I note that this blog has languished since January. Well, a lot of things went by the wayside what with practically the whole world going into quarantine. One of the things I've been nibbling away at in background has been the hardcover edition of King's Ransom.
This book seems to have been with me forever. I started writing it more years ago than I care to think about; I'm not sure now exactly what year it was, but it may have been 1994 or 1995. Certainly it was before 1998. I started the research for it a full year before that. It was a kind of hobby. Besides reading everything I could get my hands on, I tried to be as immersive as possible. At that time I had an hour's drive to and from work, and I spent it listening to reproduction music from the period. When Lent started, I tried to keep the rules of the Lenten fast as they were kept in those days. That was a horrible time. I don't think of myself as much of a foodie, but trust me, I never want to go there again.
Anyway, I started writing and it went quite quickly and smoothly at first. It was all good until I wrote myself into a corner about half way through the book. Back in those days I was an unmitigated pantser, and had almost no skills apart from the actual writing of the words. So when I found my story was stuck and I had no idea how to go on, the book went in the Too Hard Basket. For something like eight years. I only used to work on one book at a time back then; my day job was important to me and it was more in the nature of a hobby. So everything ground to a halt.
In 2014 I got more serious about things. I'd more or less given up the day job, and I started to take the work seriously. I've written and published a lot since then, but this one thing remains unfinished, the book available in paperback and all formats of e-book, but not in hardcover.
A lot of independent authors don't bother with hardcover. They say it doesn't pay for the effort involved, they get no sales and it isn't worth it. I think they're probably right too, in commercial terms. And yet, I'm old-fashioned enough that it has enormous value for me. Hardover to me says credibility, and a book that's only available in paperback feels to me like a film that goes straight to DVD.
Anyway, because the whole saga has gone on and on, I thought it might be amusing to, as it were, tell its story. Here goes:
JANUARY 2014
I discovered the files on my computer had become corrupted, and I had no manuscript except for the hardcopy printout. Fortunately for me, back when I was first writing this book Word, or my machine with its small amount of RAM, I'm not sure which, didn't handle large files well, so each chapter was in a separate file, and I used to print off each chapter as soon as I finished it. I had it all in a loose-leaf binder.
FEBRUARY 2014
So the first task was to type it all in. This took me some time.
MARCH 2014
I finished typing in everything I had and constructed an outline for finishing it. I made a very loose outline for the rest of the book and a detailed one for the rest of the chapter I was in.
APRIL 2014
I signed up for Camp NaNo. I really credit this with saving the whole book. If I'd stuck to my goal I could have finished the first draft that month, but of course I didn't, because Easter, when I used to have to host a huge family gathering for the entire four days at my husband's country block. That got me derailed enough that I didn't come anywhere near achieving the goal I'd set. And yet. The thing about it was that forcing myself to produce a daily word count, even though I didn't do it for long, got me unstuck. I wrote past the problem spot, and it unstuck my confidence, too.Writing before had always been more of a hobby than a job, so I had had the typical limp-wristed hobbyist's attitude to it. Now, I realised one could force oneself to write, just the way one forces oneself to do any work activity. This was probably the most important thing I ever learned about writing.
JULY 2014
I signed up for the second Camp Nano feeling much more confident. No Easter to throw me off course. And I finished the book! Just like that, bang, in a month. Really, the Nano concept is an utterly brilliant one.
OCTOBER 2014
After a decent rotdown period, I started in on editing and revisions. The revisions had to be extensive, moving chunks of story back and forward in time and all sorts. I had a great big timeline up on my whiteboard, with about a thousand sticky notes. I had spreadsheets galore.
SEPTEMBER 2015
The editing and revisions took a long, long time. For one thing, in November 2014 I started writing a new book and that became my focus, so this one went on the back burner again. I did get it done, and in September of the following year I got it off to beta readers - one for reader feedback and one experienced writer of historical fiction. The historical writer got back to me after four months, but it took a long time for the other chap.
JULY 2016
Finally with feedback from both beta readers, I was able to undertake second revisions. I got those done, formatted an e-book and sent advance copies to a whole lot of people for advance review. I set up the book in preorder at both Amazon and Smashwords, and started on the formats of the paperback and hardcover.
AUGUST 2016
Published the paperback.
SEPTEMBER 2016
Published in e-book, all formats. Attempted to produce a dustjacket myself. That did not work out. I was depressed about it and unsure how to proceed, and let the project slide onto the back burner again.
JULY 2017
Got my act together and hired a cover person to do the dustjacket. Loaded it all up and ordered a proof copy, which took a long, long time to come - Lulu take months to send out a proof.
DECEMBER 2017
When I got the proof copy I discovered a lot of formatting errors in the interior. There were several iterations of this.
DECEMBER 2018
Let it slide again because I had two other books out with beta readers and was writing another one.
DECEMBER 2019
Revived my flagging enthusiasm and attacked it again. Fixed all the formatting errors and ordered a new proof copy.
JUNE 2020
Fixed it all up and uploaded files again. There was some kind of problem and it didn't advance to the point where I could order a proof copy. Had to thrash this out with Lulu technical support.
JULY 2020
Finally got to order another proof copy.
AUGUST 2020
Got that proof copy, discovered a few more formatting glitches and uploaded a revised version. Ordered yet another proof copy.
SEPTEMBER 2020
And that brings us to today, when I am still waiting for that proof copy, which I fervently hope will be the last, to arrive. I ordered it on 15 August and it is now 20 September.
WHAT I TAKE AWAY FROM THIS
If there's one thing that springs to my mind about this unedifying saga, it is that projects that are 'in background' don't get done. As with anything in life, if you seriously want to get something done, you give it a priority.
THINGS I ACTUALLY RELEASED THIS YEAR
Don't miss my new releases. Where The Heart Is, the book I started writing in November 2014, is now available in its final edition - hardcover.
New books out are With Coffee Spoons and Bloodsucking Bogans, both in paperback, and Reality Ever After, just released in hardcover.
Broke and unemployed, Fiona moves to the country. She imagines everything will be pretty much as normal, but with scenery. But what she finds there will change her life.
Get it here
This one only just released, in hardcover only. It hasn't come up on Amazon yet, but should be available shortly.
Dingo Flats hasn't been the same since the Murphy family moved back to town. The boys are delinquents, the daughter's a disgrace, and old Granny Murphy is constantly causing trouble. Even the dogs are delinquents. The crime rate's doubled since they arrived.
And what's with all the dead rats that have started appearing on the doorsteps of local businesses? The tabloid thinks it's a plague, but Sam's dad is convinced it's warnings from the Mafia.
Meanwhile, Sam's friends are determined to make her over and marry her off, and she's staring down the barrel of having to give up her police dog pup. What's a cop to do? Get it here.
A woman with a toxic mother-in-law, a man who crosses a social barrier and finds there is no way back, a man who loves his wife and reaps terrible trouble because of it, a homeless man, a dance teacher who just wants a few more students for his introductory Salsa class, an old woman confined in a nursing home, a big blue parrot, a young married couple, a dog who loves his man beyond the boundaries of death, a Christmas kitten, a scientist with a device of unimaginable power, a young graduate who goes looking for a thrill and finds more than he bargained for.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, and perhaps you'll even think about your life.
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