Written: check
Edited: check
Illustrated: 3 left
I'm so excited! I sent my manuscript to Veronika Walker a few days ago, hoping she could work on my tight time-table and she was thorough, easy to work with, and most importantly got back to me quickly. I couldn't have asked for a better editor. It was fantastic working with her, I couldn't recommend her enough!
We're 3 illustrations away from completion now, and those should be done before Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
It's off!
I sent my manuscript off for editing today! Now I get to sit here and twiddle my thumbs for a few days until I hear back. I suppose I could try and format, instead of twiddling...that may be a better plan.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Proofing
Thanks to some soup that sent me to bed all of yesterday afternoon, I regretfully missed posting. I'm much better this morning though and I made some progress on finding someone to proofread/edit for me on my crazy deadline. Connections are great (thanks Kiery)! I also played with some formatting earlier this week. I say played, but I really mean failed and handed to my boyfriend to make it better - this is quickly becoming a group effort.
Kiery sent me some more shots of her illustrations, she only has 8 to go and then we can move on to real formatting and hopefully getting a proof print. We're so close!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Catalyst
You know when you write a story, but you (semi-intentionally) leave out a key element of that story?
Yeah. In an attempt to leave things open-ended...I kept out the one fact that held everything together. Obviously the story didn't make much sense without it. I was scared though, it's a painful and happy story all at the same time and this one detail, while vital, I was afraid might be too much. It's real, it's pain, it's confusion and hurt, and yet, it's the catalyst for all the good to come.
So I put it in.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Publishing Thoughts
I really like my story - everyone around me likes my story, but I know just because people like my story doesn't mean it's going to actually go anywhere. I want to make sure I have one or two copies of my own, If it doesn't fly, then it's no big deal, I'd just like to have a hard/printed copy.
This is where it gets interesting.
It would be fantastic if my book took off, and for some reason my boyfriend seems to think that it will. I however, know nothing about actually publishing books which is why there are self-publishing services, like lulu, for instance. With lulu though, it's also expensive to make the books and order them in bulk, we're talking hundreds of dollars for 50 22page full color books. Since it's a children's book it does actually have to be colored. I could look into their children's book package, but that starts at around $500 (also, I already know how I want it formatted and I already have an illustrator, so I wouldn't need half of their package).
The other thing is my timeline, and this is what's keeping me from asking publishers about my book. I want to have it completed by the end of the month. Most places take, well, significantly longer than that to start and finish the process.
Right now, it's looking like I'll just stick with lulu and work out their online services and print myself a copy and go from there. I'd like to figure out if I have any other options, but so far I haven't turned up anything better.
This is where it gets interesting.
It would be fantastic if my book took off, and for some reason my boyfriend seems to think that it will. I however, know nothing about actually publishing books which is why there are self-publishing services, like lulu, for instance. With lulu though, it's also expensive to make the books and order them in bulk, we're talking hundreds of dollars for 50 22page full color books. Since it's a children's book it does actually have to be colored. I could look into their children's book package, but that starts at around $500 (also, I already know how I want it formatted and I already have an illustrator, so I wouldn't need half of their package).
The other thing is my timeline, and this is what's keeping me from asking publishers about my book. I want to have it completed by the end of the month. Most places take, well, significantly longer than that to start and finish the process.
Right now, it's looking like I'll just stick with lulu and work out their online services and print myself a copy and go from there. I'd like to figure out if I have any other options, but so far I haven't turned up anything better.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Editing Fun
I sent off my manuscript to some people to proof read. I've learned the hard way many many times that it's pretty impossible for me to accurately edit myself. I can run spell-check, and I can gloss, but because I know what I wrote it's really hard for me to find things that are wrong.
I made an attempt today and found "has" instead of "as" and a word that needed to be capitalized before getting pulled back into the story and just reading it over.
Hopefully I'll get some good feedback and I can move on. Kiery is about 1/3rd of the way through the illustrations (yay webcams), and they look great. Since I don't have a working scanner she'll scan them in and email the full size versions to me and then I can format the book and convert it to a pdf and hopefully publish!
I made an attempt today and found "has" instead of "as" and a word that needed to be capitalized before getting pulled back into the story and just reading it over.
Hopefully I'll get some good feedback and I can move on. Kiery is about 1/3rd of the way through the illustrations (yay webcams), and they look great. Since I don't have a working scanner she'll scan them in and email the full size versions to me and then I can format the book and convert it to a pdf and hopefully publish!
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