A Bonny Box o’ Books….

What a great song it would make…

The Blackbird of Kirthgarran is now for sale as a paperback and Kindle edition at Amazon. com. Link

I ordered some copies for friends and family, and what a thrill it was to open the box!

I held my book proof in my hands

I thought it would never come to pass, but I received my first proof of my book and held it. Years of work and this was the result. I was more thrilled than words could say. I carry my book with me wherever I go!

I’ve read it and fixed minor things, and resubmitted it to CreateSpace. This coming week I’ll receive my second proof and it will be perfect. (I hope!)

I had made a mistake last December and had set the dimensions for the pages for a 6 x 9 book in InDesign. I decided I wanted it to be 5.25 x 8, so had to go through and reset all the document sizes in all the chapters, checking for properly formatted breaks, the placement of fleurons when needed, and widows and orphans. I did another spell check and I’m so glad I did! Somehow a space became omitted in one place, and I found another typo—both were introduced  post-edit. It really pays to check and check again, even when you think you don’t have to. An accidental hit of a key can go unnoticed!

Using InDesign has been a learning experience in itself. I will have to write down all the things I learned about it so I won’t forget when I format my next novel. It can be very tricky, and I’m not claiming to be an expert by any means, but there are so many processes it can do automatically that I’m glad that I used it.

Of course, now that I’ve fixed all the errors I have to upload the corrected e-book files as well. I discovered Smashwords.com and have uploaded The Blackbird of Kirthgarran there, too. It can be downloaded in many different formats there.

If I’m lucky my novel will be on sale in paperback on Amazon in a couple of weeks. I wonder if I can possibly finish my Web page by then? And the book trailer—I can’t wait to start on it!

Here’s my cover. I didn’t use BookCover Pro after all. I used four photos for the image.  I will describe how I created it in a future post.

If you look really, really close, you’ll see a wee black bird flying in front of the clouds, on the left. That was just a surprising bit of luck; she came with the photo!

Kindle version:  The Blackbird of Kirthgarran

E-book at Smashwords in all formats

Layout and Design

I was moving along quickly with the creation of my book’s interior using InDesign and then boom! a lot of Web site design for other people took over my life and I lost my momentum. It’s been 4 months since I touched it. Now I am carving out time for me and my book.

In my head I have the design for the cover. I downloaded Bookcover Pro because it seems to be an expedient way to put the cover together.

Every time I look at my source photos/images for my book trailer (and forthcoming Web site), and meanwhile play the enthralling soundtrack I purchased from Shockwave-Sound.com, I am sucked into the whole world of Kirthgarran, it’s people, and its soul. I have a feeling that the trailer will be the last thing I tackle, but it will be a wonderful experience!

Summer is around the corner, which will help; free time to work on my “baby”.

Who is “Fenalla” you might ask?

Fenalla is one of the peregrine falcons in The Blackbird of Kirthgarran. I really like the name and decided to use it as a pen name for my writing blog. Fenalla in Gaelic means “fair shoulders”.

Save Gaelic – The Scottish Gaelic information site!

Created an account with CreateSpace

Slowly, slowly, things are moving forward. I read about different self-publishing companies and finally decided on CreateSpace, which is a blending of Amazon’s BookSurge and original CreateSpace. I thought of going with Lightning Source but chickened out because it sounded like you really had to know what you were doing with the bookcover and the inside layout, and I’d rather get a little help, although I think Lightning now has a little bit of support on its Web pages. It just seemed to me that CreateSpace would be a little more user-friendly.

It’s amazing how different a manuscript can look when you print it out in a different font! I did my research for what type to use for the book and decided on Garamond, which seems to be an old favorite. I printed out my manuscript in it, single-spaced, for a final read-through and I can see sloppy wordings that I couldn’t see before. In a way that’s discouraging, but a good thing after all. I’d rather find my awkward phrases now rather than when it’s in a proof.

I haven’t sketched out any more ideas for the cover but I have started my Web site, which seemed a difficult thing to start…but I had a day off yesterday and actually allowed myself to spend the time and create the home page, and template for the About the Author page. I’ve linked it to this blog. My actual novel page will have a different layout. You can find it at http://www.susanbrownhome.com . I am very happy about its progress. Finally, something tangible! It took me a while just to settle on the domain name. There are many Susan Browns in the world and they all seem to have domain names that I wanted. I have had SusanBrownHome for a couple of years now and never used it, and thought I would like to use something else, but I think it suits the best. Some day I will have my art work linked to it, as well.

I’m looking forward to Christmas vacation, when I hope to get a lot of my designing and reading done. I need to keep adding my progress to this blog because I am getting close, close, close to publishing The Blackbird of Kirthgarran!

Getting there…

I don’t want to look at the date of my last post. In this case I’m quite comfortable being the proverbial ostrich sticking its head in the sand! Here’s an update of my progress:

I sent my manuscript to a free-lance editor and have it back.
I have corrected errors, considered suggestions, and rewritten a few passages.
I am on my last read-through.
I’ve been gathering images I want to use on my Web site for the book, which has been so much fun! I’ve been drawing, and Photoshopping, and sketching out ideas for the site and the book cover. I’m planning to make a book trailer, similar to a movie trailer. I feel like directors of major motion pictures must feel when they are just beginning their projects.

I’m including a photo of my manuscript. My 6-year-old granddaughter looked at the pile of paper when I took it out of the editor’s envelope and gasped. She said, “You have a LOT of pictures to draw for that!”

I’d better get busy…

Heavy frosts in the air

Skye, 9 months old

Here’s a picture of my sweet little Skye, who is a wonderful friend and lively companion. This is her first autumn, and because I’m sure she can’t remember last winter I keep wondering what she’ll do when she first encounters snow.

It’s mid-October and I’m dismayed by the chilly days and frosty nights, although there’s nothing peculiar about their appearance. Donnie went to Pownalborough Courthouse Friday and spent the last two nights camping out with our fellow reenactors in 18th century tents. I went last year and froze almost to death, so I’m not missing it this year. I’ve stayed home to clean house, recover from a cold, and try to finish up some last-minute improvements and self-editing chores on my manuscript. Yesterday I played in Photoshop, trying out different ideas for Web site designs for myself. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the time to just RELAX and let ideas come, and feel unfettered by time and responsibilities. It’s a treat to just try creative possibilities on the screen without worrying about deadlines, appointments, and work. I’ve purchased a hosting account and a domain name; susanbrownhome.com. I’m excited, but know I will be putting a lot of time into my design. In any case, I can now tell myself “I have at least started!”

Me, dressed as George, my 18th c. reenactment character

Middle of “summer”???

This has been the rainiest, chilliest summer I have ever seen in my life. The rain—-day after day after day—-might seem conducive to a lot of indoor activities, but it does drain the spirit. Being on school vacation has been wonderful, but visions of summer that I entertained in June, such as bike riding, kayaking, sitting by the river on my lawn swing editing my manuscript, and floating in my pool, have all gone the way of the rain: soaked into the ground and sinking further every day. One or two brief days of sun here and there have been gorgeous and thrilling, but they do not last!

I didn’t touch my book for a few months. I went through a terrible time when my collie passed away (I had to put her to sleep on Valentine’s day). School was stressful. Web site design kept me busy. In April Donnie bought me a beautiful Sheltie puppy, who I have named Skye. I love her dearly, but playing and cuddling her take up a lot of time, as well. Oh excuses! There are always excuses! But I’m back into self-editing and cutting again, and doing even a better job, I think. I’ve worked on the desktop computer, the laptop, my PDA, and in print. The words look different in every form, which is an interesting phenomenom, and a helpful one at that.

Perhaps it’s STILL premature, but I am researching self-publishing companies with added vigor. I’ve narrowed it down to a couple, mostly based on Mark Levine’s advice in his book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Even made a phone call! I’m playing phone tag at the moment. The other thing I’m researching is editing, which I know I need. I’m on my final, final cut through the manuscript, and I estimate that soon I will have done everything I know how to do.

Sadly, the same thing happens to me every time I pull out my pages and begin to work on them. I don’t want to stop. I become absolutely obsessive about it. I’ve tried to explain it to my husband by saying that it is like being presented with your most favorite food. It sits there before you. You are drooling. You take a bite. You savor it, loving the flavor and the aroma, and then you swallow, eagerly looking forward to your second bite. BUT!—you are dragged away against your will (back to reality, chores, the details of living, your loved ones, your day JOB) and although you’re still salivating, and the flavor is still alive on your tongue, you cannot go back to the dish. You must do other things, while it sits and waits. Aargh!

No cabin fever as yet.

It’s February now, and the winter is presumably half over, maybe even more than half, considering that March is a melting month. I have loved living in my new house (my wee hoosie) with Donnie (my husband), and our dogs and cats and, yes, our tropical fish. The snow on the trees and the blankets of white cover everything, making the inside seem cozy, especially with a fire blazing in our new wood stove.

So, no, I don’t have cabin fever. I love being in the “cabin”. I’ve been hacking words out of The Blackbird of Kirthgarran and feeling very little pain. This is surprising, but apparently enough time has passed so that I feel unemotional and hard. When we went to Scotland a few years ago I prided myself on all the extra details I could tuck into my novel. I called them raisins and nuts—added to the cake. But now I see that I added just a few too many, and out they must go. I can see already that it’s picking up the pace of the book. My Scottish details and descriptions are being cut down to a mere whisper. At least that is my intention. I can’t believe I’m self-editing ONE MORE TIME!—but I want Kirthgarran to be as good as it can be.

I’ve also been reading a little more about self-publishing. And I’ve been considering what I will want on my Web site. All of it seems a little overwhelming but I know this is what I want to do. I have to send my novel out into the world.

Number Eight

I’m sitting at the computer with a kitty (Snippet) under my arm and thinking about the rejection e-mail I received from an agent today. It’s number eight. I seem to have either toughened up my skin, or confirmed my conviction that it’s too difficult for a new novelist to publish these days.  I’ve been looking into self-publishing even though I might be a bit premature about the whole thing. Apparently there are several companies out there that will print books and help with marketing (for a price), and I found a site that rates them according to the different services they offer. We are in a recession now and I can’t help but think that there’s very little hope an agent, let alone a publisher, will want to take a chance on an unpublished author, let alone one who has written a 225,000 word book.

I have to remind myself that I am an author! How exciting that is! My aim is to make the pages I’ve written into a REAL BOOK and I will do that either with an established printing company–and be paid for future sales–or a print-on-demand company which is relatively new because of the Internet–and be paid with royalties with each single sale of a book. Either way I wonder if it really matters.  All I want is to say: “I published a book. And here it is!”

I’ve been self-editing The Blackbird of Kirthgarran yet again, this time being more successful in chopping out sentences and paragraphs. I’m amazed at how much clearer my vision of the book is after letting it sit for a year and half. It’s scary, too, that I didn’t see things before–when I thought it was pretty perfect But at least I am cutting down on the word count, which is wonderful. Long dialogues need to be chopped down. And still, the goal is to publish. I will do it.