Billy Young's Blog, page 36

19th June 2009

Still not sorted my problems out with Lulu, I’ve been force to move my query to the Escalation forum. I don’t hold out much hope of them getting back in touch but have to give them a couple of days to see. It hasn’t stopped me finishing Bublos though, so that one good thing. My wife is reading through it checking for those little errors that I have missed. While she does that I’m trying to design the cover. With a couple of idea’s to play around with, I don’t think it will take me to long. I’ve got my graphics pad to help make the whole process easier, there’s nothing worse than trying to draw on a computer with a mouse. I know from experience because that was how Teddy the Bear was done and I did have to fight with the mouse to get it to do anything. Don’t get me wrong the pad makes it easier but you still have to learn to use it. It’s not like when you drew at school with pencil and paper. Then you looked at the paper and your hand was there, unlike with the pad where you aren’t watching your hand; as what you are sketching is appearing on the monitor screen, with your hand out of view. You quickly adjust which is good; leaving everything down to how good you are as well as how good your ideas are.

12th June 2009

What is happening with Lulu support recently? I got in touch with them last week over some issues that have been bothering me recently as well as sales that haven’t appeared on my account though I know I made them because I ordered the books myself and got them from Amazon. Yes Lulu has to wait for Amazon to tell them about the sales but other sales that I made in March have shown on my account that I also knew about, not from me though. It doesn’t garner confidence in Lulu, especially as I have now waited over a week for support to get back to me about my concerns. All of this is not making me want to continue using Lulu though they are cheap. With the Social finally sorting out my claim and me nearing completion of Bublos, I was hoping to get on with publication of my book. I will get on with finishing Bublos and see how things go with Lulu, though I shall be holding off in getting the book put to print. I’m not happy about it yet I feel I have little choice than to look at more expensive competitors that will require more saving. Still if I get a better service then maybe it is the way to go. I’ll just need to see how things go at Lulu until then.

5th June 2009

Had a break from working on my book last week-end but was right back at the editing on Monday. I’m also looking for quotes from the bible as headers for each chapter. So far half of those needed have been found; it’s not easy when looking for the right ones to complement the piece of writing. It is also interesting as I find things I had forgotten or missed when I last read the passages in the good book. I have had to use the net to help find some verses, whilst others I knew. The editing/proofreading is certainly helping improve what I have though there are still one or two lines that I just can’t seem to get right. I’m giving myself more time to work on it as with my current situation financially I thought it best. Once I have things sorted with the Social I can think about going ahead with publishing this book, which could be July though. Still look on the bright side, it helps me spend more time looking it over, sorting anything that needs fixing.
I also can give myself time off from writing at the weekend. Give myself a chance to thing about what the story may need. I got a game for my birthday, Hand of God Legend, which I will be able to lose a few hours with. I’ll need to check to see if there’s any online help, though I enjoy gaming I’m not a gamer by any standard. The main thing is that I enjoy it but I know there is more to life than banging on a joypad.

29th May 2009

I finished the first draft, which includes the epilogue. I wrote to endings, both are similar yet I need to make up which fits best with the story. I’ll take it under advisement once I let the wife have a look; saying that though she won’t get it till I’ve sorted out as many of the typo’s and other mistakes that I made writing it. It also gives me a chance to look over the rewritten parts to make sure I sorted any inconsistency problems, I’m sure I got them all; I think I did though.
Before I go over the book again I’m going to have a weekend of from it. I’m going to have a game of Civilisation and put writing out of my mind, as much as I can. Especially Bublos so that I can look at it with fresh eyes after the weekend; this way it might be easier for me to see where the work is needed. As it goes with money at the moment I might to have the funds to publish this coming month as I had hoped because the social has decided that they’re going to put my wife and I through the same hassle they did over Christmas. This has the effect that I may need the money I had saved to see us through the coming hardship that the brew is causing. I tell you if I was to stick a needle in my arm filling my head with smack, then I would get everything going including a bus pass. Yes they have an illness but it’s self inflicted so I have no sympathy for them, not when I have to struggle because I’m willing to work. Rant over as I’ll just have to hope I can save somewhere else and not need to use my book money.
Was out gardening this week again, mowing the lawn front/back. Got a very large bag of compost at B&Q for £2.50, it was reduced because it was burst open. As I needed compost to replant my seedling peppers I just had to grab it. What’s left will do for other things, the strawberries when they also are in need of more root room. 70kg of compost for that money though was just to good a bargain to turn my nose up at.

By the way I thought I would like you to see the synopsis for the back of the book:

In the book of Revelation it mentions a scroll with seven seals. What if this scroll was hidden on earth? When an old man dies in Liverpool his flat is emptied by Joe and his friends and a strange looking book comes into Joe’s keeping. Soon he finds what trouble comes with the book when he watches his friend Toby being tortured then killed before his eyes. A man he recently met rescues him from possibly the same fate. Soon he finds out the man that saved him is more than just a man and that those that are after him aren’t what they appear to be. Demons and Angels don’t really exist yet Joe now knows they do and the book mustn’t fall to the wrong side or it may spell the end of everything.

22nd May 2009

I’ve been out making up a gate to finish off the fence I built at the side of my house. My son and friend Mickey helped though I did the major work myself. I took a six by six fence panel, cut it down and then made my gates out of that. Yes you read right, I have two as the gap was just a bit big for one. Making it from a panel keeps it looking like just part of the fence yet at the same time keeps them light. The real test will be later in the year when the high winds come in. I think it should be fine though I might make sure by getting a or rather make a latch for the top as I can’t seem to find what I have in mind anywhere. It shouldn’t be to hard to get some bit and bobs to make up what I want.
I’ve done most of the re-writing of Bublos though I still have the epilogue as well as some reworking to keep the story consistent. Some issues crept into it as I added some content though it was only minor things that should be easily sorted. After I have that sorted out I have the next part of the job to do, proof reading/editing. As you can tell it’s not the most favourite part of creating a story, still it is important. I have to format it before I go forwards with it to Lulu for publishing, that’s not so bad though. I do hope to have it all done for sometime in June but that is only hoping. We will see how I manage to get on in the coming week.

15th May 2009

That’s me registered with the Jobcentre now. It was a rapid reclaim which made the whole process very quick and painless. Still I do hate it, signing on that is though I don’t actually sign on the dotted line till the 25th of this month. When checking for advertised jobs on the website I find little has changed from the last time I did so. As things go though I didn’t expect that much would be different after all it was only just over a month ago since I was last claiming unemployment benefit.
I’m hoping to get out this weekend and cut my grass. It seems to grow at an accelerated fashion this time of year; no sooner have you went over it with the mower, than you need to do it again. I was out working in the garden during the week, really just pottering about for something to do than actually doing anything in particular. My plants are coming on well though, the onions need thinning out and I’m still waiting on the tomato plants bursting into life. I’m sure that in the next week I should see the first of the pushing their way through the soil.
I’ve been working hard with my writing. Bublos is starting to shape up as the rewrite and editing of the middle of the book is starting to show fruit. There is still a bit to go as well as more of the old editing after I finish this reworking of it. It is still on track, fingers crossed, for a June release; which is what I am hoping for. Last night I redid chapter 15, which was 13 but with added content, it may need finishing tonight when I look at it; saying that it might not, I’ll just have to wait and see how my mind flows tonight.

8th May 2009

Phoned the Jobcentre today to get signing back on. Like most of us it’s not something I like doing though there is little option. As I said last week, my job came to an end on Wednesday. Now I start looking for more work or win the lotto, which is not likely. Anyways in the mean time I can get on with my writing though I didn’t do any yesterday as I was working on my garden. Finishing of the fence I was putting up. I’ve still got to put a gate on it but I don’t have the materials to do that or the money to get them, so it will wait till I can. My daughter volunteered to paint the fence as well as the hut which I got up at the weekend as hoped. She did a great job; my son helped at first but couldn’t put up with me telling him how to do it. I gave them both a fiver for the effort though my daughter did wonder why I gave her brother the same as she got. That was until I pointed out the fact that he had helped with the fence, mind if it hadn’t been for my mate Mickey I doubt if I would have got it up at all.
This weekend I’ll need to see if I can check on all the links from this site. I believe some have moved or become dead, so I need to check them all again and get them sorted. I also need to add some that I have been planning to add for a while though not found the time to get the work done. So a lot of fun as you can imagine messing about trying to avoid the frustration such things cause.

1st May 2009

Got told that my job will be finishing on Wednesday coming; I can’t complain to much as I did know it would be for a short time only. It also means that I get to work more on Bublos, as I’ll have the time as I look around for another job.
Got the posts up for the fence on Sunday as planned; tomorrow my mate Mickey is coming around to help me, again, to finish it. Hopefully the weather will play ball as it did last weekend that way we might even get the hut up too. I got paint for the fence and hut which I can only use if it’s dry, so I’ve got my fingers cross though the forecast is for showers. It should be fine, I think, to paint them if that’s the case. That reminds me that I need to charge up the drill for it will be needed.
Shopping last Saturday was more expensive than I had hoped, isn’t it always the case though but I got everything that I was after, as you can probably tell from above. It was a good day out, not the usual shopping trip the family makes, more one that those of us that like DIY or gardening would enjoy. As I ambled around the huge stores full of things that you could use to improve your home or garden does make you wish you had more cash to spend. Mind you could take it too far and that is when reason would have to prevail so you don’t, lucky then I don’t have more cash then.

24th April 2009

I managed to write the synopsis for the back of my new book this week. I shall post it when Bublos is closer to release as I still have some work to do on it yet, as you may know if you have been following this blog. I have managed to sort out some of the story and rewrite a little of what I needed to do, though I still have more to do. The middle is building up nicely yet Joe needs to interact more with the family he is staying with. After all they have been good enough to let him stay with them without question as a favour to Urim, who save Joe from a very sticky situation. Yes the main character is coming to terms with some serious problems after watching his friend murdered before his eyes. He has also learned that there is more danger in the world than he once believed, demons and angel are more than just myth. The secret of the book has also got to be revealed in some of the reworking of the tale I am trying to shape. At least I have the basics set out already so most of it just needs the polishing that I hope will give it more sparkle or whatever it is that makes a story good. Hopefully I can do this and that if you do get a copy you will like what I have done.
I have got some shopping to do this weekend to get some bit and bobs for the garden. So I will be off to B&Q tomorrow afternoon, taking the family and make it a day out. Sunday, if the weather is up to it, I get the fence posts up but it will be a week before I get it finished. That gives the cement time to set, holding the post solid as we get some strong breezes hitting the side of the house in winter; where the fence is to go. So a busy weekend ahead though I will still find time to write

17th April 2009

Though I was off on Monday I didn’t get time to rest. My wife and I got a new bed, when I say new I mean we were given a four poster by some friends. So Monday I spent building it up; not an easy task when you don’t have the manual, though I did have a hand drawn sketch. I didn’t take to long to get it up; it just tried to be difficult as you can guess. It’s a big king size contraption which is taking a little getting used too, all that extra space to spread out on. The first night I woke a couple of time thinking that I was about to fall out because I’m so used to a normal sized double. It’s a bit of a weird feeling waking in the middle of the night like that, I can tell you.
I also got a hut which I’ll put up in the coming months. It will give me some where to put the kids’ bikes, freeing up the hallway where they are parked at the moment. It’s not so bad as there is plenty of space in the hall for them but getting them out of the way would tidy up the space no end.
Another good week at work. Some new faces started this week to speed up production. Though this might shorten how long I have a job, the bodies are needed to get the order filled in time. This helps the business so in the long term may lead to more work in future, a good thing then in the longer term of things. At the moment there seems to be plenty to do for the next few weeks, hopefully though more orders will come in to keep us going as long as possible; fingers crossed.