Mark Del Franco's Blog, page 8

UNFALLEN DEAD Typo

I discovered to my horror that the ogham in UNFALLEN DEAD (the third book in the Connor Grey mystery series) is wrong.  My bad.  For those interested, the corrected ogham is:



Just saying.

Done, Done, Done (For Now)

I delivered CONNOR 4 moments ago, so if anyone is wondering where I've been all week, it's been finishing up the manuscript.  The final days to delivery are anxiety producing.  For me, I spend months working and writing, but I never sit back and read the whole book until shortly before it's due.  Part of that is because there isn't a whole book until shortly before it's due.  (Now, the voice of reason out there is saying why don't you finish the book with enough time to sit and look at the whole

Look What I Found!

Okay, I didn't find it because I tried and forgot that I don't speak Russian.  But I know someone who do!  The ever-helpful and wonderific
ilona_andrews  hunted down the cover image for the Russian edition of UNSHAPELY THINGS (don't mind the bullet holes).  I think it's very cool looking, though I'm not sure if the woman is supposed to be Meryl or maybe Keeva.  Ilona tells me the title translates as UNNECESSARY FORMS, which makes me worry that Russians might mistake the US tax code for a directo

So, There Was This One Time I Wrote A Book And...

Lots of crunchy deadlines intersecting and I'm trying to keep it all moving---the copyedit for SKIN DEEP is done and off, a promo thingie was taken care of, production planning for CONNOR 4 has poked its head up---and it's not even quite finished yet.

CONNOR 4 is turning into an interesting exercise in layered plotting.  Lots and lots going on, but right now it only makes sense to me.  The test will be when the beta-readers get it.

Meanwhile, I found a typo in the ogham in UNFALLEN DEAD.  I will p

The Push

So, last Friday night, in the wee hours of the morning, the copyedit for SKIN DEEP went back to the publisher.  I was asked to review the copyedit in Word with tracking changes instead of the traditional hardcopy with red pencil.  Gotta say, didn't love it. I'll be talking about that more maybe next week.

And speaking of Laura Blackstone and SKIN DEEP, I've seen comments here and there that she is replacing Connor.  Not True!  In fact, I am finishing Connor 4 right now.  I think people were confu

Chat, Chat, Chatty Chat

The Virtual Meeting in the Convergent World forum went well yesterday.  Lots of good questions and comments.  I hope I answered things to people's satisfaction (and, perhaps, titillation).  You can read what was asked anytime as well as add more questions either in the Virtual Chat thread or in any of the book topic threads---I will try and answer as soon as I can.  I liked doing the chat and will definitely do it again.

Everyone can read posts and comments on the forum.  Only registered users, h

Virtual Meeting Reminder!

Today between 3PM and 4PM I will be hanging out on The Convergent World forum taking questions and chatting.  Hop on over and register to ask a question, make a comment or just to say hello!

See you then!

Virtual Meeting In the Convergent World - This Thursday!

When: Thursday, February 12,  3 PM to 4 PM
Where: The Convergent World forum
How: Register on the forum then join me in The Bar in the Virtual Meeting thread!
Forum link:  The Convergent World

Hi everyone!

I thought it might be fun to set up a "live" time on the Convergent World forum to take questions and see what's on everyone's mind.  So, this Thursday, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., i will be "live" on the forum in The Bar to hang out and chat.

If you can't make it, please feel free to leave a question or

Still Cold

I'm visiting friends in Pennsylvania.  Miles and miles south of Boston and it's still just as cold.

I received the copyedited manuscript for SKIN DEEP the other day.  We're trying something new---copyediting the Word doc via tracking changes.  I'm not sure I like it yet, but will give it a shot.  So far I'm finding it's hard to ignore edits and focus on original text.  It's an interesting excercise in how my brain works when I'm reviewing. 

With hard copy, I work like this:

1. read original text