Category: editing

Book 17. Part Three. 8

And here I am, ten days later. Been thinking a lot while prepping Daughter #1 for her Hokkaido internship then getting Daughter #2 installed in her 5th-floor flat, two hours away. And it’s a 5th-floor with no elevator for an old man with hypertension. But I’m getting back into the story and realizing revisions are going to be as important as new material.

Below starts with a bit of a re-write of the last post as I thought of the “write a letter” thing a few days later. It happens. I’m also thinking about moving the entire “imperial family back six months late” to the end of Part Three. I’ll know more when I get there.

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Shorter of Breath and one day…

For Lent, it appears my body has given up “being healthy.” And it is mostly my fault through stress.

Even with my Little Legionary at home for a few months, I discovered that while I think about her when she’s deployed, I don’t worry about her as, what can I do? She is hundreds or thousands of miles away. But when she’s home and out past midnight at Planet Fitness or the gun range, I worry constantly. Then, Daughter #2 is graduating college in five weeks and packing for her internship in Hokkaido, Japan. It is also Tax Season here in the US, and I am increasingly angry about paying taxes to keep Country 404 – Ukraine – afloat as well as having the military and political might of FUSA exist only for the purpose of spreading gay sex.

And, worst of all, was my “three books in three months” personal challenge. I made it with two, “Regent” and “Imperial Entanglements” (which should be out by the end of this week), but could not complete the third. Worse for my health was that I broke the “write drunk, edit sober” rule as I was never not writing, thus I was drinking way too much.

With 3B3M over, I’m reverting to my more traditional format of waiting until they show me a scene I can write down rather than forcing things; some of what I wrote in the last month is pretty ungood. Further, I’ll be posting regular updates here as I have for years past. That will help both me and the pacing of the story.

Starting with that, expect a general summary of Part One of Book #17 shortly. I plan to backtrack and make posts of Part Two as it will allow me to both correct and flesh out the sections I rushed through.

Thank you for your patience.

Buy Physical Books

Hello, all. Nearly finished with the copyedits for “Imperial Entanglements,” but saw this bit of news come across the transom. It is one of the main reasons I have always pushed for physical media: hard/paperback books, Blu-ray discs, old CDs… Any electronic format is subject both to alternation and deletion; a form of clawback (which can also be done to your ones and zeros in your bank account).

Does it cost a little more? Of course. But then you own a piece of someone’s mind forever, not just until some #woke nitwit decides you or a creative is guilty of Badthink. Enjoy.

Happy February

In the US, it’s the shortest month for a reason.

Just as a clearinghouse update, here’s the news: my copyeditor has returned the blood-soaked body of “Regent” to me. I wanted to begin implementing editorial changes last weekend but remain focused on writing – imagine that. He also is in possession of “Imperial Entanglements,” but since I’ve not moved on what I have, that’s not urgent. The description for both of those are in the mind of my cover designer; not heard from her since Sunday so I’m hoping she’s not frozen in her central German home.

Work on “New Russia,” and the more I think about it, the less I like that working title; I’ll give it time, continues. From cutting my way back about 2000 words to 8000 and restarting the story, I’m now just over 14,000. I’ve introduced Canadian Lt. Eloise Patel from part two of “Obligations of Rank,” as well have touched on her non-relationship with “Robert Hardt.” There is still much Russian Army internal politics I do not get, so once past the next one or two scenes, I may have to take a day for research and notes. I remain convinced I can get the raw MS to my copyeditor by the end of March, which shall count as a win for my “3 Books in 3 Months” challenge.

Not confirmed yet but I may be hosting a panel at Imaginarium about Expert Systems (not AIs; the first person to say that gets the noose) in writing and graphic arts. The title should be “St. Tay, Pray for Us.” Understandable to any regular reader here.

That’s about it for now. Back to Manitoba. It simplified things when I realized Winnipeg is under the ice already, effectively cutting off central Canada from eastern Canada. I’m sure the Russian Major General breathed a sigh of relief when that overhead imagery came in.

Champlain Colours

This is a little “exposition-y,” but a reader will need to know a bit more about Robert and his relations. I suspect that, being a “normie,” Robert takes things a bit more seriously than his gifted brothers and sisters. And as a brand-new imperial family who are, as Aurie admitted, “making things up as they go,” and in a hard neighborhood, it would take a certain hardness of mind and spirit to stay sane and effective.

Having written the next, Ticonderoga, scene last night, I realized this morning I’m going to have to re-write it. Things such as that come with the job. Much easier on a laptop than with pen on paper, though.

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The Colour of Politics

A few days ago had my laptop not working. Not quite a “Blue Screen of Death,” but more a Blue Screen of Imminent Doom. I was able to boot to a flash drive and verify my data was intact, but that was all. Not wanting to make matters worse, I passed it on to an IT guy I know. He was able to reload Windows past the \BCD error but pointed out that at seven years old, I’d best start planning a new machine.

All data is now re-backed up on a remote HDD and I’ve ordered another laptop. I do not want to reload everything on this one just to do it all again on my new one in a week, so these updates will fall away for the next ten days or so. I’m still writing – can’t stop, or I’ll die, but I’m using Word 0.1: pen and paper; I’ll have to retype everything! First World Problems! It’s also so much slower… I’m making more notes than dialog as I cannot scribble fast enough: Reina’s demands about Mars, the Empress’ change of plans with Edward, Aurie now on her own, and – as I suspected – the Minor Powers, Canada, Mexico, Texas, smell blood in the water. All when we now know that Aurelia has a dangerous, violent streak. Not sure what Colour’s “come from behind home run” might be, but I’m counting on her.

As you can see from the story text, below, this is from WordPad. So, the formatting is completely different. I’ll do better when I get my new machine. And give her a name. What? Of course I name my machines… don’t you?

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Still alive. Plus: editing

Yes, I dropped off the radar again. At DayJob, the IV Room assignment has become a punishment detail, what with all the drips for the vent patients we’re killing (avoid hospitals, everyone). At home, much better but just as busy: That short story I wrote in October, which was growing into a novella in November, has metastasized into its own novel, meaning over the last three weeks I’ve put down about 15,000 words.

Which all ground to a halt yesterday evening. I’d a few pages for the opening of part 2, but the main character, Allen, is presented with a nigh-well insolvable problem. Until I think of how he can solve it, nothing to type.

In the meantime, here’s an ad and a link to my copyeditor. The man is efficient and reasonably priced. I have relied on Mr. Zimmer for, what, five of my novels, now? And hope to continue to in the future.

Fish and Shrimp Radio Waves

The good folks at The Star Chamber were having an open lines night. I was just following along with a few lines to their Chat Room when they foolishly wandered onto a topic I found relatable. After all these months, I would have thought that the host would know to recognize at least my Area Code and block all numbers from there, but no… once again they wagered their reputations on letting go live. The triumph of hope over experience.

I wander in almost exactly at the 1:15:00 mark and babble for about eight minutes. Once off, the hosts try to recover from my verbal Molotov Cocktails. It was fun.

New book, in process

Finally settled on a name: Obligations of Rank. Got the copyedit back and just now finished implementing those changes. Rattled the cage of my cover designer to move things from the back burner to front. All in all, coming together nicely.

Wasn’t sure if I needed to add maps to this one and ended up adding two: one of central Kentucky, as that story moves around a bit and I don’t want the readers to get lost. The other is just to illustrate the progress of the Martian terraforming project. I also had to update the stemma as there are just too many family connexions to keep track of.

If all goes well, it should be out for Thanksgiving in the US; the third week of November.

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Podcast 8: Investing in your work

A more technical discussion this time, directed at new or aspiring writers, to one, not think you will be a millionaire one year from now, and two, that if you do want that chance, your book better look as best it can on the outside and inside. That means spending money on cover artists and copyeditors.

As I say at the closing, if anyone has questions or comments or wants more information about what I’ve mentioned, please let me know in the Comments.

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My current and recommended copyeditor: Stephen Zimmer.

My current and recommended cover artist: Labelschmiede.

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