The changes grow and grow...

Today en route home from work I realized my descriptions of Casey's and Lando's home need to be exchanged. What I have her living in is more his style of house, and his is more hers. So this is no longer a polish but a complete rewrite. I've even gone back to square one and started from the beginning...and found more ways to not only condense but clarify the action in the first two chapters.

Once I saw how much work needed to be done, I told the last 6 people I was hoping to get feedback from to forget it. By the time I got anything from them the story would be completely rewritten. I got what I needed -- a jolt to get me out of my love for my words and into the reality that I have to make the thing readable and interesting. Still got a ways to go on that.

On a positive note, the story's down below 65K in wordage and slimming down even more. 60K wold be a good size for a book like this. Lean and clean and a nice Summer read...if I can get people to notice it. Won't that be a trick?

I'm still aiming for a Thanksgiving release, but that may mean not doing National Novel Writing Month, this year. I won't have time to develop the cover and rewrites and polishes and everything. Oh well, such is life in the big city.

I've begun writing standing up, again. I sit so damn much during the day, my butt and back were beginning to irritate me, so I made a space on a shelving unit that comes up to about the middle of my stomach and use on that. My legs aren't completely happy, but I hear it's healthier.

Plus, I'm back to using my old laptop. It's nowhere near as irritating as that friggin' trackpad on the MacBook Pro. I'm beginning to see what happens with it depends on where on the trackpad I click. If I do it at the area closest to me, it highlights and opens what the cursor is on. If I want to click and drag, I have to do it from the upper part of the pad. I don't know if others are like this, but if this thing was deliberately developed this way, the fucking engineer ought to be shot.

And for a while, yesterday, I'd have been happy to pull the trigger.

Slow going on "The Alice '65"...

I'm finding this rewrite to be more focused on details than I expected, so I've only gotten through another 2 chapters. I'm checking my grammar and sentence structure for clarity and removing the ellipses with abandon but still having to make certain the paragraph makes sense, and it's proving to be demanding. My hope is it proves to be an even better, easier read...but I doubt I'll be able to start on the dust jacket for the hardcover edition, this weekend.

I usually go into projects with too optimistic an idea of what I can and can't do and how quickly it can be done. I've been trying to temper that with a bit more reality, but I don't always succeed. Looks like this was one of those times.

I think I'm going back to using my MacBook to finish this rewrite for A65. I'm finding my new MacBook Pro is a pain in the ass when writing. I need to relearn how to use it so I can stop messing up my work. This evening, I brushed over the trackpad in some way that caused it to highlight a couple of sentences in a paragraph then, when I went to get out of it, wound up shifting those sentences to a different part of the paragraph. I was able to correct it, easily enough, but only because I noticed it. And this is with me trying to minimize the sensitivity of the trackpad. So that's also slowing me down.

Of course, I rarely take into account the distractions of life -- like needing to iron or clean my apartment or deal with bills or certain stupid moments in interactions with people or companies online. I wish I had an assistant to just take care of all that. A nice little intern who looks like Chris Evans and thinks I'm brilliant.

Yeah, then I'd talk to him all the time and never get any work done...

Once more, with feeling...

I've begun the rewrite of my rewritten book. Got through chapter 2, and I've cut 3 pages. I did get another bit of feedback from a niece who actually understood why I used the style I did -- with the ellipses and dashes. I was writing the story as if Adam were thinking it, and that was his thought process. It was a fun experiment, but I don't want people to dismiss the book because the style is too difficult to get into. I have that situation with The Lyons' Den; it takes people a couple of chapters to get into Ace's patois and very few people will bother.

I think that is all the feedback I'm going to get, now. I got another Sorry, no can do from someone else who'd said they would, and the rest are ignoring my email query. That's fine. I'm about at the point where I'm going to ask a friend or two in the British antiquarian book business to read this next version to make sure I'm using their references right. Then comes a polish and publishing.

I'm getting the new draft done this week so I can use the weekend to start the setup of the book's cover. I won't have the artwork till the end of next week, if I'm lucky, but I can get the rest of it started -- like the synopsis and bio and detail work and barcode.

I'm off to North Carolina a week from today to pick up another archive, so I'd like this pretty much set by then. I'm also thinking of making this a smaller hardcover than OT. That was 9x6 inches, but I think A65 should be like a 5.5x8 or something like that. I'll decide once I've got this draft done, since I'm pretty sure the page count will wind up being pretty damn close to what the final count will be.

But maybe smaller is better, in this case.

Distilling the time need to reach "Fuck 'em."

I got three solid slams against my writing, today, and went into a funk that messed with my ability to do anything.  One was from a reviewer who wanted to give me a positive review on The Vanishing of Owen Taylor...but only if I paid for it. Didn't she like it enough to do it for real? That back and forth did not go well, so if I get a one-star on Amazon, I'll know why. The other was from BookLife, which passed over reviewing OT; "not up to their standards." Then another family member said she wouldn't finish reading The Alice '65 because she just didn't like it.

I don't have enough ego to know for a fact that my work is great and wonderful and needs to be read or seen. I love the praise but what digs into my soul is the criticism. Meaning, still too much artist's sensitivity in me and still too much awareness of my limitations, so crap like this gets to me. Always has. I mean, like my work but I consistently see where it can be improved and know I can not notice inconsistencies and contradictions, sometimes.

However, once upon a time I'd be in this funk for weeks. Today? I'm already past it. I am strong enough to see that not everything is for everyone, and that sometimes people try to take advantage of you by preying on what they perceive to be your weaknesses. So instead of 10 days frozen in place, I spent an hour and a half. Now I'm listening to KCRW's Metropolis and plotting out the novelization of Darian's Point.

After work, tomorrow, I'm getting back to A65 and inputting my changes. I didn't get back to Buffalo till 3pm, then had to drop off what I picked up, which took till after 4, and return the rental...and I was beat, by that point. Which may be why I spent so long in stasis.

Anyway, fuck 'em all. If you don't like my work, you don't like my work. I won't die from it, nor will I let it stop me. I have stories to tell, and some people will like them. That's all that matters.

But God, it makes me tired.

Interesting car ride, today...

I didn't get started for Utica till after lunch and arrived rather quickly, since the traffic was nice and smooth. So smooth, I was able to realize I'd neglected a couple of inconsistencies in A65 when I did my red pen, so made notes and corrected them on the docx file, in the hotel. I also had a couple of ideas but will save those to make sure they work with what I've already done.

The best thing was, however, since I was trying to figure out whether or not to participate in NaNoWriMo, this year, I went through the stories I had percolating in my head and on the page, already...and jolted onto Darian's Point. I've been thinking for a while I wanted to make that into a book, which would include showing how the entire curse began, 3000 years ago...and damned if it didn't take complete control.

If I do DP, I can work out everything about the story, which I love the idea of. But what jolted me the most was how Return to Darian's Point would not be part of it. It's a sequel, not an endemic part of the story. The first book is about how Morriggan developed the Old Women of Moher from the Dagda's sins, the battles that ensued, and how they were forced into a truce that included human sacrifice. The original script, DP, is how that horrific agreement comes to an end. RDP is really just an extended coda and would unbalance the symmetry of the story.

I feel awful about that. And yet, I'd have to go with it because it's right for the novel. I'll keep RDP as a screenplay because I think it works damned good as one, but the book would be only those two parts. Meaning they could be two halves of the story -- no middle, just a beginning and an end.

So that's settled. During November I'm writing on Darian's Point. And researching the ancient times to make them as accurate as possible. And the best part? I'm getting completely into an Irish frame of mind to dive back into Place of Safety. I've got books galore about Irish history and this will bring me back to it. Lay the foundation for the characters.

Dammit, I'm excited about it.

Work helps keep you sane

I spent today completing the corrections and changes to A65 on a printout. All red pen, as is my wont. I'm off on another trip, tomorrow, so won't be able to get back to it till Monday or Tuesday, depending, but it's cleaning up. I'm still open to getting feedback on it, because I'm thinking I want to do one more pass through it in order to get things in top shape...but it's close, now. Very close.

What the last couple of days have done is keep me away from social media and paying much attention to the asshole in the White House or the scum who support him, which has kept me somewhat sane. I so despise that creature, I can't even refer to him by name. I wonder if this is how racists felt about Obama? If so, small wonder they were always so angry. Difference is, their hate was based on the man's skin color, which in unforgivable; my hate of Czar Snowflake is based on the evil SOB he's proven himself to be, over and over and over.

And I do hate him. If he dies before I do, I'll dance a jig. I guess it's rather like how many Brits played "Ding-dong, the witch is dead" when Maggie Thatcher died. That bitch changed the whole of England in ways still playing out, making London even more the center of their society when cities like Manchester and Liverpool and Birmingham used to be almost as important.

But I digress. And should hold my anger to put into Place of Safety. The way things are going here in the US parallels that society too closely -- with the overt discrimination and out of control police force and deliberate attempts to use elections to keep control in the hands of one party instead of both. I don't know when gerrymandering really got started, but the Protestants in Northern Ireland made it an art form to keep Catholics from gaining any form of power.

I just hope we don't wind up in a conflict like the Troubles, but I'm not optimistic.

Quick note: I'm offering a free Kindle copy of The Vanishing of Owen Taylor on Amazon between October 1st and 5th. All I ask in return is a review.

Deatils are what make the devil work...

I've gone through half of A65, cleaning it up and making notes about what needs updating and consistency and getting rid of repetition...and finding typos neither editor noticed. Not cool. I guess I'll do my thing of reading the book backwards, page by page, to double-double-check for typos.

I cut a fair portion of the first chapter out, where I'm going on and on about Adam's knowledge of books. I finally saw I was showing off, a little, and it was hurting the story. I think I removed about 4 or 5 pages in the first two chapters, and don't think it will do anything but make the read both easier and better.

I really like the story. Like how Adam's become his own character, and how Casey has, too. It's too bad I haven't gotten more feedback from people, but I don't believe in pushing. Once the book's set, I'll tell them not to bother. And I'll send them all a copy of the paperback.

I'm trying a new promotional sales tool for OT through BookBaby, to see if it'll work for A65. A freebie Kindle edition, available for 5 days. So far nothing I've done has made any difference in sales. I guess gay murder mysteries with minimal sex in them aren't the type to be best-sellers. That or I screwed it up, totally.

Probably the latter.

Got a graphic artist...

I spent all day, today, trying to come up with something that would be acceptable for the cover of A65, and this was the best I was capable of. It needs a lot more work -- cleaning up the lines, doing something about Casey's fingers vanishing into her dress (what was I thinking?), and Adam's glasses need to be silver rimmed or maybe gold so the half on Gertrude doesn't vanish into her color -- but I had no idea how to make it zing.

Then ten minutes after I gave up for the day, Zan Varin, the Irish guy who worked up the art for my redo of The Lyons' Den got back to me and is open to doing The Alice '65. Makes me relieved.

He's got a few commissions in the queue so can't work on it till next Friday, but that's fine; I can now focus on rewriting the story and prepping it for publication. I've got good solid feedback from my two  editors and response from another reader, so I'm digging in. If more people provide responses, I'm happy to consider them, but I want the book out by Thanksgiving.

Once that's done, I'll start setting up the book cover. Since I'm doing this in hardback with a dust jacket, first, I can prep the layout then add the artwork in once we come to terms about the final look. I've also been in contact with a more comic-book style artist who might be good for the paperback version. I have to talk with him some more.

What's great about Zan is, he can add a lot of zing to the cover -- highlights, shadows, depth, the works. This flat style I'm using just doesn't really do it for me. I was thinking of playing with it using CS's filters, but no longer needed. I hope.

But you never know till it's done.

Man, I am out of practice...

I spent all day working on a cover for The Alice '65 and went through a rollercoaster of emotions while doing it, from uncertainty to confusion to anger to sadness to despair to depression to certainty I was never much of an artist to finally accepting I needed help.

Here's what I started with -- Adam holding the book, Casey behind him, Gertrude on the other side. But I didn't like something about it so changed it to...

Same setup, but with Adam's suit coat half off and his shirt torn. But then I decided I didn't like his wary, almost fearful expression. It didn't make the book seem like fun, at all.

So I worked out this -- where he's smiling and Casey's happier and Gertrude is also happy...but that was bland and not really that interesting.

Then came this, working in color pencil, combining Adam and Casey from #3 with Gertrude from #2...and it's awful. I like the setup, but the colors and the detail ink are crap. Adam's fingers look dirty, Casey's hair is lazy, and don't get me started on their eyes; OMG, they're zombies. And now I'm beat to hell and calling to my artist friends on DeviantArt for help.

I may start over in the morning, see what happens if I just do it in outlines and lay in the color in photoshop. Or work it in just graphite. I dunno.

I'm probably pushing too hard and being impatient. Thing is, I used to be really good with color pencils. But it's been so long since I've done anything of note, it's going to take me a while to get back into the groove...and I don't have the time.

I really should practice more.

Not the best day I've had...until it became a good one...

It started with me not being able to find parking close to my job, thanks to a Prius that had taken 2 spaces on the street. I wound up having to park the next street over and walk through a private parking lot. I fussed and fumed the whole way.

I spent the day prepping for a couple of archive jobs next week and the week after, one of which includes flying down to North Carolina. Oh Boy. I also pulled together the beginnings of a quote for another job even as one of the cats decided I had to be her personal brush and butt-patting slave.

En route home was accompanied by the usual idiots who can't seem to keep their cars in their lane. Almost got sideswiped. Then a clerk at a drug store was chirpy and happy as she questioned my ability to use a discount card I had...and was surprised when I got $4.50 off on my purchase.

When i finally got home, I found a canvas print I'd ordered of Southern Justice sitting by my door. Not only was it just okay, painting wise, the dimensions were off. Not by a huge amount, but enough to feel odd enough to check them and see the original had been compressed, lengthwise, to fit a standard canvas frame. Two of the characters are elongated while the one on the ground is squished. Now I can't even look at it.

But ... then I got an email from BookLife with the evaluation of The Alice '65...and it was very positive. Here's basically what they said:

Plot: This book is a madcap caper with delightfully zany characters and enough fun switcheroos to keep readers hooked to the end.

Prose: The writing is strong, striking a perfect balance between action and interiority. The dialogue of the many characters is varied and natural.

Originality: This book is clever and unique. It parallels Alice in Wonderland nicely, with it's kooky characters shuffling the protagonist along a twisty plot.

Character Development: The characters really drive the novel. The protagonist is complicated and kind. The side characters work well in service to the plot and theme.

And this was off the uncorrected proof I sent them. I can even use some of it as a blurb on the book's jacket if I want. So I guess I've got nothing to really whine about, anymore.

Still seeking a good photo to use for Adam and Casey, but I did find the perfect image of Gertrude. I'll start working out the positioning, tomorrow, since I'm off, and try to get an idea as to whether or not this will work.