Jude Stringfellow's Blog, page 42

MURDER BOOK: Formatting it Myself!

 If you want to talk about getting out of your comfort zone, this is one of those days! I am actually (and quite literally) formatting my own book before I upload it to Ingram Spark to be printed. I do have to have my cover made, so that's going to cost me a bit, but there's a lady who claims she can do it for $10, so we'll see if she can. I can always pay her, try it, and if it doesn't work I'm only out $10, right? If it does work you can bet your butt you'll be hearing her name, so that you too, can use her services. I may not even have her teach me how to do it. Paying $10 for a cover is not a bad thing.

    So, what I have learned today has been paramount. I first learned that I don't need any other software other than Microsoft Word to format the book from a Word document into a PDF uploadable that fits the template I need for the size book that I need. I think I sort of knew that MS had these features, but I'll be danged if I knew I could do it myself. It's not that easy, but it's doable. It is probably very easy for those wondernuts who have been doing it for years, but this is literally my first time. I feel pretty good about that. I'm not quite yet to the point where I am patting myself on the back, but I am getting pretty close to it.

    I saw a guy on LinkedIn talking about doing it, and I watched his little video. He was transferring an eBook to a PDF print document and said the same process could be used to move a Word document to a PDF print document. He could show me how in another video, which he left a link to. I followed his every direction, and I now have myself a PDF ready to upload, but I'm going to go back over it another time before I do to be sure I have EVERYTHING I want in the PDF. 

    By everything, I mean first the size of the book, which is 5"x8", then the margins, the layout, the spacing, the fonts, and the size font for whatever printed materials you have, which are not all the same. The words "Chapter" and so forth are larger, usually in a different font. If you want a drop-cap for the first word in each chapter you do that, it's done with a little finesse. You have to decide things such as the color of the paper, stock weight, etc. You need to know how many words, pages, etc, so you'll be able to determine the spine and gutter width. It's so much fun, but so much to learn too. I love it.

    Once I get that all decided I downloaded my manuscript into the new template, and it went from 216 pages to 338 pages. I now know the size of the gutter and the left and right margins. I also know the print cost. It will cost $6.01 to print my book, and another $4.00 to ship it to me. I'll be able to buy my own books for $10.01 and then sell them for $15 if I want to; that's another story. I will upload them as ebooks and charge $6.00 and make the same profit. That's the way to go, but there are people who like to hold books in their hands. Amazon will sell my book for $18.99. I don't really have too much to say about it. If I had $$$ I could buy my books and sell them myself off a website, but I don't have the $$$ to do that. Besides after shipping, it's just as well that you buy it from Amazon using Prime.

    Anyway, back to formatting. It's a new thing for me, but it's a good thing for me. I am now going back over the book one more time to be sure I have the spacing correct and that I have all the things in place. I had to learn how to put in headers and footers that would alternate from page to page; my title on one page and my name on the other. I had to learn how to do the page numbers so that they too would alternate,  meaning they would appear on the outside edge of the pages. Did you know, because I did NOT know, that the right side of a book is called the recto while the left side of the book is called the verso? I'm telling you, I had no idea. Did you know you're supposed to have the even-numbered pages on the verso side? Again, I had no idea. These are things you learn as you go.

    My first formatting will be 100% done next week. I'm holding off uploading it until I can get the cover done, and that means waiting on the gal to get back from her vacation, but I'm not in a hurry. She can relax and take all the time she needs. I'll wait another month if it means she'll only charge me $10. I may not wait for two, but I'll wait one. I'm already planning the other books, and I'll just go ahead and set them up before I even have to. I can set them up using the same measurements because I know the books will all be about the same size. I'll just have one less thing to do in the end and it may teach me how to write more uniformly in the meantime. I am already finding that I don't write as many paragraphs as I need to for a novel. It's amazing how many indentions I see in the novels I pick up now.

    I use John Grisham's books and Erle Stanley Gardner's books as my examples to follow. I figure if they do it, it's good enough for me. They don't use italics for the dialogues and I do. I separated more, so I had to change that. I did find out that you are supposed to separate between thoughts or scenes within the same chapter. That was a new thing for me. The italics thing is a preference thing, and I do prefer it. It was one of the things I didn't like about reading John Grisham books and said to myself I will use them. My readers tell me they appreciate it, so that's cool.

    Well, that's it. I just wanted to throw this out there and let you know what I did today. I learned stuff. I love it when I do. If you want to learn stuff you can do what I did, and hit up YouTube for how-do-you videos. I used it 10-15 times today to find out where and how and what and when to do this or that. It was brutal, but I got it done!!

Photo Credit: The Software Pro

Nick Posh Novels - The Line Up

     Most authors would rather die than tell the audience what's coming. My thoughts are so very different. My books are not murder mysteries. No, everyone knows who did the killing. It's never been about the murder itself for me; it's about the disposal of the bodies, the coverup, the chase, the innuendo, the factors, the capture, the escape, the plan, and of course, the execution.  Murder is an ugly business, but a business nevertheless; I should put that in quotes, as it's something Nick Posh says. ("Murder is an ugly business") There. Solved.

    The first book is finished and will be published very soon.  I'm starting on "Pinball" and the lineup to follow is this: 

Pinball

1211

Stollen

Cask

Mesa

The Kingdom

Shadow

Death Mask

    I don't think I missed any. These are the books I'll start now and hopefully have written by this time next year or soon after. I'm not going to worry about anyone else taking the titles. These titles have no doubt already been taken. You can do that as an author since your name is not the name of the other author.  It's not stealing if it's not copyrighted.  No one can copyright a title with such vague language. Besides, my story about "Mesa" will not be the same story as someone else's story. It's not like I'm going to patent it. I'm writing it. Different book. How many Springfields are there, or Main Streets? 

    After downloading 10 wonderful photos online at Adobe.com yesterday, I decided to create all the books, and put them out there, so that it's pseudo-published, and if someone does decide to challenge me, or steal from me, they can have a great time trying. There's NO WAY anyone can get my stories out of my head and put them onto their computer. It's my story; done.  Nick Posh probably isn't the only Nick Posh out there, but he is likely the only Nick Posh private investigator who is a character in a series that takes place in the mid-20th century. If not, I don't care. This one is mine.

    Nick finds himself in very dull and mundane roles in one of the upcoming books, not the next one. As a reader, you'll need to understand that the Paul Drake agency in Perry Mason has several other clients as well, and not all of the assignments are exciting. There are stakeouts, divorces, adultery, kidnapping, sex trafficking, animal theft, and so many other things that a P.I. can investigate including insurance fraud; bank fraud, robberies, and arson. Nick will see it all before he's finished, but we have to start somewhere. I can promise this; someone will be killed in every book, and Nick will seek to discover who it is.

    Nick has another saying that is in Pinball, but I'll go ahead and say it here with quotes again, to pseudo-publish it.  Nick feels that "If a suspect isn't identified within the first eight days of the investigation, the chances of doing so crawl to a near halt. Every day becomes his eternity to escape, and ours to find him." That's how he feels about it, and in one of my books, he says so. He may repeat it in a future book because I like readers to say "I remember that". Which they do if you say it a few times. If someone steals that line now, I can always go back to this post and prove I wrote it, it's date stamped. Boo-Yah!

    I'm in the mood to write, but I have to study, so I'll get back to it. I have to be human and pay my bills. Someday I hope Nick can pay my bills for me. Wouldn't that be nice? I would absolutely love it. I need to find a dark tan Stetson Fedora to put in my office for inspiration. Nick has a frock coat, but it's not the stereotypical type you see on detectives.  He wears the Fedora to honor his dad...and hide things. OK, so with that, I'll let you go, I have to eat, feed the dogs, and settle in to listen to what takes place when an automobile is flooded and someone wants to file a claim. Woot!

My life is just too exciting. 

Photo Credit: Adobe.com (later, when I use it I'll give the photographer credit)

    

Adobe Stock. GOING WILD With It.

 So when you join Adobe Stock, and I did for one free month, you can download photos to use for book covers, PowerPoint presentations, and just whatever you want to. You can post them online just because you feel like it. I will get the names of all the designers and/or artists so I can give credit, but what I did was download the maximum I am allowed to use for the free month and then I'll cancel the order and have free photos to use for my books.

    Before anyone gets upset with me for doing this, it is not only acceptable, it's normal. I am going to give the artist credit in my books, but I don't have to. They were paid by Adobe or someone, or they may have just donated their work so it would be out there; but I will in fact give proper credit. I think that's the right and best practice. I would want someone to be courteous to me as well.

    I have a total of six books that I'm planning to do this year or soon after. I have the two I've already written and the upcoming four more. Three books are in the Highland Romance series, and three are in the Nick Posh Detective series. After I finish the Highland series, I'll likely only write the Posh books. I like the genre, and I like hanging out in the 1930s with really good-looking men in Fedoras. It's my thing. Well, I say that, I really like hanging out with my naked bearded Celtic man as well, but I don't think I could write too much more about that; not without blushing.

    There are other services like Adobe that give you free subscriptions for a week or a month, and you can download their images. DreamTimes is one, Getty Images, but I'm not sure how they work really. I just know that with Adobe you sign up, you are given 10 credits, so you can download 10 images, and you don't have to see that silly watermark; you can actually truly download them and use them as you need to. I had to have words with the DreamTime folks about their watermark. It's not free if you have a damn watermark. It's just LOOKING for free. I needed it to be free.

    I have a gal in the States somewhere, I don't know where she is, that will take my image after I've added my text, and she'll trim it up for me to use as a cover for the printed books and eBooks.  I am going to learn how to do the interior, but I don't mind paying for someone to make the exterior for me. She's very inexpensive, and after she does one for me, and it works, I'll scream her name and contact out for everyone to use. She agrees that we need to wait until I'm 100% satisfied with the trim. If it uploads like I want it to, I'll be the first to sing her praises. 

    So, now that I have about 10 book cover images downloaded, I'll need to come up with new titles after the initial six. I can do that. I know I can do that. I am already writing one of them, and I have to stop because I have others to write before it. I need 48 hours in a day. I really do. When you think of writing a book, do you think of writing your book quickly from start to finish, or do you take your time and really plan out all the details? I write as I go, and I watch Perry Mason and/or read Erle Stanley Gardner as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I pick and piece things together. You're likely to see something that resembles what they wrote, and that's OK, they took it from someone else, I'm sure.

    I was reading a Sir Walter Scott novel and found something that Doyle used. I laughed. I wondered where or who Scott took his inspiration from.  There's an entire series of books written between 1825 and 1852 I think, something like that, they are called the Wilson Tales of the Borders. I think there are 24 if I'm not mistaken. They are short story anthologies really.  John Wilson did not write them all. There are several contributors, and Scott is one of them. GREAT stories, and really interesting things going on that maybe newer writers have neglected to add to their narratives. I want to add the history and be of some usefulness when it comes to people reading my books. I want to educate and entertain.

    Anyway, the Adobe Stock site is so very very well worth your attention. All of the photos are of high resolution and can be used either with a Standard license or an Enhanced license. I am using them under the standard, which means if I sell more than 500K of one title I'll need to change the photo or pay for it. I'm sure I'd just change it. I can't say for sure, but it would be an interesting problem to have, wouldn't it? Yes, indeed it would be. I wanted to thank Adobe and the artists for their contributions. They are truly appreciated.  They are inspiring too; as I was cascading through the pictures I kept thinking of what else to write....dang.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock: Viktoriia #6134076216

Aloe Vera Juice!! (Again)

     I called my local Akins Health store to find out what the average price for their 100% natural aloe vera juice was/is. It's a whopping $37.99 (WHAT?) Yep, that's for a gallon of course, but still, that's really expensive. Amazon has the EXACT brand for $25.00.  Yeah, looks like I'm doing Amazon. I'll keep an eye out for other places in town; the Asian market may have their brand. I love that place. I get my loose-leaf tea there for literally 1/4 the cost that it is being sold in the city just miles from that store. WOW....when I think about how people outprice and screw people, it is just amazing. 

    So, aloe vera juice is good for so many things. You may already know this, but I'm going to rattle off a few of its benefits for the sake of those who may not know it. I am getting my information straight from the internet and will link the article I got my information from so folks can go read all the juicy news about the plant. (Did you see what I did there?) https://getgrowfit.in/blogs/grow-fit-blog/18-reasons-to-drink-aloe-vera-juice-everyday

      I'll start with the obvious; aloe vera is good for your skin, your digestive, and it hydrates you. We get that, but for the money you dish out for it, it'll need to do a lot more than that; and it does. It helps with clearing skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne. It works from the inside out. It helps keep you regular and loosens stool that may be stuck inside your colon. It works to clean your whistle, as my Grandpa Edwards would say. He used prune juice, but you get the picture. Aloe vera is also good for lowering your bad cholesterol and helping with any inflammation that may be hanging out in your muscles and tendons. It helps to regulate your blood sugar, so if you're pre-diabetic or even have Diabetes (check with your doctor first) you can drink aloe vera (up to 8 oz recommended a day) and it may reduce those symptoms as well. Notice, I said MAY, I'm not a medical doctor. 

    There are just so many things that it does for you, the price then becomes a non-issue. I wanted to know specifically if it worked to help burn fat. I want to burn my fat. It does. It boosts your metabolism so your body burns the fat on its own. This was the #1 reason I bought the jug. I'll drink four ounces of it daily in my smoothie and use it to down my supplements such as the psyllium husks that I take, zinc, Dhea, and all the wonderful vitamins. You'd think I'd be 125 pounds and as healthy as the proverbial horse; I am not. I am closer to the size of a smaller horse though. LOL, if that counts. I have struggled with my mid-section for years. I hope this will help.

    About 12 years ago I remember drinking very herbal tea; I made it myself from raw materials, and I drank aloe vera juice every day. It was the smallest I had ever been as an adult after having the kids. I think I was 148.  I'll take that again. I'm 5'7" so that's not too much. I can do that. I promise I'll be a good girl, God, please, just do that without having to do all the damn cardio! I love walking, but with all the training I'm doing for work I don't have time. I just have to walk in place with my Bluetooth headphones on while I listen to someone rattle on about how to measure a house for drywall replacement after a flood. It's what I do for fun these days. Riveting!

    There you have it, aloe vera! I did it before, I can do it again. I just had NO IDEA how danged expensive it is. I think it was expensive 12 years ago too, but I don't remember. I was too busy working and traveling. I will forever remember Amazon's price over Akins though...not a hard thing to do. That, and going to the Asian market soon will be a good and happy thing. I can get the teas I need to make the herbals I used then as well. I would LOVE to be 148 again...OK, 143. I'd LOVE IT. Thank you in advance God....thank you.

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Font Thief!!

 How many of you knew, and be honest, that when you use certain fonts you are supposed to pay a fee for using it? Some fonts are trademarked, and copyrighted, and you can't use them without permission or having a license. It was something I found out today!! No, really, today!! I had zero clue or knowledge regarding the matter before this very day (in fact, about an hour ago).  

    I am writing another book, and I have joined several online self-publishing groups on Facebook. I know I shouldn't do that, so many people on those things are so freaking weird, but you know what, I have to put up with them, and they have to put up with me. I posted that I was looking for someone to take my Word document of 83600 words and convert it into a print-ready high-resolution PDF so I could upload it onto Ingram Spark to go into the book's exterior. I also posted that I needed an exterior cover created as well.  (and both needed to be converted to eBook)

    Well, I got quite a few people writing to say one of three things: (1) Some said they could do it, and they shot me a price. (2) Some said they could do part of it, but not the other part. Since I got both parts I was OK with that. (3) Some said I could do it myself. I started thinking about it, and I'm going to do that if I can. It's going to be a bit difficult for this old dog to learn that particular new trick, but I'm absolutely ready to learn.

    So, one guy who wanted me to use his company shot me a price of $999. (I laughed) I laughed because I already had four other offers for literally $200, $225, $250, and another for $315.  Why on EARTH would I use his service for $999?  He then told me I would be paying more because his company had the licenses needed to produce and reproduce all the fonts I would need for my book. That was just the weirdest and strangest thing I had ever heard  -- and I laughed again. I mean, it's real, he's telling the truth; but is he?

    Turns out there are licensed and trademarked fonts that if you use them you either have to be licensed to do so, or you need permission. Well, as one young man in Scotland knows, (Hi, Tex) I don't ask permission very often, if ever. I do what I am going to do. I may apologize, but I really don't ask permission. So, after digging into the matter I found that there are literally hundreds of fonts that are OPEN SOURCE and the one I'm using now is NOT one of them. I am using Georgia, but it's on this site, and this site has the license to share it. Oh, there you go. Loophole!! Well, there are a few fonts out there that are so close to Georgia that you and I couldn't tell the difference if we used a magnifying glass! I will be sure to use one of them when I download my book into the converter.

    The converter has a 30-day trial so I downloaded it, and I'll use it to download this particular book. Then, I'll buy the thing and use it to download the others if I am successful with this one. If I am NOT successful with this one I'll keep reading and studying the methods because others are successful and I will force myself to learn. It makes 100% sense to me to buy a converter for $59 and use it as many times as I want to; rather than paying someone $100 to do it for me.

    One woman I found told me she would do the download for $10 and the cover for $5 if I shot her the cover I wanted to use. SO CHEAP. In other words, I go to the app PAINT on my computer, upload a photo, use the tools to add text and whatever and she'll put it together in her converter and trim it up to the size I need. OK. If the new software I'm getting does that I may still give her the chance to teach me. That's worth not only my $5 but I'll give her more to train me. She's really funny too; nothing like me. We don't see eye-to-eye on any subject whatsoever except putting the screws on people who try to overprice their services. When I asked the woman why she charged so little she said she is trying to bring up her reviews, so if she can do 1000 or so books at $10 and/or $5 for covers, we'll give her great reviews. She's not wrong.

    This is a side note, but it's funny: on one of the sites I was telling you about, I received two (count them, two) separate comments about my post being "aggressive" and "defensive" I was apparently "offensive" as well. Could it be the TRUMP shirt I had on in my photo? I don't know, but when I re-read my post it was "assertive" not "aggressive" and it was "confident" not "defensive". I did take a moment to explain the differences between the two sets of words. I was met with a know-it-all who tried to argue a point with me. I asked her to back off, to understand that not only am I a Southern woman, we talk differently, and I am also a Professor of English. I told her if she wanted to argue car mechanics that would be OK, but not to try to have a battle of connotation with me. It would not end well for her. I signed off with "Bless your heart" and left it at that.

    Some people!!  Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and ask you if you knew about the need to be licensed to use a damn font of your choice. You may want to think about it before you add it to your website. Apparently, some of these font creators are hell on wheels!!  You can go about your business now, I just thought I would break in with a bit of new knowledge. You're welcome.

Photo Credit: Mocko Fun

"PINBALL" and "Of Kilted Love" Have Begun.

     When I write one book I am so excited about the sequel that I just start putting things to paper.  I need to pace myself, because I'm thinking very seriously about writing two books at the same time, one being the sequel to "Of Kilted Pleasure", which is titled "Of Kilted Love" and the other is the sequel to "Murder Book", and the title is "Pinball".  I'm literally doing that right now. I'm literally writing notes for both at the same time. It's hilarious and fun.

    I should probably watch myself, and be careful with the whole two-at-a-time thing. It didn't work out so well for the Dalton Gang.  I'm actually going to be talking about the famous attempt in "Pinball".  It will lead into the story of the Three Guardsmen, and that will lead to the murder of one of them, Bill Tilghman, who was a personal friend of  Nick Posh. 

    "Pinball" refers to the game of course, but also to the psychosis of the killer who has escaped the UK to bring his mayhem back to the U.S. where Nick will get another shot at him. Speaking of getting shot, someone close to home gets shot in "Pinball" and by the least likely person to do so. You'll just have to read it. I haven't actually written it yet, but I will. I have it in my notes.

    As far as Ewan and Aria are concerned in "Of Kilted Love", their lives will start fresh together, and no one asks them about the death of her husband James; which is a great burden off of them both. Ewan's anxiety kicks in and he nearly confesses to killing James, but he's stopped when Ginger literally bites him to bring him to his senses. Ginger is getting very old, and it is believed she bit him out of confusion; he decides it's time to let her go on to greener pastures. This is a sad moment in the book but will be handled with love.

    Aria realizes she's pregnant after she and Ewan have been married for a minute. This is toward the end of the book maybe; but the interesting thing is, James had always told her she couldn't have children. He was the one who couldn't produce, and he murdered his first wife for not bearing a child. This is a tender moment too, and will be handled with joy and celebration, Ewan will absolutely do things differently than he did when Tarah was carrying their child. 

    So much to think about. So much to write. So much to do. One thing I have done is buy little 4"x5" notebooks for each of my books. I'm writing notes in them, all the notes will then go online in digital form, and I'll print them and put them in another folder that I can sell someday as a book. LOL.  Not really, but it's a thought. I love these notebooks because they are made by Waverley of Kinloch Anderson. They are really pretty. I have seven, so far. I've split them up between the two series. I'll need more eventually, but for now, they're good. I truly love them and as I read the books I'll write notes in my notebooks to say what I thought of my books after I wrote them. I love love love both "Of Kilted Pleasure" and "Murder Book". I'm not just saying that.

    If I could pick one job to do forever, it would be to write. I don't care if I don't earn a lot of money at it. I'm not interested in that really. It would be great, but I would rather write than do just about anything else. That fact may be obvious by the number of journals and blogs I have. Just saying.  OK, so both book sequels have begun in that they are being pinned down and penned down at the same time. I'm breaking so many rules. Gotta love that. REBEL!!

Photo Credit: Pinterest  (Nick's Fedora)

REVISIONS: (I LOVE My Job)

     Someone asked me today if I would consider being picked up by a major publishing house after my book sold enough copies. The first thing you think is, "Of course, that's the dream, right?" but then after I thought about it, I decided I wouldn't. Nope. If I went with a publisher I would make a bunch of money, but I'd end up giving up my words. I'd end up being paid to do what they wanted me to do. I'd wind up like everyone else who does that; a tool. No, thank you.

    I mean, I suppose if I had a contract that was iron-clad that read that no one could tell me what to write, how to write, when to write, etc., then maybe, but they don't do that. They want to be in full control, and they give you the advance for that control. Nope. I'll stay poor and keep my words. I know that sounds so stupid to most people, but I won't allow anyone else to edit my books for the same reason. I don't want them telling me I didn't do it right. Hell yes, I did it right. I did it MY WAY! It's MY DAMN BOOK, and if I choose to use contractions, or allow (by mistake) a misspelled word, or even make a total fool of myself by saying this author wrote that book, which is clearly not the case; that is ON ME.

    It's OK if I stay poor. I'm not used to being rich. I may freak out or something if I had a lot of money. I can do poor. I'm very familiar with it. If no one buys my books I'm OK with that too. I write them to write them. I publish them to share them. If someone doesn't want to share them; that's on them. I made it available. I have read this book, Murder Book, four times now, because I'm making changes, going over it for editing, grammar, etc., and let me just say, I freaking love this book. That being said, I also really love "Of Kilted Pleasure". I have read it about eight times so far. I sometimes pick it up to see how Ewan and Aria are. I miss them.

    The characters are mine. I made them. They live and breathe, die, fight, and get married. They have babies, and they eat sometimes. I created them and I know them. If I wanted to, I could just write a book as if I'm in the middle of their time period, and they could carry on a conversation with me. It may be more of a fan-fic at that point, but it's mine to do; why would I want anyone else having control of it? I don't.

    Today, after reading it for the fourth time, I think I'm ready to set it down, and wait a week to read it one more time, go over it, and go through it one more time before I send it off to be published. First, actually, I have to send it off to be formatted. I'm in the process of interviewing folks who format documents into perfect bound trimmed files as well as EPUB files so I can upload them to the printer. They also need to create a cover for the book and the book for me. The formatting and trimming, as well as the cover, will be about $300, which is literally 1/4 of what I paid before. I was so silly to listen to people telling me that only certain places could do a good job. It's not true. There are dozens of Facebook pages full of editors and formatters.

    There are dozens of people who are out of the country who do the work for a heck of a lot less, but I'm going to be a bit picky. I want to see evidence of their work, and have some sort of promise in writing; references, that sort of thing. Still, I'm pretty sure I can find someone in the U.S., U.K., Canada, or even Australia that I can trust. I have an idea now of what to expect. So cool. 

    Self-publishing is way cooler than having a book picked up by a major house if you're like me and you're a complete and utter control freak. If you're wanting to be rich and famous, that's a whole other story; a good story, don't get me wrong, but a story that maybe is suited for someone else. My characters are just as alive, just as wonderful, just as giving, caring, and sharing as anyone J.K. Rowling or Mary Higgins Clark can conjure. If they aren't as well known, well, I know them. I love them, and they know that. That's enough.

    I think I may have mentioned before that I'm a little different than most. This is just one more way to prove it.

Photo Credit: Me.

MURDER BOOK - POST WORK.

     Interestingly, at least it is to me, I am now reading through the book and finding so many tiny changes and corrections that I ask myself how it is that I made so many mistakes just typing the words out. I think about a dozen times I must have added the word twice such as saying "the the" or "me me" and I laugh because when I'm typing it I don't think that; I just let the words fly out of my head. It's almost as if I don't see the words as words, but as dialogue and structure; imagery, scenery, etc.  I was so close to the end when I realized I hadn't really taken a moment to have Nick find a good home for his dog because he can't take the dog with him back to the States. No worries, he finds a good home. Keeper is fine.

    I used the "find" function and realized I had used the two-word phrase "would be" more than 140 times in the 82,000 words.  I went through it, and if I could use another word, or reword it I did. I kept 76 of them in the manuscript.  I used "favorite" 14 times. I got that down to 3. You just don't realize how often you say something; I don't anyway.

    I'm going through it now for its first real re-read. First, I went through it to be sure I had the spacing correct, then the dialogue needed to be separated. Now, I'm going over the dialogue while I read it to be sure I have the punctuation correct; there are ways to do it, you know. If you start a dialogue and in the middle you interrupt it by saying "she said"  you have to use the commas correctly, and let me tell you, I screwed the pooch on the first book probably, but I'm simply not going back to fix it.  Not after the fiasco I had trying to just correct the other issues. It is what it is!!

    I'll do my best to fix this one and of course all the others. Maybe if I think about it later I'll go through the first book and do the whole editing process for tags and commas, but really, most readers just don't care. I also used far more contractions in this book. REALLY...I used a lot of contractions, but it's because it's a murder thriller in the 1930s and the characters talk that way. They would say "wouldn't" instead of "would not" and so forth. It's cool. I researched that too.

    Basically, I'm going over the book at least 6 full times to catch mistakes, comma splices, spacing, and other issues. I am also checking to be sure I didn't say a guy's name was Albert then turn around and call him Alfred. I've done that. In the first book, I did that; that was one of the big mistakes I had to correct. I also forgot some of the names of the characters, the lesser characters, and I had to use the find feature again to check and double-check who I said had crossed over to Fife, or who I said had been so-and-so's girlfriend, it's a mess. I have more than 50 names in this book! Some of them only appear once, but I don't want to overuse a name.

    I was going to have a bad guy named Wade, but my really cool neighbor in real life is a Wade, and I didn't want him to think I thought he was a murderer. I chose Frank instead. I don't know anyone named Frank; not really.  It's hard coming up with names for some of the non-essential characters because I may want to use a cool name in another novel but I don't want someone reading this one to say I was lazy and couldn't come up with another name. I do, too!!

    I simply Google it. I go to "Scottish names for girls" or "Scottish names for boys" and then when they're Americans, I just pick names of people I went to school with, and mix their first names and last names up so they can't say I picked them out or singled them out for some reason. I'm so funny. I haven't talked to any of these  people in over 40 years, but I don't want them reading my book and asking "What did ever do to her?" LOL

    OK, well, I'll finish the first reading tomorrow, and be ready to set the book down for a week, before reading it again. I want a freshness with each reading. Then, after I've made the corrections, and it's ready to go, I'll have Jeannie read it, Yvonne, Tammie, Robin, Julie, Marty, Delore, Gordon, and probably Leti again, she likes to read. I'll see what they think and I'll get my friends to chime in on what they like or hate. I'm not going to change anything probably, but it gives me food for thought.

I like the book. I really do. I'm glad I wrote it. Don't worry Tex, I didn't use your image, name, character, life stories, or ....well, hell, sure I did, but that's OK. You come out smelling like dog piss at first, but in the end, you get the Librarian. Oops, almost gave that away!

Photo Credit: Edinburgh Tourist

MURDER BOOK - - IS DONE!!!

     ....and with that, it is DONE.  It is not finished, but I have ended the book. I have ended Murder Book. It is now ready to be gone through, tweaked, flushed, fluffed, stuffed, and propped. It will be wonderful.  Here is a portion of the last page for those of you who like to skip ahead:

"As the carousing increased and becameat one point all but venomous, vulgar to the core, the woman stopped justinside the door frame to ask a less bawdy patron if he had seen a man, a certainman, did she come to the right place? Her would-be knight pointed directly withouthesitating toward the ancient solid oak bar where Montgomery and Posh had takentheir perch. Standing now only feet from him, and removing one glove to reveal smalldainty yet well-formed fingers, the woman quietly spoke words that seemed tostop all time;

 “Hello Nick, it’s me, Elaine.”

 

The End"

Let me just say that writing this book was so much fun. I had started writing it in April, but after being terminated from my job, as I was before I wrote the last book I completed, I wasn't in the mood to "stick it to them" like I was when I wrote, "Of Kilted Pleasure".  This book was going to need my attention. I didn't want to rush it or blow through it. I thought maybe I would have to put it off until I was employed again, so that I could relax and write a chapter a night, pulling it out of my head slowly and with more purpose than just pushing a narrative; this is my first Nick Posh book, so it had to be perfect. 

Well, as it turned out, I started using Nick as a way to take my mind off the fact that I wasn't being hired. I knew I was training to become a Claims Adjuster, but with Hurricane Season still a ways off, I knew I had time to do the training and the writing, so I let the good detective have his way with my brain. Turns out he is really quite the nice guy! He's not as hardened or as brash as I first thought he would turn out to be. He has a sensitive side, though only a few are apt to see it. They do see it. The reader will see it and hopefully appreciate it.

That's it then.  DONE!!  At this point, it is 37 chapters long, 81502 words, and 215 pages typed on the computer using Word. My book "Of Kilted Pleasure" is 79,370 words I think, and 216 pages. That means I did more separating in the first book where the quotes are concerned. I'm not finished with the book, so it may turn out to be fewer words, more words, fewer pages, more pages. I can't tell you. I haven't gone through it all the way to make the changes. I'm just telling you it is DONE in that it has been written. 

Now the real fun begins. Woot!!

 

Photo Credit: FoodandWine.com  (This is the Sheep's Heid Inn, where the last scene of the book takes place.)

MURDER BOOK: I Just Killed a Man (in the book...in the damn book)

     Whenever I make bold statements in writing such as "I just killed a man" I feel as if I need to further clarify that I am a novel (fiction) writer and that killing people is something I do quite often. I never take my actual hostilities out in the real world. I promise. I'm truly one of the most law-abiding souls you'll find. I will however, if you piss me off, send you flying over the side of a cliff and then have some random stray dog piss in your face allowing the scratches and the bug bites to be naturally disinfected...in writing. In the pages of a book that may or may not be published.

    I am going to take a breather and eat dinner before returning to the book. I'm really so close to finishing it that I think it would be best to get back into the grove this evening and do that. I am at 74,000 words and I think the book will be around 80,000 so yeah, I'm there. I will also go back through it and take things out that don't need to be there. I will add stuff, fluff stuff, mix in about 3,899 more adjectives and if that's not enough, I'll find a way to make it really pop using more. I love a good adjective. I really should have considered using more than just the word "good" to describe that fact. Oh, well.

   I just pulled the trigger in the truest of ways possible in the book, not in real life, and ended the life of an amazing soul. He was in fact, one of my favorite characters and the purpose of letting him go see Jesus was because if I loved him the chances are that my readers will love him too; they'll be so very very upset with the bad guy that they will find themselves standing on the edge of their seats, not sitting on them, so they can assist in the capture of the bastard!  How could that guy die? NOOOOOOOOO...but he did.

    I'm over here crying because I have to arrange a funeral now. Actually, I'll probably end up glazing over it, and mentioning it, but not actually staging one. I only have about 6000 more words to go, and if I use them up talking about the different lives the man touched, or the cases he worked, I'll likely be there for two chapters and have to ditch the Scott Monument scene - - who would want to do that? Well, as it stands, it is now just after Christmas in 1929, all is not well in the City of Edinburgh, but they are making headway on these murders and they do have a few suspects and bad guys in custody. It may be time to plan Hogmanay!!

    Oh, look at the time. I have to run. I'm about to dine well with the kid and then get back to the grind. On a VERY VERY good note, and I'll blog about this tomorrow, I am happy to say that "Of Kilted Pleasure" has been corrected and is back up for sale. I ordered two today.  Woot!!  I made 10 corrections. It did cost me $25, but so very worth it. YEA.

See you soon! Next time I'll be able to tell you that the book is fully written and ready to be tweaked.  

Photo Credit:Four Guests, USA.