Life has really been busy lately. Spring is finally here and the weeds are already trying to take over my yard. I spent too much time and not enough time hoeing weeds and digging out unwelcome trees. I even have a blister on my left hand. My goal is to get more grass growing in places where the weeds grow so I can just mow it and not have to take the pruners through the 8 foot tall weeds when I don’t have time in July.
I have the edits back from the editor. It’s a long story. He doesn’t have a contract and we didn’t set deadlines officially. When I first sent him my story he asked how long before I needed it back. This was Sept 25. I asked if 4 weeks would work. I didn’t know what I was doing. He said that would work. Two months later I sent him an email asking where it was. He said he’d sent it a while back and would send it again. No problem. I really like what he did. He did improve my story. So I got through all of his suggestions and sent it back the end of January. He asked how long before I needed it back. By then I knew two weeks was possible but I still didn’t know how much time I needed or when was the best time of the year for publishing, so I gave him a month. His suggestions have dates on them so I know when he worked on my story. I am pretty laid back and I hated to nag him but two plus months when 2-4 weeks was enough had me irritated. I paid for 100k words but my story was only 70+k words so I have credit for words he hasn’t edited yet. He also promised me 50k words as an apology for taking so long. That’s nice of him but I’m not sure I’ll use his services again. He had great reviews.
Now that I’m done with his suggestions I stumbled upon a beta reader when I was asking for reviewers. I owe him big. He pointed out what seemed like some pretty big flaws but actually were rather easy fixes. He also said the ending was abrupt. I have struggled with that for a while. I’m still not sure what to do with the ending. I did add a conversation to the ending that might clear a few things up that he didn’t get.
I’m sticking with a June 5th release date and I’m thinking about setting it up for pre-order on May 22. I’ve heard mixed opinions on whether pre-orders actually help or not.
I’m also not sure about my email list. Nobody has signed up for it. I know what the problem is. I have no fans. I might have a fix though. I ordered swag yesterday! There will be bookmarks for everyone who wants one, a coffee mugs, and a hardback copy of Interview with a Dead Girl. I’ll have a drawing after my list reaches 100 people.
This is the what is on the bookmark. The image on the left is the front, the 2nd image is the back side. I’ll post pictures of the mug when it gets here.
I guess that’s it for today. Wait a minute. For those of you who read my Facebook page I promised my cure for writers block. I’ll put that on a separate post.
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