Oh, well...the text will be right in the book...

I heard from BookLife that they cannot update my submission for reviews, but swear that the typos won't matter in the review. We shall see. My one real consolation is, this book will be tight once it's in print. I may miss one or two, but I remember books coming out from major publishers that had notes added to them to state "this line on page 225 should read..."

Erratum was not unheard of, before. I think this is my favorite reference to it:

Of course, even the first time I saw this I knew Ben Hur wasn't published in 1860, but the duplicated line might be correct. Mistakes are not uncommon.

The Alice '65 is based on the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland being withdrawn because the illustrator hated how his work was printed in it. Which wasn't so much an error, really, but the artist just being difficult. Still...the fact that only 24 are known to exist makes it very valuable. Which fits.

Maybe that's what'll happen with APoS. Early versions have an unseen error and I find it and change it and the first ones become collectors items. Maybe.

It's good to have dreams.

Weary...

I'm not feeling good; some kind of upper-respiratory infection is going around and I got it. Not Covid; I've run 3 tests and all are negative. But I've coughed myself into a headache, and the only thing that seems to remove the ticking in my throat is drinking Dr Pepper, since it's carbonated and is like scratching that fucking itch. Gargling with Listerine diluted in half does help, but not all that much. However, doing that I don't need to pee every hour on the hour.

I managed to get through more of APoS-Derry's backward proofing, and it seems the closer I get to the beginning the fewer typos I find. Probably due to all the times I reworked the first chapters to work with the last. I have 9 left. I've been inputting any corrections I make on the ebook format of the novel, so it will be ready to upload to BookLife to replace the one that's currently there. 

That's such an embarrassment. I should have waited till I did this before sending it in for reviews.

This shows why I'm a bust when it comes to fixing and promoting my work. I should hire someone professional to do not only the proofing but also some editing. Someone to point out when I get repetitious or inconsistent in the story.

It's said that Hemingway didn't become a great writer until he worked with Maxwell Perkins. Same for Thomas Wolfe, who was known to love his own writing, unlike me. Perkins was an amazing editor who could catch the gist of the stories and would argue with his writers and fight to help them make their work even better. Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Wolfe...all their greatest books had his fingerprints all over them.

I need a Maxwell Perkins.

Jobs, jobs, jobs...

I'm off to LA on Saturday and another job came through today, out there. So I'm jammed with work, Monday-Friday, with my flight returning to Buffalo on Friday night. One is on Mulholland and damn near impossible to get to, easily; one is in Sierra Madre, which is really more of a pickup and single pack; one is just making sure boxes go into bins properly for transport.

Wonderful. I would be recuperating for the rest of the month except I'm flying to San Antonio on the 20th and dealing with family till the 26th. Glorious. I'll need till March to get back in gear.

I learned, today, that Direct2Digital POD will be just as obnoxious about erotica as Ingram. They definitely refused to set How to Rape a Straight Guy up for print and distribution and sent me this explanation in response to my query. None of which is in their Terms of Service. Fucking asswipes.

I mean, WTF does mainstream erotica mean? Danielle Steele romances with a couple of bad words in them and intimations of sex?

I can still get HTRASG printed up for me, if I want. And I can sell it, myself. But I'm not set up for that. It's irritating, but there it is. I guess I can think about it...but not right now. I need to finish APoS-Derry.

Most of the day was working up my new schedule, ordering materials and making sure I had everything I needed as well as contacting the clients to verify next week's business. I still got through more of my backwards proofing of APoS...and found two more typos. Again, easy ones to miss. One word was in singular when it should have been plural, and the other was the wrong tense.

I also found I'd inadvertently identified a tea shop with the same wording, as if it was a new place for Brendan and Joanna, twice. They were separated by a chapter so again, easy not to notice. Cut the second one that's in the story.

Dear God, I'm suck a fuck up when it comes to typos and mistakes.

Backwards is good

I'm going backwards through APoS-Derry, one page at a time, of course, and have found three more typos. This time it's two words jammed together without a space between them, two words conjugated without an apostrophe, and a missing period. All very easy to overlook. At least it's getting better.

The problem with doing this is I've decided to cut a bit more. In and of itself, that's not a big deal since I've yet to set it up for print. But I have submitted it for reviews and now may need to update the file I sent in. Don't want reviewers whining about typos and the book seeming unedited.

I know I should have done this before I did that. Such is life. One of these years I'll learn how to do things right the first time. Or not.

Got an email from D2D POD saying they didn't want to offer HTRASG in their catalogue. I've asked them why, since it doesn't violate any of their stated limitations and am waiting on an answer. I pointed out Amazon still offered aftermarket copies of the book, so it's not banned by them. They have that as a deal-breaker; if Amazon says no, it's no way in hell.

I'm just so fucking tired of this puritanical bullshit happening all over the US. I don't like what you write so I won't let anyone read it. Fascist fucks. I get that D2D is a private company and it can decide for itself what it will and will not offer in its catalogue, but you should be up front that your so-called erotica section is very limited in what is and is not acceptable.

I went through a lot of trouble to set the book up in their system, and would much rather not have done so if they're going to be dicks about it. And you can rest assured, I will make damn sure, if they still say no everyone in the writers groups I belong to on Facebook will know about it.

Dunno if that'll work to change their minds, but I got Amazon to back down the first time they banned HTRASG. Maybe again?

Got a cold...

I think. I took, a covid test and it came up negative. Taken another one and waiting for it to finish. My feeling is, I stirred up some dust and it's messing with my sinuses and given me a touch of bronchitis. But we'll see.

Today, I set How to Rape a Straight Guy up with D2D POD. Seems if you use a PDF for the text instead of Word, it maintains its formatting. I'm waiting for the proof...and word as to whether or not they will offer it; they might not...then I'm ordering a physical copy to see, before I allow it to be offered. It's going to be limited in who will carry it due to the sexual content. If I had Curt just killing people, that'd be fine. Any library or book store would be happy to offer it. But two men having sex? No can do.

Doesn't matter that it's rape, in the book. Books with women being raped and with incest are available on library shelves and carried in B&N and the like. It's insulting, but it's how we are, today. I ran into that when Amazon did its first ban of the book, back in 2010. They carried the Flowers in the Attic series, which has incest and a baby born from it, and Wild Orchid and such, but those were offered by major publishers who could fight back.

I think they were surprised at how hard I fought them on HTRASG. And that I refused to give up. They finally agreed to offer it in paperback but not Kindle, mainly because they were too lazy to do an adults only section, back then.

I also worked up an ad for Rape in Holding Cell 6. I've rather neglected pushing that book. That's inappropriate. It's got a wide-ranging story and is the prelude to The Vanishing of Owen Taylor, so needs to be done up right.

Another negative reading. One might be false but not two. Cool.

Full dust jacket...

I worked on this, today. Getting it as close to done as I can. I'm leaving space for  reviews that might come in by the end of the year. Of course, if they're really bad I may make something up. We'll see how it goes.

I like the general look of the dust jacket. Normally, publishers full-justify the synopsis on the flaps but I think the left-justify fits better with the book, overall. What I'm showing here is the third version. The first two were okay enough but this one is it, I think.

The good thing is, I won't need to finalize it till the end of December, so I might still make changes.

Now I can get started on my backwards proofing of APoS. After realizing my version of Word might be part of the reason for so many typos, I especially need to verify everything is in order. Again, I have time...though not all that much. Next Saturday is leaving for a week-long set of jobs in LA and then I'm going to Texas for Christmas. Oh...my...

I'd rather stay home.

I almost got a job in London from someone I've done work for on a few occasions, but it got to be sounding sketchy. Hand carry a small work of art to a university. That can be really tricky since universities usually have their own brokers to handle imports. Plus, duty is due on art, not to mention Customs fees...and I got the feeling it was being sent undervalued, which is a very big deal if Customs catches you.

So backed away. Dammit.

What did I do today?

I honestly have no idea, except I dismantled by Mac Mini, answered emails, and watched an old episode of Midsomer Murders that I didn't really like. And by old, it was 2nd or 3rd season and written by someone out to get even for slights in boarding school. I cleared my recycling. Watered my plants. Made blueberry muffins with pecans. And the rest is just blank...like I went into auto-pilot.

Oh, I did get my LCCN from the Library of Congress, for APoS-Derry. That means when I do publish a hardcover copy of the book I have to send them a copy and it will be part of the LoC's collection. I'm quite pleased about that.

Thanksgiving is early, this year, so I keep thinking we're into December when we still have a week. And then I remember I'm leaving for LA a week from tomorrow...and may be there longer than I thought because another job popped up that I will need to deal with. Nothing major, just make sure bankers boxes are packed into a D Container for shipment across the country.

I've got several things I want to get done before Christmas, but cannot make myself face them, just yet. So I'm coasting along.

Aw, fuck it. I'll get everything done when it's done. I worry about self-imposed deadlines too much. The only thing I really have to do by a certain time is a sketch of our grandmother's house in San Antonio, for my sister in Aransas Pass.

We lived there a lot of our lives, off and on. Nana bought it in 1941, once she began work at the Nix hospital in the newborn nursery. She had to do it through a savings and loan because she was a divorced woman and no regular bank would deal with her, back then.

There was no fence, she had a mimosa tree in the yard by the driveway and an oleander bush under her front window. It was a cranky place on cedar stumps for a foundation that had to be reset every 5 years, and was painted white with dark gray shingles. She sold it when she realized her cancer was inoperable and incurable, and passed away not three months later.

But that's what sister-san wants for Christmas. Shit...I don't even have Christmas cards, yet...

Damn...

I did the last of a read through of CK and found a couple more spots where letters had been dropped from the text, but were correct in the printed book. And...one where a word was singular that should have been plural, which was in the printed copy. So now it's done and in a PDF and I'm beat so checking it over, tomorrow. This time just making sure the page numbers are in order. It's a holiday weekend. Nothing's getting done till Monday, anyway.

I got so engrossed in getting it done, I almost missed Thanksgiving dinner. I'd planned to make a green bean casserole and cornbread to go with the turkey slab and mashed potatoes I had, but wound up hungry so just heated everything up and made a quickie salad from a beefsteak tomato and cucumber. And had a beer. Gravy on the turkey and mashed potatoes was courtesy of a can of Campbell's mushroom soup, and it was craisins for the cranberries.

I made myself eat it at my table instead of my desk. It was nice. So easy and quiet. And I do like Shiner Bock. Now I'm having tea and contemplating what's needed for tomorrow. It's time to remove my Mac Mini from my desk, for example. I can do Photoshop on this laptop so that little beast is just taking up space.

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was nice and non-confrontational. I just had to repost this...

WTF????

I don't know what happened, but when I adjusted Carli's Kills into a PDF to upload to Ingram Spark, it wrecked my Table of Contents. Those numbers are not correct.

I didn't notice until I got the proof back. Now I'm going through the whole book to make sure everything is all right. Truly freaked me out, but I looked at copies of the book I'd had printed, before, and it was fine in them...so this is just some issue with the document.

This is me and electronics. I came so close to just automatically approving the proof because I've never had a problem with it, before, but noticed the numbering almost by chance and now I'm paranoid like you would not believe.

The next time I shift this Word text into a PDF, I'm doing it through the printer to see if that is better. I may even do it on the company PC, to see if that kind of computer works.

There was a car wreck at the Rainbow Bridge going into Canada and the right wing was screaming it was terrorism...only it's just a wreck. A middle-aged man in a $300,000 Bentley had a medical incident or did some drugs and lost control and is now dead. And places like Fox News and the right wing scum who love to blame everything in the world on Democrats almost seem disappointed it was not terrorism. And not one apology for their fake hysteria.

God, sometimes I'm ashamed to be part of the human race.

Down day...

And by down I mean emotionally. Had to handle a couple of things for the upcoming jobs in Los Angeles then had a followup eye appointment to check on this floater I have in my right eye. Seems to have stabilized, but my ophthalmologist says it's permanent and probable I'll wind up with a similar one in my left eye; that's how these things usually go.

That knocked me off center. I don't want to have to worry about going blind. That would destroy me. I'm set to go back in six months instead of a year, to keep watch on it.

It was raining steady and cold, and my neck was starting to act up. I have psoriatic arthritis in the left side of it and it hates the cold. But I found if I keep it wrapped up it's not as bad. I'd had a light lunch so was hungry and wanted a burger, but the only place around was a Mickey D's. Which was fine; I did a quarter-pounder with cheese meal.

Still, it didn't stop me from following a path of whining about where I am in life. I wanted to go straight home and just lie in bed, but I'm out of groceries -- milk, veggies, jam, DPZ, pretty close to bare except for some dry and canned goods and a couple frozen meals. So had to go Tops, and my car needed gas. Didn't get home till five.

While getting out of the car, I shifted my neck in some way that shot a vicious pain down the left side of my back. I was halfway afraid my muscles or tendons or something were going to seize up, so I did not move until it all stopped. I'm still a bit sore...

And now I'm an old man talking about his aches and pains. What a cliché.

Regarding APoS, all I did was update the synopsis and cover with Book Life. I also set up Carli's Kills with Ingram, again. I had to re-send them the files for the text and cover, but there's no cost for it. I'm going to push the book as best I can, to get its paperback sales going. They weren't at all what I'd expected with Kindle Direct. The e-book is still with Smashwords.

I'll have to build a better market for it. Most of my work is gay-oriented while CK is very straight, if rather kinky. First chapter has a naked woman who's just had sex being pushed off a 25th floor balcony to her death, by Carli...with her contemplating having fun with the naked, married male lover. Still, my audience prefers the wicked pleasure of reading about men being raped by men; a woman doing it doesn't have the same pull.

Dunno why; women can be just as cruel as men.

Front flap of dust jacket

I've adjusted the cover, a little, and this is what I've worked up for the synopsis on the dust jacket:

A Place of Safety is the story of Brendan Kinsella, a simple lad in Northern Ireland who just wants to live his life...but history keeps interfering.

Derry

Northern Ireland, 1966

Partitioned from the main part of Ireland since 1921 and dominated by the Protestant majority, the Catholic minority has grown weary of the discrimination against it so has begun to push for equal rights. One-man-one-vote. Decent housing. Good jobs. The most basic of requests. Yet these are still too much for those in power to accept. So there are confrontations and demonstrations that, step-by-step, grow more and more dangerous and violent.

Caught in the middle of this is a Catholic boy named Brendan Kinsella. Just days after his tenth birthday, his father is brutally murdered. But because the man was a vicious drunk who kept the family in extreme poverty, Brendan is not sorry he is dead. However, he was killed by two Protestants, which makes him into a martyr for Ireland and sets his mother, Bernadette, on a path to Irish Nationalism. She drags his older brother, Eamonn, along with her, but Brendan is resistant.

The third of her six children, Bernadette constantly belittles him as simple-minded, despite his knack for repairing things. In truth, he is quietly observant with an innate skepticism, and prefers to go his own way and form his own opinions, even though that sometimes leads him into trouble.

Through the next six years, Brendan is caught up in the growing turmoil, including several Civil Rights demonstrations in Derry; the attack on peaceful marchers at Burntollet Bridge; the Battle of Bogside, the following August, where Catholics forced the Protestant police force out of their neighborhood; the arrival of British troops to separate the two warring sides; internment without trial and...Bloody Sunday, the massacre of Catholics by British forces.

Mingled into this is Brendan's budding relationship with Joanna, a Protestant girl from a well-off family. A relationship that must be kept secret for fear of reprisals...from either side. But he doesn't care; she is pretty and fun to be around, has a life of relative ease and is certain she is bound for university. She helps him see there can be more to his world than hate and distrust, that his hopes and wishes and dreams can become reality...that they can find a place of safety, even as their world careens towards chaos.

Well, it's done...

I finished prepping APoS-Derry for ebook upload, next year...and submitted it to Publishers Weekly for a review. They say it could be months before I get one, if I do, but we'll see what happens. This is really becoming official. I even worked a little on the cover and think this will be it...except I need to do something about making Derry show up better.

I'm having to relearn Adobe Photoshop Ps because everything is more detailed, complex and hidden. And awkward to use, in some ways. I had to go online to find where the formatting guides were; I'd forgotten they were a folder in a folder in a different place on the screen.

I still need to make my mouse less sensitive. And trackpad. And figure out how to change the color of the pen tool. And I finally just looked up a worksheet for figuring out inches into pixels then used the cover template guide from Ingram to make sure everything was in the right place.

Good thing is, I've got plenty of time till actual publication to make it look good. Doing a hardback with a dust jacket is hard work, which is why I've only done it three times. Well, this will be number four.

Now comes the truly fun part of going through a printout of the book, page by page, backwards to finalize my hunt for the great mean typos. Soooooooooooooooooo looking forward to that.

Tolstoy, stand aside...

I've got 30 chapters to A Place of Safety-Derry, and I'm halfway thinking of breaking two longish sections in half to make it 32 chapters. By the time I get done with the whole book, it's gonna make War and Peace look like a novella. Just without the quality and craftsmanship of a great novelist.

Anyway, today was spent setting up bookmarks for the e-book version, verifying the chapter headings (since I changed a couple), and doing a bit more correcting. Found two more typos, of course, and did a bit of double-checking on a couple of things. Like when Brendan talks about repairing a Land Rover Defender and wants to know what model it is. He should be asking what series it is.

I also figured to add an indignant comment for Brendan to think when he learns Colm's father narc'd on him about taking Joanna home, one night. Charged both for going to her house and back to the bus depot, and still turned on him. His information verifies she's Protestant and her family is well-off, and puts both her and Brendan in danger from their respective sides in the conflict.

His buddy, Colm...his China, as they call each other...gives him a quiet warning that he's being watched and people are not happy. It's even suggested he might be passing information to her to give to the Protestant paramilitaries...which anyone who knows Brendan knows is nonsense, but still, paranoia rules.

I did a couple more bits like that through the story, and dropped some lines that weren't needed and...and...and damn, rewriting is like a sickness. Like an addiction. No matter how resolute you mean to be when going into it, the ideas come and take control and you drift into another realm of existence. And before you know it, you've done a full rewrite.

Just call me psycho, in the morning, angel.

Almost human, again...

The second job in NYC flattened me. Partly because that fucking city did all it could to fuck me over. I grew pissy and had to fight to keep on an even keel until everything was picked up, at about 1pm, then I left and went looking for a pizza joint.

I was hungry and I had a semi-cool DPZ with me, so all I wanted was a couple slices. Apparently the upper East Side is not known for pizza joints; just sit down restaurants requiring decorum. NOT up for that. I wanted a place where I could cough and snort, if need be.

I knew of a joint just like that in Penn Station, then I could catch the E train to JFK, no problem. But my feet and knees hurt from the nonstop standing and all the walking I'd done, so I got lazy and hailed a cab. Only I apparently got one where the only way the driver knew how to get there was toodling down Park Avenue.

The slowest fucking route possible. I suggested cutting over to Seventh, since that runs right up to the station's main entrance, but he ignored me. Hell, going down Lexington would have been faster.

It took 50 minutes in stop and go traffic, passing through Grand Central Station and down to 31st Street before he turned to cross. Then he was going to take me around the block of Penn Station to get to the correct side for the entrance.

I pulled some New Yorker attitude and made him stop. In traffic. At the corner of 31st and Seventh. Horns blaring like crazy, but I didn't care. I got my suitcase and backpack and paid. Cost me $45 fucking dollars because I was too self-indulgent to take the subway. Fucking stupid.

I am never taking a cab in NYC, again.

I got through the paperwork I needed to get done, today, and checked on my financials and mail and such. Didn't leave my apartment except to get milk from the RiteAid across the street. Was very self-indulgent and rested a lot. Now I feel good and, since I've got everything else done, I'm getting onto prepping the ebook copy of APoS-Derry. I need that to send off for reviews.

Brendan's been quiet, with me. Going through my worries about the story's honesty, he's said nothing in the way of encouragement or derision or anything. Almost like he's numb. It has been an arduous path, and it's my hope the Houston part will be easier since I know pretty much how that should go and he'll be the fish out of water, there, instead of me.

Maybe I shouldn't ask for reviews.  They might damage my confidence too much, if they're bad.

Driving me nuts...

Seems it's good to make certain you and the person whose books you're packing are working off the same list, when you're checking them off. And that the list you based all your projections on is accurate as to what's being packed. I thought the one I had was the right one. Nope. So instead of the projected 12 cartons I've got 17.

Of course, he's very old so one cannot be an asshole about it. No matter how much you want to be. And it doesn't help he just returned from 3 moths overseas, last week, so is still dealing with jet lag. Hell, just getting him to answer emails was a chore in and of itself. You just do what you can do. I'll still be done in time, but I am beat to hell...

So I had comfort food for dinner. There's a Whole Foods a block and a half from my hotel, and I devoured a nice serving of their broccoli cheese soup and a brick of cornbread. Very-very-vegetarian. And I sat in their dining area for nearly an hour just to let myself settle.

On a more important note, after a bit of time away from APoS-Derry I'm back to worrying about how it will be received. If I'm just fooling myself in thinking I told the story right. If the way Brendan moves through the times doesn't sound disingenuous. All the usual nonsense. And I know it's how he told me his life, but...

I had someone say that about the Bobby part of Bobby Carapisi...and it messed with me for a while. I told Bobby's story the way he wanted it, but he was a straight, married baseball player who was also a simple guy enjoying his life till he was raped. Writing his suicide was the hardest thing I'd ever written, at that point, and I thought I'd been honest about everything. Of course, reality is I only got that comment from one reader so I'm really blowing it out of proportion. But it still digs at me.

All I can say is, that will not going to stop me from moving forward.

Dead of brain...

Hard day packing oversize and odd-shaped books. Having to build some boxes to fit. Fortunately, the people doing the pickup were caught in nasty traffic so I go done just after they arrived. Then I got to travel back to JFK in NYC traffic, on the Van Wyck freeway. It's like the 405 but smaller and on steroids. Nonstop construction. Drivers who made my LA attitude on the road seem like a little old lady's.

I was in a Honda CRV and the seats are very comfortable. The SUV drove nicely. It's still a bit big for my tastes, but if I ever do have to get a new car, I'll the open to going with an HRV.

Fortunately, I was not in a rush to catch a plane or get dinner. So I did my Zen and played nice. Nearly an hour and a half to go 30 miles. Faster than walking but still ludicrous. However, NY's freeways are constrained in place, unlike LA's. CAn't build them 5 lanes in each direction.

I made one mistake. It was suggested I take the Long Island Railroad into Grand Central Station as a faster, lovelier route. It's not. At all. The train was niceer than the subway. But then I had to walk a good mile to get to the subway, all of it in a pretty but sterile corridor...till I got to a massive food court where a burger costs you $25. I wasn't that hungry. I got to my hotel in about the same amount of time it would have taken traveling the E train from Jamaica Station.

Oh, and MTA stole nearly $15 from me. I had a Metro card with that amount on it but was outdated by 6 weeks. I talked to an agent they said, Tough. Money's gone. That's outright theft and pisses me off. I'm being careful with this card and only putting as much as I need on it.

Tomorrow is job #2, which I'm hoping to get done with fairly quickly. 181 books. But we'll see how it goes. Tomorrow is supposed to be gridlock. Dunno why; just saw warning signs on the freeway. I've been through gridlock in NYC.

That's why I'm taking the subway.

What a day...

The flight to NYC was nice and on time. Got my rental car without a hitch. Set Google Maps to take me to my location, up the Hudson Valley, through the no-tolls area...and the fucking thing took me through the Mid-Town Tunnel into Manhattan. $12 toll to go through the tunnel. And by the time I realized what was happening, it was too late to get off the freeway. In NYC, you have to plan your exits five miles in advance so you can get over in time to make them.

I still arrived early, so aimed to get some lunch at a Chilis...that was in a shopping mall where 3 of the 4 main entrances were under construction. Lots of signs saying We're open during construction. Great. How the hell do I get there without having to walk a mile? Only got an hour for lunch. I wound up at a Micky D's.

So...the job itself is in a storage facility and that turned out great. Still have a lot to do before the pickup, but I think I'll get through it okay. Six hours to do 12 boxes? I think so. But it is tiring. And then will come the drive back to JFK to drop the car and go to a hotel in mid-town Manhattan to get ready for the next job.

But flying in over the Hudson Valley and then Long Island Sound and Manhattan, I started feeling the wonder and magic I used to feel when I was traveling. It's a short flight so I didn't need to worry about needing to use the bathroom, so I got a window seat. I did used to love those. Looking out at the passing country or oceans far below.

Seems I still love this view...since I used it in part of APoS-Derry.

Some progress...

I submitted APoS-Derry for copyright protection and then for an LCCN from the Library of Congress. Should hear back in about 2 weeks. In order to submit the story to Publishers Weekly and Book Life, for reviews, I have to make it an electronic copy so spent much of today prepping that.

And I still need to finish the Table of Contents links...and since I found a fucking typo in the new stuff I'd added...of course...maybe do another look over it. No. No, I'm not going to worry about it, for that. I'll go over the printed copy with my red pen, in detail...maybe even backwards...when I get home. If all I want is a review, being anal is counter-productive.

I'm off to NYC in the morning to handle two different packing jobs so won't have a chance to do much till I return on Friday. I kind of wish I'd been able to take Amtrak down and back, since it's more leisurely and I can work on the train in much better comfort. JetBlue sends dinky jets back and forth to JFK. My flight's at 8:30am so I have to get up at 6am to get ready and go. Not my favorite time to travel.

I've expanded my time in LA for next month's job, since it looks like another might tack onto it. Besides, I want to go to the new Academy of Arts and Sciences Museum, down at Fairfax and Wilshire. Have to look into it a bit more, but it would be worth it, I think.

I'm still going to check into setting up HTRASG with D2D, since it's so offensive to Ingram and Amazon. We'll see what happens once I'm done with APoS.

Learning process...

I thought I'd set up Carli's Kills with Draft2Digital to get it back out and running, and away from KDP...but when I uploaded my text it killed all the formatting I'd done. A 230 page book was suddenly 340 pages. My copyright info was on the wrong page. And it looked like they're increased the font to 12point from 11. I couldn't figure out how to get around it, so I had to dump it.

I'm checking with Ingram to see about setting it up on there, again. I simply want nothing to do with Kindle. Posting CK on there was an experiment that netted me nothing, so it's time to put the book back where it belongs.

I did some research on getting a PCN and find it's fairly straightforward. First, I'm going to copyright this draft of APoS-Derry and start that process. And I'll submit it to Publisher's Weekly to be considered for a review. If that doesn't work, then I'll hit Book Life.

I printed up a full copy of the book...which took way too long to do. Turns out my printer, for some weird reason that I cannot figure out, would not print pages in the batches I wanted...in Word. When I finally shifted to a PDF, it worked fine. Another aspect of my new laptop and programs I need to learn something about. It's probably just a switch someplace that I have to flick and can't find, on first view.

I'm so tired of not really understanding how technology works. But I'm not a quick or easy learner, with that stuff. My retentive abilities are minimal for the computer maven crap. Wish I could do better, but at least I'm not completely lost.

Yet.

Typically brilliant on my part

I'm so smart, I think. I set up APoS' cover template from Ingram based on 360 pages...but when I got done reformatting it, completely, including hearer and page numbers and all the attendant nonsense, it would up at 346 pages in a 6x9 format. BUT...also is now, officially 140,000+ words. Which includes the bio and ToC and copyright information.

Fortunately, when I sent in the new details, it didn't make a difference in the spine width since this is in hardcover. All the measurements are the same. Thank God. I did not want to have to go through all that shit, again, because I like how this cover image turned out. Might be a bit too stark, but I'm getting feedback on it.

Something else I did during the formatting was make the text simply look good. No single words in the left border or on the following page. Consistency in font. Making sure there's no page number or header on the chapter's first page. It's amazing how involving that can be.

And how I still have issues with Word fucking around with me. I set up each chapter as its own section. So when I get done with one chapter's heading, I tell the header and footer not to continue from the previous section so I can make the pages number right and the headers do what I want. But on several occasions, it changed the page numbering on the previous section and I'd have to go back in and redo it.

It was a lot of work. Just like in my earlier version of Word. I guess I should take a course in the damn program, like I should with Adobe Ps. Learn a whole new language or something. I used to be able to speak French and okay Spanish. Maybe I'll do that, too. Really fry what brain I have left.

Anyway, it's close to being exactly right, now.

Ps is just fucking weird

I got Photoshop Ps and started working with it and it's just different enough from the CS I had that it drives me nuts. I need to figure out a lot on it, and see how I can change it to suit my preferences, but this is the first pass I've done on a dust jacket for the book...and it took me four fucking hours just to get this.

For example, when setting the guidelines, I can't get it to work in inches, which is what the template is in. So after wasting way too long trying to figure out how to make that happen, I just reconfigured the dims of the template into pixels and did it that way. 

I'm also finding my mouse and Ps are way too sensitive to touch, together. Hell, to my fingers getting anywhere near the trackpad or mouse. I'll deal with dulling them down tomorrow.

BUT...this is beginning to come together. I looked into the Library of Congress about getting a PCN for the book, making it super-legitimate. That's a Preassigned Control Number the LoC uses to classify and list your book. I don't have to have it, but it looks so nice, in a hardcover.

I'm going to print out a copy of APoS, tomorrow. Had to go get another cartridge to get ready for it, and some other running around for meds and such. Also got a new bookshelf since I'm running out of space.

I'm beginning to think I may start getting somewhere with Brendan's story...

Done, for the umpteenth time...

A Place of Safety-Derry is through its latest proofing and wound up at 360 pages, of which about 344 are text. The rest is title page, info, Table of Contents and about the author. I'm going to put my list of other books below my bio, this time, and make it clear I've written an array of novels. Most gay-oriented but some straight. Many with intense sexual content that fits the erotica category, but not all. I've written what I've written, and each one of those books got me one step closer to this point.

I doubt anyone who's actually grown up in Derry will think I've done a good job with the book. Some events I took a bit of creative license with, and excused that by saying it's all Brendan's experience. His interpretations of what's been happening. Some he glosses over; others, where he's more deeply involved, he details as someone caught in chaos and confusion.

This is not an historical novel, even though it's based in history. It's Brendan's story as he tries to navigate his way through a deteriorating situation, like he's on the Titanic and not one of those designated to get in a lifeboat. Some people managed to survive, despite that. I deliberately refused to go with the usual tropes of a friend being killed to teach him some important fact of life, or someone in his family crippled to give him a visual reminder of where his anger stems from.

Even during the slaughter of Bloody Sunday, he's a step removed from those being shot and killed. He knows them well enough to recognize them, but not like they were friends. And he only sees a couple of people shot. It was too out of control and all over the place, and he's hurt and in shock, so he can't take it all in. It's not until he meets with Joanna a couple months after and takes her to the circle fort that he can open up and make decisions about leaving.

I will say half of this book's structure was not consciously set up, but it works well. Brendan did a good job of keeping me in line.

Problem solving day

This has been one of those days where stupid little things keep popping up to demand attention. Like my laptop dumping my connection to Fios and me having to reboot to make it work, again. And one of my jobs, next week, deciding they want me a day later than we'd planned on, meaning an extra day in NYC, which ain't cheap. I'm trying to talk them back into the original schedule. That or after Thanksgiving.

I also need to get paperwork from a client for the export of some books to the UK and they're in a cranky mood. And another job popped up in LA that might require I stay extra time there, too. Actually in Sierra Madre. And Seeking information on import requirements to the UK now that Brexit is in full swing and the Tory government has decided to do all they can to destroy the country's economy.

Then there's just going to get groceries but also wanting to recycle old DPZ bottles only to find the machines aren't working at one store so needing to go to another. It's was $1.30 in bottle returns, so worth the change, but another irritation.

Oh, and Voting! Which is currently looking very good for Democrats across the country, despite all the doomsday crap from the MSM. Anything that happens is bad for Democrats, no matter how good it is. And there's the catastrophe in Gaza where people blame everything on Israel and ignore Hamas' part.

And how the situation there has taken Ukraine off the front page and now more people are crying for Ukraine to just give Russia some land in exchange for peace, when appeasement has never, ever, once worked.

I still managed to get through the chapters on Bloody Sunday and the immediate aftermath, in APoS. Brendan has begun the process of leaving Derry, still planning to work on a cruise ship or ocean freighter to build up money and settle wherever Joanna winds up going to university. He just needs a passport and letter of clearance from the RUC, now called the Police Authority.

So...30 pages left to go.

53 pages left...

Closing in on another pass. After this will come more formatting. I've broken the books into Sections to make it easier to prep correctly. Headers on each page with page numbers in order. Just need to work out the look I want for them.

I kind of like this one, but it can be difficult to set up properly, so the header aligns correctly with the text. We'll see how it goes in my new version of Word.

After that will come working up an ebook version, in which I will do yet another read-through to seek out any recalcitrant typos. I'm also going to ask for reviews from BookLife and Publishers Weekly. I'd like to add them to the back of the dust jacket.

Which means, I'm not actually sending the book in for set-up at either Ingram or Smashwords till after the first of the year. I don't want to publish it till 2024, and things are getting to be so tight this month and next, it's better I delay than rush it through and not like what comes out.

I'm also considering working up a map for the inside, to give an idea of what Derry looked like in 1966, with a couple of fake streets for Brendan to live on. Still thinking about that. It might make the logistics too precise.

Can't have that...oh, no...

Closing in...

Okay, 2/3 of the way through this pass on APoS, and the way it's formatting I'm up to 348 pages. Looks like the final book will be around 360. I've done a bit more trimming and shifting of moments to better help the flow, so it's really turning into an 8th draft. Shit. Is there a clinical name for a writer who can't stop re-writing his work?

I like being back on standard time. DST has always thrown me off, and I hate how it was expanded some years ago for no good reason. But I woke up the morning feeling good, and it's been a good day. I wish they'd do away with the time change and keep it like this...but I'm hearing they may make Daylight Savings Time permanent and that is not pleasing to me.

Something I added to Brendan's character from mine is how I like the night. Day is okay, and if it's overcast I'm happy enough, but it's nighttime when I feel best. I like how the darkness minimizes the ugliness of things. I built that into Brendan and it makes him even less like the rest of his family. I think I know where this is heading, but it won't come together until book three, when he returns to Derry and learns more about his father. Feeling very positive about that, now.

Is there someplace in the world that stays on standard time, year round? I think I'd like to move there.

BTW, Remember, Remember the Fifth of November.

I'm gettin' old...

The job in LA went well. Finished early. Came home early. During my short stay managed to finish a pass through APoS for proofing...and a bit of rewriting. Started reformatting on the flight home, to prep for the hardcover book...and promptly found a typo that I'd missed. So anal little me had to start re-proofing as I rewrote and formatted.

I got in late, last night, had a grilled cheese for a very late dinner, slept for 8 solid hours and got back to work. I honestly do not remember having this much trouble on any of my other books. I reread a fair portion of A65 before sending it off to that competition and found one occasion where I'd doubled up on a word. That's it. And I didn't do 1/10 the proofing on that one as this.

I halfway wonder if part of the issue is that I've been working on it for so long, and done a lot of copy paste from one draft to another, and made copious drafts of moments then pasted them in so that I honestly just jumbled everything up. Or maybe it's just a case of my mental abilities declining as I slip into my sunset years. But reality is, the typos I'm finding are really easy to miss, like no period at the end of a sentence, or missing quotation marks.

Something I have not done is my backwards read, which would keep me from getting caught up in the rhythm of the story. But I don't think I could handle doing that for 139,000 words over 340 pages in a 6x9 format.

I have to admit, this has been a fight to keep going. But I want the book to be as perfect as possible, and my innate paranoia about typos is really working overtime in my fucked up head.

That said...the bit of rewriting I've done has improved it, I'm absolutely certain...and I caught a couple of boo-boos. Like when Brendan sees Joanna for the second time. They're outside Austin's, an expensive department store on Derry's Diamond square. He sees her and her friends go down to a Woolworth's on Ferryquay Street and follows them.

The way I described it, I'd had the girls crossing the square to go down the street, which would place the store on the wrong corner. So corrected that. Also removed a bit of repetition.

It's little things that will make or break this book.