May be busy

I self publish through Smashwords.  They have been lovely in their dealings with me, and I am grateful for the latest heads up.  If I want to get 'Digging up the Past' published by Sony I should get the finished product through their system by 22 November, although Apple could hang on until 29 November.  That is, I really need to get the manuscript clean and tidy in the next seven days.

I wanted to leave it a bit to let the words 'cook'.  I wanted to read it back after a little mental distance (already started on a medieval fantasy).  Then I need to read it through at least twice to pick up spelling and grammar mistakes and the hazards of not remembering what a character is wearing from one scene to the next.  Then I need to read through Forgotten Village (60k words) and then back through Digging up the Past (55k words) so that I don't have a character with blue eyes in one book and green eyes in another.

I do have a list of characteristics saved so I have referred to it and that should save some mistakes.  I have a very clear visual idea of people and places, so that should help.  However nothing is foolproof.

It's a big task.  However I can't risk missing Christmas.  It could make a big difference to me.  I also need to republish 'The Forgotten Village' because I want matching covers (thank you, Thomas Marlowe, you are kind to me!) and I will have 'The Forgotten Village' free to tempt people to pay for 'Digging up the Past'.

So even for someone self publishing there is quite a bit of work.  I shall have to do a significant amount of comma removal as well.  I also panic at this point and get very frightened.  This is completely illogical and apparently quite normal.

So I'm not likely to be writing much in the blog in the next few weeks.  What I do write may not make much sense.  Please bear with me.  I shall be back to my normal self soon.  I appreciate it when people read this blog, and I love the contact with friends here.  I'll be back as soon as I can.