt is an anomaly in my work; my other characters have specific reasons for their actions, no matter how vile they are, and Jake, from OT, is actually heroic. But it's selling the poorest. Not even a hundred copies, yet. After pumping so much money into doing it right and giving copies away while asking for nothing but a review. I have no idea what more to do short of hawking it to independent book shops, myself.
When I was in Seattle, I did try to go by Mysterious Book Shop on Cherry Street, but they've shut down. Mystery Pier in West Hollywood said no. Book Soup will order it for you if you want it. And other mystery book shops just ignored me when I contacted them. So I guess I've written a book that nobody wants to buy...even at $1.99 for an ebook.
So I wonder if part of the reason I'm having trouble getting back into working on A65 is because I don't think it's worth the effort. I'll write it and publish it and no one will care. Even though it's very heterosexual and pretty damn mainstream. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl break up. Boy and girl get back together.
Maybe I should change it to boy meets boy and have Adam be a real asshole.
It may be I've relegated myself to a niche market that is not really into reading, unless the story has lots of brutal gay sex in it. My best seller is my first book, HTRASG, and half the reason is because the title is provocative and the anti-hero is a vicious animal filled with excuses for his behavior.
Curt is an anomaly in my work; my other characters have specific reasons for their actions, no matter how vile they are, and Jake, from OT, is actually heroic. But it's selling the poorest. Not even a hundred copies, yet. After pumping so much money into doing it right and giving copies away while asking for nothing but a review. I have no idea what more to do short of hawking it to independent book shops, myself.
When I was in Seattle, I did try to go by Mysterious Book Shop on Cherry Street, but they've shut down. Mystery Pier in West Hollywood said no. Book Soup will order it for you if you want it. And other mystery book shops just ignored me when I contacted them. So I guess I've written a book that nobody wants to buy...even at $1.99 for an ebook.
So I wonder if part of the reason I'm having trouble getting back into working on A65 is because I don't think it's worth the effort. I'll write it and publish it and no one will care. Even though it's very heterosexual and pretty damn mainstream. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl break up. Boy and girl get back together.
Maybe I should change it to boy meets boy and have Adam be a real asshole.
October 13, 2017
Down day...
I stayed in the hotel all day and worked on A65. I just didn't feel like being out and about and doing things I'd done a hundred times before. I'm flying up to Seattle, tomorrow, for the book fair so won't have a lot of time to work, after this, and I have a fridge in the room so stocked up on what I needed. Put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and went to work.
It was slow-going, because I was cross-referencing two versions of the story that were similar in 75% of the wordage, but I not only got it all input, I had new ideas and added little bits to make it fresher. I'm now through 92 pages, not counting the notes I have in the rest of the hard copy.
I think from this point it will move faster. I have about 50 pages of changes I lost, completely, so will dive into that portion like I'm doing it for the first time. The only real major change that I can recall losing is when I switched the descriptions of Casey's and Lando's mansions. I decided to make hers Spanish-style and his modern cubist; works a lot better for them as characters, but I lost everything I did to make Lando's even quirkier. Oh well.
I got the first rough of artwork for the cover and it's going to be nice. I had a couple of small changes to make so am waiting to hear how the artist feels about them. For LD he was pretty easy-going on adjustments I asked for. I try not to be too demanding, but if it's not right, it's not right...and I want the cover to be right.
I'm going to do a different design for the hardback version. Maybe a photo of the actual Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a shadow of Gertrude mixed in. Not sure, yet. I've been looking at new hardbacks and their covers are a lot simpler than paperbacks. I know they can get away with that largely because of publishing house advertising and sales, yet it might be better for me to emulate them than like I did with LD and OT.
I'm finding my free promotion on Kindle and BookLife got me nothing for The Vanishing of Owen Taylor. Lots of people looked and nearly 600 downloaded a free copy, but not one review, yet, nor one sale. It's like the book is dead in the water. My next hope is it gets a review from "Publisher's Weekly", for which I still await word.
I hope this doesn't happen with The Alice '65.
It was slow-going, because I was cross-referencing two versions of the story that were similar in 75% of the wordage, but I not only got it all input, I had new ideas and added little bits to make it fresher. I'm now through 92 pages, not counting the notes I have in the rest of the hard copy.
I think from this point it will move faster. I have about 50 pages of changes I lost, completely, so will dive into that portion like I'm doing it for the first time. The only real major change that I can recall losing is when I switched the descriptions of Casey's and Lando's mansions. I decided to make hers Spanish-style and his modern cubist; works a lot better for them as characters, but I lost everything I did to make Lando's even quirkier. Oh well.
I got the first rough of artwork for the cover and it's going to be nice. I had a couple of small changes to make so am waiting to hear how the artist feels about them. For LD he was pretty easy-going on adjustments I asked for. I try not to be too demanding, but if it's not right, it's not right...and I want the cover to be right.
I'm going to do a different design for the hardback version. Maybe a photo of the actual Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a shadow of Gertrude mixed in. Not sure, yet. I've been looking at new hardbacks and their covers are a lot simpler than paperbacks. I know they can get away with that largely because of publishing house advertising and sales, yet it might be better for me to emulate them than like I did with LD and OT.
I'm finding my free promotion on Kindle and BookLife got me nothing for The Vanishing of Owen Taylor. Lots of people looked and nearly 600 downloaded a free copy, but not one review, yet, nor one sale. It's like the book is dead in the water. My next hope is it gets a review from "Publisher's Weekly", for which I still await word.
I hope this doesn't happen with The Alice '65.
October 11, 2017
A long trip on a packed plane
Southwest is making it harder and harder to travel easy on their flights. I flew from Chicago to LA on a brand new 737 Max 8 that was delayed half an hour due to technical issues, and packed solid. And even though I scored an exit row seat, I couldn't open my laptop enough to make it easy to use. The new seats have more of a sloped back so that even though the tray has more room, the monitor on my laptop couldn't open all the way.
And there was a screaming child on the first half hour of it all. And I do mean screaming. God, do I mean screaming. I got a headache from it because it was only three rows behind me. Didn't help I was already out of sorts. I finally downed some Advil, made myself eat some of the food I'd bought but decided I didn't want, had a couple of DDPs and began to feel better.
I then input the changes for the first chapter, and added a few new ones. At the rate I'm going, I will not have this book ready by Thanksgiving. It hasn't reached the point where I'm completely happy with it, because I'm still coming up with ways of making it better. I like it, like the characters, like the process of the story, but it still needs too much work for me to consider it completed...and when I feel like that, I know it'll be at least one more draft and a polish before I can even begin to think about publishing.
Oh well...it's more important the story be good than be done by a certain date. This will also give me a chance to get feedback from some British book people I know, if they're willing to read it.
Y'know, on this trip to LA, I just don't feel like seeing anybody. All I want to do on Friday is veg. This hotel's goofy, even for a Best Western, but once again I've got a suite. And it being LA, I had to let the valet park my car. Totally flustered me because I had to get all my stuff out and put packing materials in, and climb stairs to get to the second floor so I could take an elevator to the third floor, so by the time I got to my room, I needed a drink. Wound up having tea...which actually worked.
It's been a weird couple of trips, and I blame it on early flights. When I go to Key West, the end of next week, I'm flying at a decent hour. I'm also close to deciding I want to use a carrier other than Southwest and go Business Class. I'm too old and cranky to do this cattle car crap for much longer.
You may now refer to me as mean old man Kyle.
And there was a screaming child on the first half hour of it all. And I do mean screaming. God, do I mean screaming. I got a headache from it because it was only three rows behind me. Didn't help I was already out of sorts. I finally downed some Advil, made myself eat some of the food I'd bought but decided I didn't want, had a couple of DDPs and began to feel better.
I then input the changes for the first chapter, and added a few new ones. At the rate I'm going, I will not have this book ready by Thanksgiving. It hasn't reached the point where I'm completely happy with it, because I'm still coming up with ways of making it better. I like it, like the characters, like the process of the story, but it still needs too much work for me to consider it completed...and when I feel like that, I know it'll be at least one more draft and a polish before I can even begin to think about publishing.
Oh well...it's more important the story be good than be done by a certain date. This will also give me a chance to get feedback from some British book people I know, if they're willing to read it.
Y'know, on this trip to LA, I just don't feel like seeing anybody. All I want to do on Friday is veg. This hotel's goofy, even for a Best Western, but once again I've got a suite. And it being LA, I had to let the valet park my car. Totally flustered me because I had to get all my stuff out and put packing materials in, and climb stairs to get to the second floor so I could take an elevator to the third floor, so by the time I got to my room, I needed a drink. Wound up having tea...which actually worked.
It's been a weird couple of trips, and I blame it on early flights. When I go to Key West, the end of next week, I'm flying at a decent hour. I'm also close to deciding I want to use a carrier other than Southwest and go Business Class. I'm too old and cranky to do this cattle car crap for much longer.
You may now refer to me as mean old man Kyle.
October 10, 2017
In Chicago, again...
Where it's pouring down rain, at the moment, but at least it didn't do that when I did my work. I was smart enough to get everything to my hotel and into my room before it started. Even bought a dinner to nuke so I wouldn't have to go out, again.
I wound up with a nice suite in this Best Western, along with decent WiFi. It's a new building from the looks of it, and this area seems to be hotel city. The best thing about it is, I had a counter to work on as I packed the shipment. Made things so much easier, which I needed; I had to get up at 4:45am to catch my plane and I've been very cranky. I got a message asking me not to come to the location till 2pm, so I could have come on a later flight.
Oh well. While I was waiting, I had a late breakfast at McDonalds (their pancakes and sausage are an addition, to me) and worked in the changes I'd already made to A65's first chapter...and there were a lot. I didn't realize I'd done so much work on it. Got me all pissed off, again, at how I nearly lost it all. The positive thing is, I saw a couple more bits that needed refining so added them in, as well.
Of course, this means I'll need to do yet another printout once I've gone through this one all the way, and another red pen and get the last of the story done probably as I'm en route to Hong Kong, next month. I'm also close to asking a couple people I know in the British antiquarian world to read it and let me know if I've got everything right, as regards Adam's knowledge. I know a fair amount, but I can just see me making a major gaffe over something simple -- like maybe Quires aren't all that important, or back drop boxes are not the same as Solander cases.
So much to do, still...
I wound up with a nice suite in this Best Western, along with decent WiFi. It's a new building from the looks of it, and this area seems to be hotel city. The best thing about it is, I had a counter to work on as I packed the shipment. Made things so much easier, which I needed; I had to get up at 4:45am to catch my plane and I've been very cranky. I got a message asking me not to come to the location till 2pm, so I could have come on a later flight.
Oh well. While I was waiting, I had a late breakfast at McDonalds (their pancakes and sausage are an addition, to me) and worked in the changes I'd already made to A65's first chapter...and there were a lot. I didn't realize I'd done so much work on it. Got me all pissed off, again, at how I nearly lost it all. The positive thing is, I saw a couple more bits that needed refining so added them in, as well.
Of course, this means I'll need to do yet another printout once I've gone through this one all the way, and another red pen and get the last of the story done probably as I'm en route to Hong Kong, next month. I'm also close to asking a couple people I know in the British antiquarian world to read it and let me know if I've got everything right, as regards Adam's knowledge. I know a fair amount, but I can just see me making a major gaffe over something simple -- like maybe Quires aren't all that important, or back drop boxes are not the same as Solander cases.
So much to do, still...
