Three days to the book preview. I've completed my end of the language editing at last - it is in the hands of my editor who, unfortunately, has been given less time than she really needs to look it over properly. That is all my fault; I've been struggling for the energy to do a good job since the kitchen work started and I've dragged it out a little long. There will be a preview sent out on the 26th, however, and it will be as long and as rich as I promised. If an odd word is left out in the last four chapters, if there is a small technical error, it will be because the editor just didn't get to the end of the work I've given her. Those issues will be fixed when the book is published.
I figure I have one more day of work on it - making the corrections the editor gives back and doing a last search through my document notes (which I write on the document in the form of text balloons through microsoft words) for continuity. The plot is complex, there are many details in the book and continuity has been a bitch throughout - it is always hard to keep an entire novel and all the intricate details of that novel in one's head at the same time . . . this is even more difficult with a mystery- thriller, such as I am writing, as the devil is in the details. I've never written a tale like this with this much depth - but I am extremely pleased with it and I think that when every last clue is fixed and herring caught, the book is going to be well worth reading more than once (just so the reader can enjoy all the subtle hints once they know where the story goes).
In other news, I have a podcast that I will be putting up tomorrow - the fourth in a series. This one was recorded among my players at the Indigo Bookstore, on March 18. Unfortunately, the sound quality in the first third is less than ideal. It was something of a free-for-all among seven people and so it won't be like the first three I've put up. We recorded it on a phone like a microphone, using a selfie-stick; in parts it works very well; in others, where the ambient noise gets too high (my sound editor for this did her best to buffer it out) it is just annoying. I hope the gentle reader will forgive; like anyone doing their first, early podcasts, it is a learning curve. We all feel the content is worth the listen, even if it takes a patient listener.
I wish I could put up something else other than details about my life. I have done zero work on actual D&D since a week ago yesterday; which seems like an age and a half to me. My blog posts make this evident, as I'm not talking about D&D. This is what happens when we chase deadlines; my May and June - for now I realize there's no way I can have the book completely finished before the end of June - will be much like my present. I am sad about that. But the book is worth the effort and that's why I do it.
I definitely see where you're coming from with the possible sound quality issues, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. The previous episodes have been quite clear even when compared to "professional" podcasts I've listened to, so even a step down from your previous efforts will still be perfectly listenable; and as you say, the content will (judging by your previous episodes) definitely be worth listening to.
ReplyDeleteWould you like readers of the preview to note down typos and such while going along, if we catch them?
ReplyDeleteSure, why not?
ReplyDeleteThe editor worked diligently yesterday through the rest of the material, so there shouldn't be any.