Changes made

This evening was spent migrating the ebook of Bobby Carapisi to Kindle, for its ebook. It was being sold through them, but the group that set it up, Pronoun, is shutting down, in January. Not enough interest or sales for the titles they carried, I guess.

Anyway, that gave me an excuse to simplify the cover image...which was a lot more work than it needed to be. But I couldn't find an unflattened background so had to start from scratch. Which meant finding the original image somewhere on one of my thumb drives.

God, those things are a mess. Lots of repetition in saves, which isn't necessarily bad...but two of the same folder on one drive? That's silly. One of these years I need to go through them and sort them out, better. I had to dig through nearly a dozen to find the guy's photo.

I'm also fighting off a cold, again. Not sure if it's the same one and just sort of goes into hibernation for a while or what, but I started feeling it today and I'm now loaded down with Vicks and Advil and liquids. Felt better for a while but now comes a long hot bath to steam some of the crap away.

My niece is getting married in Texas, come March, so I'm using points to fly down and back. It's on the same weekend as the NY Book Fair so I can't stay long...which is my excuse for getting the hell away from that state, as fast as I can. Members of my family voted for Czar Snowflake and I don't want this to become a family feud in the middle of Krista's wedding. Not cool.

But, goddamn, I hate anyone who voted for that son-of-a-bitch.

Step by step...

Another slightly different rendition of the cover...this one with Adam seeming a bit more heroic and with a slight connection between him and Casey. It's closer but still no cookie. Maybe if I have Gertrude handling the '65...or put her lower so I can keep the '65 close to Alice.

Another possibility is lowering Adam a bit and having Gertrude at more of an angle, then slip the '65 into that little triangle space. Thinking about it, I don't like where his right hand is, anyway. I'd like it closer to her feet. And she does need to be a bit larger, to be in proper proportion  to him. Oh, damn...I made his left wrong.

Man...lots of changes to do, still.

All I can do is keep at it till it clicks, completely. 

Oddities...

I thought about working up an image of Adam's face, to see what I could do with it. Did it in graphite, then I inked it in and erased...but I like the graphite look better. Pen and ink works fine and gives me space to color him in...but I liked the feel of the graphite. The softness and fullness of the image. This turned into something out of a coloring book.

I think I'll do another one, tomorrow. Maybe a different expression and more of a head and shoulders, to show his suit is only half on and his shirt is ripped up. I still like the idea of the vines and characters, but this may change me. I may also try a thicker line, not this delicate thin black piffle.

Thing is, I don't know how to color over a soft pencil rendition...and the cover demands color for everyone, not just the background and vines. But I like the softness of that style, so maybe I need to farm this out to be colored.

I think I'll do one of the vines and characters, too, in a heavier pen. Then I could change the color from black to a sort of mahogany to match the feel of.

Hmm...I guess this means I'm settling in on a cover.

Is the media the message?

I dug through Shutterstock's offerings, today, looking for images to use and found nothing like what I wanted. I did find a great face for Adam and a decent idea for Casey lounging on a vine. Gertrude, I've already got. And I do like grape vines in their twisty-solid way so saved a couple images of those. I just need to get down to it and work up the art.

I did a first rendition of Adam in graphite then inked it in to see how it played, and I don't think my idea about having his glasses broken will work on the cover. They'll just be a blob in the artwork, like a patch over his eye. So I think I'll drop that idea.

I may also swap the shoe and shoeless foot. Make it more obvious one of his boots is gone. And his shirt looks too much like his suit coat. Or should I call it a suit jacket? Hell, I dunno; I don't even own a suit. Anyway, I don't want to rely too much on color to tell aspects of the artwork apart. It minimizes their effect, in my mind.

What I would like is a style like this, but I contacted the artist and he turned down working on the cover. Said his style didn't really mesh with the story. Which I can understand, to an extent, but at the same time, I think he's wrong.

I'd replicate it, myself, but I honestly do not know how. I've tried and my renditions look like crap. It may be I don't have the tools, really. Maybe a sketch pad linked to an updated version of Adobe CS or something. But his color lines are so clean, I'm pretty sure there's more to it than just drawing it or filling in like you do a coloring book.

Oh, well, art least I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the book jacket cover.

Getting REAL close to a cover...

I think I've found the beginning of my dust jacket for the hardback edition of The Alice '65. Something a lot lighter and more indicative of the book. The ratio is off on these two sketches, but that can be corrected, easy enough.

I'd use a sunshine yellow as the background, with bright green vines and leaves. Have Casey in a dress that matches the color of the original book. Adam will be in his ruined navy blue suit and burgundy shirt, one shoe on, one shoe and sock off, half his broken glasses over one eye. Gertrude lounging at the top, holding the other half of his glasses.

I'll need to play with the positioning, some more, and sizing. But this is close. I feel good about it, even though it's a bit busy. Hell, the story's busy. I might make the characters a bit smaller, to have more breathing room, and no tag line. Don't need it. Just the title in bold, gold letters and my name.

I can work on it some more, tomorrow. Right now I've got a headache, and I know why this one came on -- I pinched a nerve at the left base of my neck as I was getting laundry out of my car; I could feel it when I did it, and it's been building ever since.

It's no fun getting old...

lazy day...to the max...

I had an idea for A65 as I was getting into bed, last night...so worked it into the book, right then, and didn't get to sleep till 4am. Woke up at 2. Crick in the neck. Sluggish. Peed for 5 minutes. But soon felt like I was human, again. And the idea works a lot better than what I had. Less clumsy.

Of course, that shot the day. So I worked on paperwork and updating my finances...and think I'm still owed expenses for a couple of jobs from back in October; I need to see about that, because it's over $1300. And I did Christmas cards early, for a change. Get them out of the way.

I also did a bit of thinking on the cover and had some more ideas...but still nothing to make me jump up and down. I may do some workups during laundry, tomorrow. I need to figure this out.

And...I got into a fun fight on Facebook with a guy in Texas who refused to accept a transexual man was male because his birth certificate said female. The trans guy's got a beard and hair on his chest, but some places would force him to use the women's room because of a piece of paper. It was fun until he got huffy and blocked me. Texans, such buttercups, they are.

I think I'm printing up A65, again, to do the detail work...the polish and backwards check for typos and errors. It's easier...just not cheap. But necessary for it to be the best it can be.

Dammit.

Another draft done...

This pass on The Alice '65 does count as a new draft because of significant changes. Not in the action or storyline, but in the shifting of meaning and expansion of ideas. I'm at the point where everything is in its place and everyone is doing what they should to forward the story; I just need to do a polish for consistency's sake.

I tested the current rendition in a 5x8 format, for paperback, and it wound up being 206 pages long. Total word count is 65,220. That sounds good. Not too long to be intimidating and long enough to be worth a price of $10.95, I think. Ebook will be $1.99, as usual.

I'm kind of fuzzy-brained, right now, thanks to working on this all day. Another reason to go through the full book, one last time, to make sure I haven't screwed up the formatting and the look of it. I also need to figure out how to replace a long dash with an em-dash. I can't just cut and paste into the replace windows with the long one; I may have to go through and replace them one at a time.

I'm also wondering about my pricing...to an extent. I did a Secret Santa on GoodReads and got someone who wanted a particular book. It's available in Kindle, so I went online to send it off...and saw the author's charging $2.99 for a 97 page Kindle. Granted, that's in their format so it's probably a lot longer, in print...but I only charge $1.99 for OT and that's more than 3 times longer, according to Amazon.

I may need to rethink a lot of things, in the next few weeks...

It's never over till it's over...

Hong Kong is still being an issue, but it's out of my hands, now. Seems everything we did on two specific return shipments, last year, is not valid this year, even though we're doing everything else the same. The shipments came in with multiple dealers on a pallet and were accepted that way...but now we can't ship them out the same way because...oh, I don't know why. Their explanations make no sense.

So it looks like the two problem shipments will wind up shipping out like I worked them up, back on Monday -- each on its own pallet. My one real mistake was in putting a crate onto a pallet and forgetting to factor in that it would be charged an extra 100 kgs in dimensional weight. I thought that would make it easier to move, but it's not worth it for that much higher cost.

This is another reason my bosses should handle next year's fair. They can make decisions about how best to deal with this crap right then and there, and I won't have to worry about being caught in the middle or make what are claimed to be "unworkable" decisions.

At least I got back onto A65, today, and now only have about 130 pages left to rework. Then a quick polish. Then my proofing. And that is that. Then all I'll be faced with is figuring out a cover.

I can use the art Zan Varin did for the ebook. That's not as demanding and may give me a bit of breathing room for the final product. Needs a better font and correcting Casey's left hand, but that's easy enough. And the book is too big, so that will change...but the feel of it is right.

Maybe I'll do the paperback first, after all. I might be pushing too hard to figure out a great cover for the hardback's dust jacket. Maybe that's why what little ability I have is all but sitting back and flipping me off when I try to figure out something.

But I'll get there, dammit.

Home from the wars...

I'm not going to Hong Kong, next year. I'm going to suggest Hugh or Mary Jane go so they can make sure everything is done exactly like they want. It would be better, for all concerned. Let them wrangle with the Chinese way of doing things -- as in, smile and nod and ignore your instructions.

The move-out from the fair went well, but the next day I went to the warehouse and got everything in order, exactly like it needed to be...and our Chinese contact said we couldn't do it that way. We had to do it a different way. Their way. After discussing it for 20 minutes, I let them set it up to go their way...and got blistered by the powers that be because that is not how it was supposed to go.

So instead of a leisurely day leading up to my flight, I had to go back out to the warehouse, put the shipments back the way I had them, despite our contact not liking it and refusing to take responsibility, and then I wrote out exactly what information was needed where. I barely made my plane. I literally got to the gate as they were finishing boarding, still stopped to send an email with my updated information on it, and thought that would be it.

But no -- it's still, We can't do this, we have to do that. So my information was being ignored, as was the very specific and detailed cargo manifest sent to them by my associate, in Buffalo. I just finished a series of emails re-emphasizing that we want them to work up the shipments our way and that is that. Took up most of this afternoon. After I've driven back from Toronto and was ready for a nap.

I'm angry and upset at how this has gone. I don't like Hong Kong all that much to begin with. The food is crap if you don't like Chinese, which I don't. It's crowded and warm and, unless you're buying something from them, the people are rude or flat out ignore you. I've already seen everything I might want to see. The only positive note about this journey is that I get to visit with a couple of dealers I like and that's it. For one of them, Hong Kong is the only place I get to see him.

So I'm not getting A65 finished, this weekend. No way I can do it, nor will I let myself just rush through to make a silly deadline. Besides, I still don't know what the cover is, yet. Nothing I come up with grabs me by the throat...and who knows if that ever will happen. I may wind up with a simple bland shot of the original book and the title, nothing more. It seems to keep coming back to that...which bores the life out of me.

Positive aspect to the last couple of days is, I want the book DONE so I can get back to Place of Safety!!!!

Pleasant day and everything done...

Friday morning, I dropped by the Maritime Museum to check on everyone, and there were a few things that needed addressing. Not on my end but in preparation for the move-out. Overall, everyone was happy...me included. Especially since I got to see two of the book dealers I used when working up Adam, in A65.

One provided me with Adam's beginning manner, curious kitten expression and sweet smile. He's tall and lean, like a basketball player, while Adam turned out short and solid...but in a suit he looks just right -- neat but not flashy. He's also got that aura where, even though he never demands it, you know he'd love to be petted.

The other is how I see Adam at the end of the story -- buff, sure of himself, walking with confidence and wearing a suit like he's straight out of Gentlemen's Quarterly. Broad shoulders, trim hips, looking sexy as hell in a fitted shirt and slim-cut trousers. He's an alpha who's faced catastrophe with a Let's get through it attitude...so very British.

Both are extremely knowledgeable in their fields and have good reputations, from what I can tell. I've used what they know as much as I could. I'm tempted to ask another friend in the antiquarian world to read the book and let me know if I've got it right, but I can't them; I almost think they might recognize themselves and I prefer to wait till it's published before having to deal with that...in case they don't like what I've done.

Which is silly. Adam's like about 5'6" or maybe 5'7" and both of them are as tall or taller than me (I'm 5'10"). He worked out that way as an even bigger counterpoint to Lando, who's the perfect image of an American man in every way except intelligence and personality...and maybe even those, depending on how you view Americans. The contrast was needed so Casey's shift from being torn up at Lando's betrayal was shown better and made sense. It also adds to her hate for Veronica, who's already tall yet still wears 6" stilettos, forcing even Lando to wear lifts so he's not a midget next to her.

Something that's come out in the story, to make Casey more of a fully-fleshed character, is her concern with image. How the gossip rags have abused her. How she has to show the Hollywood world she was able to land on her feet after breaking up with Lando. What's left unsaid is how she feels that's more important than just letting herself grieve and get through it.

She contrasts with Adam's actions after learning his father was dead. He's 15 and winds up having to just get through it because his mother and a brother shut down and the other brother and sister are handling funeral arrangements and a burial plot. He's the one who makes arrangements for their father's body to be brought back to London.

Of course, I may be reading a lot more into my writing than is really there. I dunno. But to remind myself of what my obligations are to my characters, and to keep myself from taking an easy way out, I've re-read some of the critical reviews of my books -- the ones that pointed out what I can now see were lazy or inconsistent character development in The Lyons' Den and Porno Manifesto. The LD one focused on Tad and how I made him 3-D until the end, when he became a one-dimensional character; PM's was about how Alec never got past the superficial in looks when it came to choosing a lover.

I just hope I'm doing the right thing by Adam, Casey, Patricia...and even Lando and Veronica.

Sometimes efficiency is a detriment...

All was going well, yesterday, as I got ready to head over to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. Plan was -- get there at noon, scope things out, post my location numbers, meet with the fair organizer, then have the dealers' trunks show up and be ready to go. Talk about best laid plans -- as I'm exiting the hotel I get a call from the delivery guy that he's at the museum and where am I?

So instead of walking I grabbed a taxi and got there in under 10 minutes, and he's got all the dealers lined up ready to break down and be put in their booths. And it's not even noon yet. And inside, the booths are still being set up. And he can't stick around too long because there's a limit on how long he can leave his truck in the drop-off circle. Fortunately, the organizer is okay with us moving in early, so long as the construction crew can move them trunks if needed. What ya gonna do?

We were done by one, so I came back to the hotel and started inputting changes to A65. Got 3 chapters done before I began to zone, Still jet-laggin' here. But it gives me a head start. Now I'm about to drop by the venue to meet with each dealer and make sure everything is all right. Then I'm off to Stanley...

Except, the show organizer for the San Francisco Fair, next year, is in Hong Kong and wants to meet. I suggested this evening, after I'm back from the other side of the island, so we'll see how that goes.

I still have no intention of leaving my room on Saturday. I've been to Hong Kong enough times and done enough sight-seeing, and completing A65 takes priority...so unless it's required by the job, no go.

Now off to see the book wizards...

Greetings from the future...

Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead, so I'm writing this on Thursday morning while it's still Wednesday night in Buffalo. I feel very prescient...and may I add, comfy. The great thing about Ibis Hotel is, I get breakfast with my room and it is massive. Like the All-You-Can-Eat buffets in the US -- eggs, bacon, 3 kinds of sausage, cereal, oatmeal, baked beans, luncheon meat, cheese, 3 kinds of potatoes, lots of fruit, yoghurt, toast and muffins and jams and on and on. I'm treating it like dinner, since my body clock is still really on US time, and I'm set till this evening.

I've already done some emailing, this morning, and will be leaving for the move-in, shortly. Got a good sleep, albeit on a hard mattress; they like those, here. My only plans, right now, are to get my dealers prepped, drop by in the morning to make sure everything's all right, go to Stanley for fish & chips and a Guinness and some shopping, maybe wander the waterfront...and then spend all day, Saturday, working on A65.

I'm not really joking when I say my first...and second and third drafts wind up looking like this crazy-quilt hare, and that they begin to simmer down as I go through the story over and over and over. That's my method of writing -- throw in everything and work it down and adjust and add and cut  and alter direction until it stops being too insane. As it currently stands, I think I still have one tooth to hone away, and then she's ready.

If I can get all the changes input before heading home, Tuesday, I may try to do some more polishing on the flight. Then comes my own corrections editing process -- reading it backwards so I don't get lost in the story. And then...

Then I can start contemplating work on Place of Safety.

In Hong Kong waitin' on a hotel room...

This was a long flight, but I finished my red pen of The Alice '65 and then watched Baywatch to distract myself...and it was horrible. It took 9 friggin' writers to come up with that ludicrous piece of shit? It wasn't even on the level of a high school musical. Its one redeeming quality was how pretty Zac Efron looks in trunks. He bears no resemblance to a human being, but as a mannequin, he's nice to look at.

To wipe it out of my head, I watched Fargo, again. It's a pretty bleak movie, but well done and funny in spots while amazingly brutal in others.

Right now I'm marking time in a Starbucks because it's only about 9:30 am and my room won't be ready till noon...and I'm zoning. I managed to nap on the plane but not enough to matter on a 15 hour flight in a tight aisle seat next to a woman who needed to tinkle once an hour.

It's warm and sultry in Hong Kong, as usual. And busy as hell. And prices have gone up, a bit.

Hell, I can't think; I'll post more later...

In Toronto waitin' on a plane...

Pearson Airport is so much easier to deal with than JFK when it comes to international flights. Drive for 1.5 hours, park off-site in a reserved lot, breeze through security since I have a Nexus Card, and I'm at the gate in a very comfortable seat 3 hours prior to my flight. I've even got some Smart Water and access to Diet DP. It's like home.

In Hong Kong I usually drink Watson Water Green Cap and little cokes. But since I'm arriving at 6am, I doubt I'll be interested in those...except that'll be like 4pm in the States, so...who knows? There's a Mickey D's in the arrivals lobby; I may have a Big Mac before I snag a shower and head for my hotel on a super-fast, super cheap train.

In comparison to airports like these, those in the US are antiquated...practically 3rd world. It's an embarrassment, and I haven't even been to the serious airports around the world -- like Qatar or Seoul or Narita, one I would LOVE to go through...and which I'm being teased with.

We'll be working with the Tokyo Book Fair in March, something that used to be handled exclusively by Mr. Nitta of Yushodo Antiquarian Books in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, before he passed away. If we're going to be coming in on such a major fair, one or both of my bosses will be making that trip to lay the groundwork, which makes sense. They've dealt with international customs a lot more than I have, and may already have contacts in the country.

But oh, man...that would be fantastic. I'd love to see Tokyo on someone else's expense account.

Oh, well...this 15 hour flight will give me a chance to finish my last red-pen of The Alice '65. There may be a few rough edges to polish, once I have it input...but that'll be it. And it seems to be sticking at right around 65K in wordage...which I think is a good length for it. The story happens over the space of 72 hours and forces Adam away from his sheltered life back into the real world, so too much more would be...well, it would be wrong. But if all goes well, I should have an ebook available Thanksgiving weekend.

Meaning I would, technically, meet my deadline.

Heading for Hong Kong, again...

Today was laundry and cleaning out the fridge and ironing and packing working on A65 as much as I could and I'm not done yet. Still much to do. I leave tomorrow night and have to go into to work to finish paperwork and pick up all the papers I need for the fair and I'm already beat. I may actually wind up sleeping on the plane, something I very rarely do.

Quick note -- Pronoun, the company I published the e-book of Bobby Carapisi through is shutting down so I'm about to have to put out a new edition of the book. I think I'll change the cover, a little.

And that makes this a short post. I've got a sink full of dishes to wash, still.

Halfway done with the latest polish of A65

Busy day for errands -- dentist, shopping, getting a new battery for my car. The last one kept me in place for a few hours, but I had my printout of The Alice '65 with me so used that to work on it. I'm now at page 149 out of 302, meaning it's coming along. Tomorrow is laundry -- a LOT of laundry, so I may be there for hours, too, giving me more time to work on the story.

I'm also rereading The Elements of Style and catching myself in a couple of grammatical errors -- like getting cute with my sentence structure to the point of obscuring the point. I've also noticed a couple of my paragraphs don't work as well as they should, so I'm doing a bit of restructuring. Who knows? Maybe I'll get the book to where it's a fun read, after all.

I'm still nervous about how long it will take to work on P/S, considering the length of time it's taking me to complete a much less complicated novel...and much shorter. What I have of Place of Safety, right now, is over 120K in wordage, and it's nowhere near done, yet. I can see it being well over 200K words. My saving grace is, War & Peace is nearly 600K in length, and Catch 22 is about 175K, so I'm not totally out of the realm of sanity.

I'm still fighting to figure out a good cover for the hardback. I'm not thrilled with anything I've come up with, and Zan's artwork isn't right for the dust-jacket. Won't be able to do much about it till I get back from Hong Kong; maybe this break will give me a chance to come up with something decent.

One can hope.

Headed home...

I'm writing this on my flight. Jet Blue initially delayed the flight 6 times, due to an incident in Orlando, then rather than have to put us up in a hotel brought in a new plane, so we left on time. And the WiFi is free on the flight, so...

Today was collecting the last archives that needed to be shipped, from a storage facility in NYC that we were led to believe was an office building, and which pretty much doubled in quantity. I didn't mind; the reusable container I had fit everything nicely and offered a lot of protection for the cartons.

But twice on this job I've skipped lunch. I don't like doing it because it sets me up for a headache, but this time while I was repacking the container at the warehouse, I was able to use about a dozen small candy canes to keep me from starving to death. And voila -- no headache.

I got to the airport early but since I wasn't checking a bag I was able to sail right into Terminal 5 and chow down on a decent cheeseburger and onion rings. Good for the soul if not your breath, but I had gum for that, not to mention toothpaste and my toothbrush available.

I did some more note-inputting for A65 and think it'll be pretty much ready to go once I've input them. I feel good about the wholeness of the story, and how different aspects of it connect. I like Adam's character arc, though I do think Casey's could use a bit more clarity. I've tried not to explain what she's doing but have Adam react, and while it adds to her mystery and beauty, it can seem a bit perfunctory, at times. Still...she works.

I'll be interested to hear how women react to her.

Feeling so restless...

Dunno what it is, but my mood has gone from woo-hoo to edgy and almost pissy. Nothing satisfies me and yet I won't get up and do anything more than piddle around on the web. I could work on my new idea for A65's cover, but no. I could start going back over A65 to polish it up, since I brought my printout, but no. I could cast about trying to figure out what might interest me enough to cut the mood, but no.

Not sure what this means, but I don't want to do anything or deal with anyone, and tomorrow I have to deal with a foundation that's been shut down but that no one told us about when we agreed to go get the archives we need from it at a time that's ludicrous but wasn't asked for until yesterday.

I think I'm sick of people. I've actually have a pretty vile thought running in my head -- that Mother Nature is using man's stupidity about guns, in this country, to effectively bring about some population control. Weed out the fools who leave loaded guns around for kids to find and kill someone or themselves with. That way at least, their children won't have a chance to keep that particular gene of stupid going in the general  population.

Maybe that's why there's an explosion of gay men and women around the world; Mama's doing what she can to slow down our headlong rush into catastrophe, and never mind it's driving demagogs and assholes into killing people who've done nothing to them. Hell, the greatest democracy in the history of the world invaded a country that had done nothing to it and tore it apart, killing up to and probably over a million people. Sets a perfect example.

That leads me to think maybe we should have another war. This time wipe out a couple hundred million people and make some the of the earth uninhabitable for centuries...if not eons. Then maybe people would catch on to how poorly we're using the planet and start acting like our world means something instead of just being there to use and abuse...but I don't hold that much hope for humanity.

I think some of this pissiness stems from being stupid enough to read some tweets from Czar Snowflake's supporters saying crap like they love him and he's the greatest president ever and there will be a coup of he's impeached and removed from office. And I started thinking, "Fine, motherfuckers, make this country a piece of shit and you wallow in it. Let's see how much you like it when you get sick and can't pay for medicine or surgery. And when your jobs keep going to other countries as businesses use tax credits to cut down on the burden of moving while you don't get to take a dime off your taxes for anything to make up for it."

I hate to tell you this, Mama, but if you want to save the planet, you're going to have to bring about a new version of the bubonic plague and wipe our civilization for a few centuries. Give the earth time to heal, then sterilize the dumbest men and women so they can't procreate. That should take care of 99% of the problem.

Too bad you didn't start that with Czar Snowflake decades ago...maybe even before he was born.

Over the moon...

Oh, I am so beside myself, right now. Total fan-boy mode. I spent hours, today, handling the artifacts of a man whose meaning in history is without question. We're talking boxes and boxes of papers, awards and photographs of his. What's even better is, as I worked I listened in on the conversation between the archivists and donor's associate discussing plans and histories and details of his world...and I can't even think, I'm so lost in it all.

It kills me that I cannot name the guy, but there's still too much to finish and blabbing too soon would jeopardize the entire deal. I have to wait till everything's been carefully put away in its new home and an announcement is made about it. But I had to let out a little and hope that in a few months I can reveal his identity. And bounce off the walls, again.

What's especially great is hearing stories about how he dealt with moments where his creativity was at low ebb -- he'd basically garden, albeit on a larger scale than a flower patch. More like landscaping. Let his mind sort through the issues as he concentrated on more immediate tasks. And it turns out he was about as disorganized as I am. It wasn't till he brought on his assistant that his papers began to get into order.

This is one of the job's perks -- working with working writers and artists and scholars. I stay quiet and let them talk and learn more about life and how things work than I ever could on my own. Even dealing with an antiquarian library of books on British law from the 16th and 17th centuries makes me intensely happy. It can be back-breaking work and sometimes the people involved make things a lot more difficult than it needs to be...but it's like I'm helping keep history alive, in my own small way, and that makes up for a lot of turmoil.

I know my own writing will never achieve these heights, but it's still fun to see how the work of others has.

Had some ideas...

A couple of new possibilities came to me for A65's cover -- using the book as a background and having Adam peeking into it by opening the cameo image of Alice on the original cover as Casey watches him, amused. Another is him kneeling and peeking under the book as Casey leans over the top of it to watch him and Gertrude peeks around the book, behind him, curious.

Of course, I could do without Gertrude on the cover, I suppose. She doesn't appear until midway into the book...but she does turn out to be important. I think I'll work up some mocks to see if it would come together right. Of course, this would entail me finding images to use...unless I did them, myself. I did a quick search through Shutterstock but they haven't got anything useful, from what I can tell. I also checked a couple of other sites but nothing came close to the pose I'd want.

I'm in Roxbury, CT at the moment, prepping for that archival pickup, so I'm sort of working this in as I can. I'm in the middle of nowhere; had to drive 10 miles to find a restaurant and then had pork chops with some sauce on them that's made me ill. I didn't remember to ask if it has a chicken stock base...but I think it did. My reaction to anything chicken started right on schedule. I forgot that when you're out in the countryside, everything starts with that unless you go vegan.

It's funny how many foods have chicken in them -- be it stock or bits or "flavoring", even if they're pork or turkey or even beef meals. I had to stop eating a lot of foods I loved, like chicken-fried steak and turkey pot pie and enchiladas with mole unless it's made with a beef base. I can't eat potato leek soup unless it's totally vegan, and very little is in shops. I have to ask if a restaurant meal has chicken in it...and sometimes I get tired and forget to...like tonight.

It's tiresome and makes me whine...and that is all there is to that. now.

Sudden trip to NYC

I'm driving down to Connecticut and NYC, tomorrow, and won't be back till late Friday. All very last minute rearranging and exciting, considering whose archives I'm handling. Nothing more may be said till all is completed, but WOW!!!

I finished inputting the corrections from my editor, for The Alice '65. Not a lot but some pretty surprising ones that I probably never would have seen. She also wanted me to change some things that are the British way of speaking, which I ain't gonna do, but also got me to see some parts were hard to grasp, the way I have them written. I know what's going on but that don't mean a reader will.

Of course, one thing leads to another and I've already got lots of changes to some sections. What makes me happy is, she got the bit where Adam gets stoned even though I never specifically say that's what happens; I just have him going along without realizing until it's pointed out to him.

I'm happier with the story and delineation of the characters. Each is their own person, finally. I think there are spots the action goes too quickly, like I'm skimming over it, but overall I feel good. That's probably not something I should ever think or say; when I do I wind up getting kicked in the gut by reality. But it's a nice feeling to have, for a change.

Now if I could just figure out the damn cover...

Inputting first corrections...

I got a corrected version of A65 back and have been going through it to see where my mistakes are...and so far not so many. The editor and I differ on a few aspects of my style, but she noted a few things that would help make the action clearer and found spots where I input the wrong word -- like "that" instead of "they". (I think in that instance I had "that they" and deleted the wrong word during a bout of editing.)

This is why I ask for input and extra eyes to check me. I need them and even they will not always find everything that needs correcting. And like I mentioned, sometimes they make suggestions that just do not work for my goals. But at least I have to think about them and verify I want to keep things as they are.

I worked up another version of the dust jacket art and it's closer...but still not right. And my buddy, Brad, pointed out an error in the artwork Zan did -- Casey's left arm has a right hand on it.  Something was bugging me about it and the second he mentioned it, I could see it plain as day. Which spooked me, because I used to be able to notice things like that on my own.

I'm finding more and more I just don't see things until they're pointed out to me. Like notes I'm handed that have information on them that I don't notice until I ask the person about that info...and it gets pointed out to me. I don't know if this is an issue of age or just too damn much going on in my brain, but I'd like it to stop, already.

I'm hearing other people don't like the MacBook Pro's thin keyboard, and that makes me feel good. The damned thing drives me nuts. There is always at least one instance in each sentence I write where I will hit just enough of the key I'm aiming for and its neighbor to get both of them input into the word and have to go back to correct it. I could do that on my old MacBook, but nowhere near to this extent.

I also hate how difficult the new trackpad is. If I touch it wrong or click on it in the incorrect spot, suddenly I'm in another window or something's been highlighted and vanished and I have to Control-Z to get it back...if I notice it...or it's ignoring me. Like when I want to do a click-and-drag -- I have to click on a certain part of the image or file, because if I don't, it pops up a window asking if I want a definition, or it just opens the file.

I'm seriously thinking of taking the keyboard from my old Mac Mini and attaching it to my laptop, along with the mouse. Which would add 75% more weight to my rucksack, but at least I'd be back to normal...sort of.

So much for making my load lighter.

Searching...

I spent the day trying to work up a decent image for A65's dust jacket and have nothing even remotely close to being right, yet. The closest I came to finding one is this --

But the colors are bland and safe, and I don't think it really reveals much about the story. Or draws you in. Or anything. It's just...there.

A friend of mine came up with another idea for cover art, and while I like the look of it I'm still not sure, which means I still haven't seen what's right, yet.

Maybe it's because this is a lighter story than I usually do, and very straight. It's boy-meets-girl and told in third person and, despite the blackness of a part of Adam's life, is pretty much like cotton candy as opposed to the dark chocolate style of stories I tell.

I may need to back away from this project, for a while. I'm not going to make my Thanksgiving deadline -- self-imposed but still... I think I need to polish the book more to make it sparkle. That will give me space enough to consider other options for the cover.

Zan's art does a better job of catching the whimsy of A65. Maybe I should try a hybrid of that and my work...

But not now; I've worked myself into a headache.

Not quite...

I've been playing with sketches of the cover layout for A65, and it's not quite coming together. It's nice enough...but could be better. I'm missing an element that will make it sit well with the story. What that is, I have yet to figure out. I've got it for OT and LD. Same for PM and RIHC6. But...I only did adequate covers for BC and HTRASG, while the one for DM suits it but doesn't excite, and the one I did for French Connection Blues was too busy.

I'm not going to worry about it. The cover will come to me, and when it does, I'll do everything I can to make it look right. It's probably not smart to start on the jacket now, anyway, because I am doing another draft of the story. The bits I've reread are in need of smoothing over and maybe a bit of expansion, so even though I'm around 65K it may wind up a bit larger than that and I want to get the right size of everything.

I also want the story to hold together, all the way through. I want everything to connect and be real while not being obvious, and I think I got a bit carried away with being careful about covering all possible questions to the point the story becomes awkward, at times.

I'm also cutting a bit more -- specifically lines that I like but are just too Hollywood cute. Vincent has one near the end that worked well in the screenplay but is intrusive in the book, so it's going out.

Also, some of my sentence construction could be better, as could my paragraphs. I'm only adequate when it comes to English grammar, relying a lot on how good it feels and not nearly enough on if it gets across its meaning correctly. I'm going to work on that, as well. Clean clarity is what I want, and I'm still too prone to fussy.

So...maybe I'll get the book done by the end of the year.

Home, again...

I arrived late this afternoon feeling weird and now I think I'm coming down with a cold. The housekeeper at the place where I picked up the books was sniffling and coughing, so I tried to avoid her...but apparently not enough. Dammit. I do not need a cold, right now. No time for it.

Of course, it could be a touch of food poisoning. I had a second rate meal at Sticky Lips, a decent BBQ place in Rochester. The brisket was so fatty, I had to hunt for the meat. The coleslaw wasn't shredded but just sort of chopped and had chunks of cabbage in it. The server was all but pushing me out the door as I ate. Not a pleasant experience. I guess I won't need to travel 60 miles down a toll road for BBQ, anymore. I can get that kind of crap from Dinosaur, here in Buffalo.

Of course, all of this puts me in a foul mood. I've been pumping in the fluids and feel better, but ti's still a pain in the ass. And it keeps from doing anything creative because I'll just do crap and hate it later and berate myself and yap, yap, yap...shit, don't take much to get me to whining, does it?

I did manage to rerun most of A65 in my head, testing it for defects or inconsistencies, and found another note to add to it, for clarity. And as I added it...I started making more changes. So, that's that.
New rewrite once I get comments back...because, as I predicted, I hated what I've written, right now.

Dammit, I'm never gonna be done with this book...

Adam is alive to me, now...

As I was packing the books for this latest job, I was horrified at how poor their condition was and thought Adam would have a fit. These are books in German and Latin, two of his specialties, and are from the 15th to 16th Century, bound in vellum...and falling apart. OMG, bugs and rats have eaten away a hideous number of pages and chewed into the binding; there's foxing like crazy; and there's mold on many of them. NOT cared for.

I had to remind myself Adam's a character in my book...but that didn't really matter. I could hear him tsk-tsk'ing over them, non-stop. Anyhow, the books are now wrapped in tissue and bubble, separated from each other to minimize contamination...which is probably silly, at this point, considering they were all in the same bookcase. But it made me feel better.

As I was working, I realized a minor issue hadn't been addressed in A65 so made a note about it to input later. And the more I think about it, the more like like the simple approach to the cover so will start prepping that, this weekend.

I'm popping down to NYC a week from Friday and then the following week is Hong Kong. No time to do any writing for NaNoWriMo so I'm blowing it off, this year. A65 is more important.

I'm currently at a second-rate Best Western in Albany. Driving back to Buffalo in the morning after a bit of sleeping in. I'm feeling the need of some decent barbecue, but the best place in the area is in Rochester and that's about a 4 hour drive from here. I'm not big about having late lunches...but I'll think about that tomorrow.

Now it's time for a hot bath.