A Break

Writing isn't always easy. Sometimes it gets depressing, sometimes tedious. At other times it just flows and there doesn't seem to be any stopping the words and ideas. Right now, I'm about played out for the moment. So far this year I've written the equivalent of 2-1/2 novels.

One, "A Throne At Stake", has gone up on Amazon. The others are in various stages of completion. But, as I said, I'm about played out. So, I've taken a short break -- yeah, a break. Right.

As I've had a request or two to put my books out in paper as well as digitally, I've begun looking into it. And it's another learning curve. I started with "Pelgraff" for a couple of reasons, one being it's fairly short. So, I followed the guides, sent in my files and received a nice fresh copy of it -- a proof copy. And then I discovered all the errors I had made.

Thinking back to when "Courtesan" first went live on Amazon Kindle four years ago, it seems little changed. It took me a lot of hours to finally get it up in a nicely formatted form. This looks the same. Well, more hours and proofing later, I've sent in a new file, and hope to get my second proof copy back next week -- if I'm lucky.

If it looks good, it'll go up for sale. I doubt that it will sell well, but if someone wants a copy in Trade Paperback, it will be there for them. I kinda like the feel of holding the copy in my hands. There's something about a physical book.

I think my break is about over -- I haven't written anything new in six days now. Hey, I deserve a week off every now and then, right? And if, during my week off, I choose to do some major editing and formatting, etc., in order to put up a book in paperback, well, it wasn't all a loss as far as authorship is concerned.

The 'fun' thing about self-publishing, is that I get to do everything: writing, editing, proofing, formatting, designing covers -- I do most of my own now. I have someone who helps with proofing, but I try to get the manuscript to her with as few errors as possible. So, what you see is pretty much all my work. If it pleases, great; if it doesn't, then you know whom to blame. Yep, me.

Well, I guess I should get some of that sleep I've been missing. Then go to work -- yes, I have a job, I'm not a full-time writer.

Next week I hope to report on progress.

Till then,

Live well.