My book is in hand!

I received the proof copy of my book today and I am really jazzed up by it. I can't wait to show it off. I wasn't really sure what to expect as it was hard to figure out a few things based on what the web site was telling me. I had a bit of a hard time conceptualizing certain things and I did get a few minor things wrong. Mostly they are things that unless I pointed them out, I doubt people would really notice it. The book is now available at Lulu.com for purchase. I kept the price down as low as possible but I find that Lulu.com is a bit pricey on their softcover format given the number of pages I was printing. In the end, the novel came up to 160 pages in the larger format and 310 in the smaller format and that was after I had resized the font down a little to be closer in font size to an actual paperback novel. I didn't really think the novel was going to be that big, but I am rather impressed not only by the 310 pages but by the feedback I have received from readers. I had a hard time settling on a title but finally went with "The Valley of Hope" I chose a nice picture from my Appalachian Trail pictures for the front cover which I think suits the book nicely. The book can be found here for anyone wanting to purchase a copy: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-valley-of-hope/6654388

Formating work

I have the editing finished for the most part. I also slogged through most of the grammar errors that Word picked out as I was fixing up other edits. I am sure I missed something somewhere but I have to move on and hope I catch it as I go through and work on formating. The formating wasn't a simple thing. I assumed I could set up most of the stuff with document wide settings but I was wrong. I was able to set up an inner margin and an outer margin that way plus set up different headers depending if it was an even page or an odd page. Otherwise, I had to go through each chapter and make sure the chapter titles all lined up in the same location, as well as formating the first letter of each chapter to a larger drop-letter format which required some placement work too. The last thing was to go through and format all the section dividers into something a little nicer. The bear of the work is done and I am now ready to upload to the site.

The site upload was another eye opening experience. Just when I thought everything was done I realized I didn't have a book synopsis, nor did I have a cover. I was hoping that the cover generator that the site had would work for me but as I moved through the steps, I realized I didn't like how it was turning out. So in the end, I had more work to do with a book synopsis, which I also placed on the back cover, choosing a cover image and formating that, as well as setting other little behind the scene things that may or may not have any impact on the book itself but required my attention through the process. I did get it finished and requested my free proof copy. I can't wait to see how it looks.

While I was editing everything on the one site I concurrently did things on the other site to ensure I was getting both copies as close in format as possible. I will only be able to see how things turn out when I actually get the proof copy plus the copies I ordered off Lulu.com I really can't wait to see what the finished product looks like but at the same time I am simply exhaused by the whole process.

Edits are back

I just got the edits back from my last helper and there are quite a few. Mostly I think some of them are that I didn't capitalize King and Prince when using them. Otherwise it wasn't too bad. I now have the file in Word and am trying to go through all the edits as well as fixing up the formating as I noticed I had used the wrong page sizing. I have decided that I am going to post the novel to the CreateSpace site to get the free printing for the challenge award but that I like the fact that LuLu has the smaller pocket version available so I will go ahead and set up another book there too. The pocket size is actually what I associate with a paperback novel so it will be nice to have something that will fit on my book shelf in with the other books on the shelf.

Editing work

I have been trying to slog through all the editing work that is needed on the novel I wrote during the National Novel writing month challenges from 2006 and 2007. I have actually been working on the edits for about a month now and feel I am almost done. As I received an email detailing how I could get a proof copy of my novel if I upload it to one of the printing sites, I am trying to hurry against that deadline to get the novel edited, uploaded and ready to go. I have finished most of the editing and have had a few readers also help with the editing. I have realized that there are a few words I should read up on how to use correctly as I seem to use them incorrectly with extreme frequency. My biggest ones are 'then' and than'. I seem to get dinged on that almost every single time I use the word, that now I am unsure how to use them. I might be able to simply avoid using them but not sure I want to have to be that extreme. I am still waiting for some final edits back from my father.

Writing sessions

I haven't been very good about making it to the weekly writing sessions. I really have to be better at going to those as I really want to do more writing. I am currently in the process of editing the first novel I wrote over the first two National Novel Writing Months that I participated in. Over two months I wrote 100,000. The funny thing, now that I going back and editing the thing was that the two parts were written a year apart and there are some strange comments within the text referring to names because I couldn't remember what I had written. I think the editing is also giving me a chance to go back and make sure there is better continuity between the two parts. On a good note, I have had a few friends read the story to get opinions and the feed back has been pretty good. One friend is even helping highlight things that don't really make sense which is making the editing go a bit better. I still find it is hard to edit my own stuff. Guess I will see what happens. Have to start going back to the writing group though.

Another Successful NaNo

Another successful attempt at National Novel Writing Month. This time I wrote about my adventures along the Appalachian Trail. I hope to edit this and add in some pictures. I was a little worried near the end, I had run out of trail days but I still had words left. This was a departure from my first year participating when I ran out of words, but still had story left. I ended up finishing the story the following year. I did find out that once again the people who run National Novel Writing Month have managed to get a deal again to allow last year's winners to get a free printing of their novel. I am going to have to go back through it and trim a little bit of the fluff, but it will be so cool to have a novel sitting on my shelf with my name on it.

Yeah, Finished!!

So once again I finished my NaNo challenge of 50,000 words in 30 days.  Actually I managed to finish in less than 30 days owing to a late and slow start followed by a blaze of glory over Thanksgiving.  A blaze of glory that allowed me to finish 20,000 words in two days leaving me with the story finished and my wrists hurting.  Yes, I did know better, but I was in a groove and wanted to finish.  I will be nice to my wrists over the next little while to give then a chance to heal.  This year was a success on two fronts.  Not only did I finish the word goal but I actually ran out of story.  I managed to tied up most of the loose ends and any untied ends where likely forgotten since last years NaNo event.  I would like to start editing but I get the feeling that will not be happening.  I will be trying to give my wrists a back a well deserved break.  Not that sitting and reading on the sofa has been better for my back but it is better for my wrists.

Over the four day break I used two to finish writing and the other two to drive myself crazy.  Since I didn't have anything planned, I was absolutely bored out of my head.  I guess I don't deal with down time very well.  I did pick up a few things at the store to continue working on the paddle.  I also avoided Black Friday.  There was no way I was going to deal with either the traffic or the people.  Writing was a good excuse to stay in.

NaNoWriMo again!

Well, I wasn't sure I was going to participate this year as I just had so many things I wanted to get done.  I also have a to do list of work items that I have barely been able to keep up with.  Actually I have been slowly falling behind on that list too.  But somewhere along the line of me wanting to get stuff done, I started writing and attempting to finish up the story I had started last year.  I have about 26,300 new words as of the writing of this entry (plus I had 56,000 from last years successful attempt).  Now that the time is starting to run short, I can feel the challenge of a deadline looming and now I want to finish just to say I did it again.

On top of all the writing, I have also managed to mostly finish making a Greenland style kayaking paddle, went on a car camping and kayaking trip last weekend and also got the brakes and strut mounts repaired on the car, finally.  Car feels great now.  Looks great except for one headlight looking a little cloudy compared to the brand new one I just had installed.  I will have to eventually get that one replaced.

I'll try to find time to take a picture of the paddle.  I wish I had taken pictures at each step to show the progress but oh well.  I did get a chance to use it last weekend.  I don't like the square corners but I understand that mine is still a work in progress and those will be finished off when I have everything sanded down to the final shaping.

Journal Pub and Writing

Yesterday after work, I decided to finally go to the weekly writing get together as I have been missing them in favour of spending time with my boyfriend. The group decided to move locations as the last location was having AC issues and we just had the heat break last night. We are now in Dupont Circle which works great for me as I can take the free shuttle in then either a bus home or the free shuttle back then walk. The location is okay but they have interesting music, plugs for the laptop users (which I think we all are), and free wifi. Wifi is great for research but is sometimes a little bit too much in the temptation department. I managed to stay the course and continue building my outline from my rough draft that I wrote during NaNoWriMo. I am hoping to get that done next week then get back to planning and writing more. I also think I will start minor editing of the first chapter and post that on my other blog. Although, now that I have been looking at this story again, I find I have lost interest in it and might start another that has been kicking around in the back of my head. It would be nice to finish this one first just so I have that accomplishment under my belt before trying to take on another story.

Today I hosted a Journal Pub. First of the summer, it has actually been a while since the last one. Turn out was very low as usual. People asked for Thursdays and everyone who asked for it didn't bother to show up. I think I will try Friday next week and see how that goes. One of the kegs emptied so I can start another batch of beer. I think I will try to make another stout using a different recipe with no molasses. I also have the chocolate extract so I can make up a few bottles of chocolate stout. I put a different regulator on my CO2 tank. It works better than the last one which was slowly breaking. I also had a leak in the lines somewhere but I suspect it was the regulator. I am still a little afraid to leave the CO2 on as I don't want to needlessly empty the tank. On the other hand there is no reason to leave it on so I don't.

Novel progress

I am actually up to 14 chapters. I am not sure the last few chapters are any good but at least I am progressing. I have been working on the last two chapters back and forth trying to finish them but with all the typing I have been doing at work I am all typed out when I get home. Then by the time I cook something and eat I feel like it is almost time for bed. I have been doing some knitting as it it relatively easy to pick up and drop. I am knitting a swatch to determine the best needles to use on a pair of mittens for myself. I found a nice pattern on knitty and I have some nice wool that would work well with the pattern I think. At last check I was at 55,000 words. I have actually moved from using Word to using Writely. Word was slowing my laptop down so much it wasn't funny. I had trouble moving back and forth between programs. I didn't even have the entire novel open, I have decided to keep each chapter separate to help with moving chapters around if I need, or to add if that comes up. I really want to get this done as Lulu's has a special offer for NanoWriMo participants that they will print one free copy of a winners novel and send it too them. I think that is great and want to participate in that. If for nothing else than to see my name in print on a novel but I want it to be finished with an ending of some sort. That is much better than just bragging about having written a novel. I have been thinking about releasing a few chapters on the web on another blog. Not sure if I want to inflict this on anyone. Send me a comment if you want to sway my decision or read what I wrote.