Publishing my novel, Part 2

My novel, Midnight Dreary: A Raven Mystery, is now available for pre-order, but it’s still going through growing pains. While I have the cover designed, I need to let my cover designer know how many pages it will be to size it for print. I must wait for the formatting in order to give her those numbers. Much of publishing is a waiting game at times, but my folks are all great to work with!

While I am working on the final files, I also needed to write out my dedication, acknowledgements, and biographical information. Those were easy. I have to thank the people who helped bring the book into reality and helped me refine and correct it. My dedication was a little more personal. I recently lost my father-in-law, a wonderful man who was an important influence in our lives. I dedicated the book to him. I will always miss him.

Then came the dreaded blurb. Ask any author, and their most dreaded task is writing a blurb. You want to give the reader enough to make them intrigued by the book, but not enough to give away the mystery of it. You want to bring them into the story. You want them to read your book. It is a surprisingly tiring task.

Once my draft for my blurb was written, I posted it to an author Facebook group for feedback. This is something I have learned as I go along. Never write a blurb without help. It will be terrible.

This too needs to be sent to my wonderful cover artist to add to the back of the cover. It also needs to go up on Amazon for my pre-order. And then I’ll need to update my website too. Sigh.

Process of publishing a novel

I have done both the small press publishing and self-publishing, and plan to continue to do this. In my small press, I have some wonderful fellow authors that provide ideas, support, and commiseration as we follow our paths to becoming better writers.

But this time, I have embarked on my second self-published novel. I began writing the manuscript almost a year ago. I had already decided the main characters and how I wanted their relationship to develop. Yes, the book is a mystery, but I am just as interested in building a relationship between two very diverse characters.

I chose a small-town rebel girl, one with tattoos and an attitude, but an insatiable curiosity, and a soft heart beneath the bravado. For her partner, I chose an intriguing mystery man, wealthy and very intelligent, but socially odd. A modern-day Sherlock Holmes with a lack of social graces. From this brief outline, the characters began to grow on their own, revealing pasts that I hadn’t anticipated, skills I hadn’t chosen, and characteristics I hadn’t planned (ask any author, the characters have a way with developing on their own).

Once the main mystery was solved, and my characters were on their way to developing a reluctant respect, and dare I say affection, for each other, I had to write a second. I originally planned for a trilogy, but I think the story will have to lead me. If I need more books to complete the relationship arc, then more books will come!

After rereading and editing my finished manuscript, I also ran it through a magic program called “ProWritingAid”. It was my first step in editing. Once I had reviewed and completed the program, I printed off the document and sent it to some beta readers.

At the same time, I started looking for a cover. I had someone on Fivver I really liked who had done other covers for me (see the one for Talitha and Speak to Me, as well as the ebook Spirit Passing). While the cover artist did her magic, I started on the second book in the series, trying to crank out 1000 words a day. As of this writing, I am almost finished with the rough draft for that one!

Then it was finding a title. I knew early on that my main character, Lenore, would be a Poe fan. She has a raven named Edgar. It works for me! So I chose Midnight Dreary for my title and sent that on to the cover artist. I then went through my favorite Poe Poem and chose a few other lines that might suit the next in the series.

My edits returned to me, and I got to work reworking and answering questions that my readers presented. Once those were done, off to the formatters!

With the bulk of the work done, I am ready to start the pre-orders! The final cover, manuscript, and formatting will be complete by the release date, February 24^th.

I’ll get back to you soon with an update!!

Parrots as pets

So I've been showing off my planners in the last couple posts, but this time I'm showing off my buddy, Isaac. As the winter season is winding down, I've been stuck inside for an extended period of time, and been amazed at some of the things that I hear Isaac say. As soon as I open the door, I have heard him call for the dog, Danbury, and I swear he is throwing his voice! It sounds like he's calling outside.  He also listens in on our conversations. I call to my boys upstairs and I hear him say "what?" That's usually just before the boys respond in exactly the same voice! Then he imitates the ringing for my phone. He has exactly the same tone as my notification and my ringer. He even saves old sounds and reuses them to greet me when I come in the room.

I know that Isaac knows us. He greets us each differently. He talks more in front of my kids than me, but what I do hear always amazes me. So yes, he's a really cool companion.

Mini Happy Planner with Stamps!

So now that I'm trying to control all of my writing goals from one book, I'm finding that the traditional cute stickers are a little harder to use. I love the look of them, and will still use them in my memory recording and my normal planning, but I think I like these stamps as well.

Let me tell you a secret. Aliexpress. Never heard of it? It's the Amazon counterpart from overseas and they have great prices on stamps and washi tape. I can't help it, I'm addicted. Because so many of the stamps on this layout were a bargain (under 2 dollars for a sheet) I got a good variety of them. My disclaimer here, some of the stamps have misspellings (they are from overseas) and they may take months to ship. However, if you don't mind the wait, you can buy tons of variety and......ta da!

My inks are mostly from Michael's, many from the bargain bin. Yeah!

So now my layouts have tags for twitter, Pinterest, editing, posting (for Facebook), and, oh, year, writing.

Oops! Now I guess I'd better get back to that!

(Notice in the corner, my little cover photo of The Cockatoo Called. Cute, huh?)

Getting it organized

Organization is NOT my strong point. I know where my keys are, where my coat and purse are, and where I might find my shoes, but none of these things are put away. As long as they are visible, I can find them. The result? Clutter crazy!
For writing, I'm a little better. I have a general outline of my plot, but then my unruly characters decide to do their own thing, behaving in some pretty unpredictable ways. I find that I need to keep notes on them: personality, appearance, beliefs, background, fashion, education, and all the other things that make a character real. I also need a timeline. I have to figure out when events happen, and one of the hardest things is to keep a calendar of this.
Then there is the act of writing. Choosing words written per day, what to edit, what to post, due dates for cover design, and deciding on which novel to chase out of my head.
So here is my newest week layout. I haven't filled it up yet, since I want to add lots of dates and notes. But I did add a new decoration! I put a little picture of my cover, The Parrot Told Me, on the page to dress it up. I like it!!
Thanks again to the same website that I got the last printable stickers, Pink Bows & Twinkle Toes.

Link of my last layout stickers!

Check out this adorable blog!!

https://pinkbowstwinkletoes.com/2016/12/01/december-functional-planner-stickers-free-printable/

Mini planner before the pen

I think that I really love the new Mini Happy Planner! I have looked for printables to make a spread, and I really think these are cheerful. I haven't actually added my plans, but so far, so cute!! (I'll add the link when I find it again so you can look it up too!!)
This one is my writing planner so I'm going to add my blog plans, my edits for the book I'm editing for my publisher, Hydra Publications, as well as my own writing!
I have plans for pages to edit, then word count to write per day. Of course, I'm also going to have to keep track of my social media too, and as I get used to the layout, I'm planning on adding that as well.

So how do you plan? I would love to get some feedback on how other writers and workers and moms plan their lives!!