Thursday

Got a late start on the blog today. I didn't wake up till six thirty, which meant I had to go straight to getting the kids ready for school. Make sure that the girl had her supplements all in the right cups, and that the boy had his icepack under his tray of snacks while the little thermos of hot potstickers rested on top. But now that is all done and I have the house to myself.

Now what?

Maybe I'll write a little bit. I haven't done that in a while. And the gluten is finally clearing out of my head, which is making that possible. I've also noticed that one of my daughters supplements is designed to break down gluten in the stomach so it's gone before it gets to the small intestine where it is absorbed. Maybe I ought to try that stuff...at least when I know I'm going to be bad.

Rowan and I practiced walking in the parking lot yesterday, under the watchful eye of one of her counselors. Because I'm kind of wobbly and unstable, we felt it was important to work on her stopping and starting when I did, and following instructions. She did very very good, and I worked on it with her more, when I took her to the hospital to see her other therapists. That was a good idea on their part.

Oh well, I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy.

Step Two

Okay, the voters have chosen "dark" over "mean."

Now, should the text be in yellow or white?

Good Morning

Another glorious day in this man's army! Or whatever...

Today is both Rowan's speech and occupational therapists, so I'll be gone most of the day. Also, her diagnostician with the public schools wants me to pick her up early so we can work on her behaving in parking lots better. It's a good idea actually, as she is young and unpredictable, and I'm a little wobble and unstable...and that's on my good days.

I think the gluten is beginning to clear out of my head, as I caught myself thinking about Argiope and a couple of other stories while going to sleep last night. That's good. I do love pizza, but I hate the effects it has on me. This definitely gets filed under the "life ain't fair" heading.

I've been reading Herodotus' account of Egypt the last couple of days. I think those old manuscripts can come in handy for a writer. Especially a fantasy writer. Besides, how many people can actually say they have read Herodotus? Major snooty points for me!

Oh well, gotta get the kids up soon and get them ready for school.

Working on Things

This is a try at designing a small 125x125 button ad. It's almost the smallest standard ad size there is. It's intended to either lead to a dedicated website for the book, or to where the book is selling on Amazon.com.

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Hmmm....Maybe it should say "dark" streets instead?

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What do you guys think?

So.........Now What?

The novel is done and off to the printers. And while I have spent a couple of days eating unwisely in celebration, I know the work is not yet over. There is still another stage to this process.

Promotion.

Just because you get a book up on Amazon.com, alongside the hundreds of thousands of other books there, doesn't mean anybody knows it exists...or are even inclined to buy it if they do. That means there is much more work ahead.

So, now I have to start coming up with ideas to promote the book. I am on a fairly limited budget, and I can't travel much due to kids and disability, so I'm starting out with a couple of strikes against me there. I'm going to have to be smart, and creative, to get the word of this book out there.

One avenue is the internet. To be honest, I'm a little leery of these promotion packages that some internet companies offer authors. They make you a video and give a review on Amazon.com, and maybe a couple of other things. The problem is that then you have a video that you have to figure out how to get people come see, and that ads another level of work, and another layer of promotion that isn't for the book itself. I'll have to think about that. I'm looking at more direct forms of advertising, like banner ads, to actually get the book's name out in front of people. I'll also be doing leaflets, posters, bookmarks, cards, etc... and I'll be selling books at Apollocon this year. I'm also looking at the cost of a quarter page ad in Isaac Asimovs Scifi magazine. We'll just have to see how things develop.

And I need to get back to writing soon...as soon as I get all this gluten out of my head.

Artist At Work

Rowan has started drawing. Anybody notice a theme here?

Okay, That's Enough Celebration

I went out to Denny's and had a cheeseburger last night, to celebrate my book going to the printers. I suffered no ill effect and decided to continue my celebration today by going to Godfather's and having a pizza.

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This time the gluten hit me like a brick between the eyes.

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I even briefly lost track of the day of the week, and almost went to pick my daughter up from school to take her to therapy...which is tomorrow.

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Yeah.

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That's enough celebration.

Done

"The Ways of Khrem" was sent to the printers Sunday evening. It is now on it's way to becoming a printed novel. It should be available on Amazon.com in a few weeks.

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When my publisher told me that, my initial reaction was "now what?" I have been sending and recieving edits for so long, it's kind of odd to realize that that's all over with. There is no next step. It's over.

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So I went out to celebrate by having a writer's night out with Cherri Galbiati and eating a cheeseburger. Yes, a real cheeseburger with real bread. I just wrote a novel, darn it, and I'm allowed now to glutenize myself stupid. I may eat a pizza tomorrow. Then I guess I'll do laundry or something...my celebration skills leave a little to be desired.

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I guess I can start thinking about writing other things again. That will be nice. Maybe a few short stories, then try and crawl back into the world of Argiope. I have some thoughts on that novel, but that will be for another post. Tonight I'm just basking in the glow of accomplishment, and living with the dread that success breeds further expectations. Oh well, there's always a dark cloud to fill that silver lining.

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On another note, Rowan started drawing pictures for me of spiders. It's the first object I've ever seen her draw. She has always done symbols like letters and numbers before. But she brought me this ball with lots of lines sticking out of it and announced it was a spider. Then she had me write the word "spider" beside it. Then she drew another, and another, and another...till I now have a countertop and tabletop full of spider pictures. All of which were brought to me to be labeled.

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So it's been an interesting weekend.

Closing In

Pill Hill Press has come up with a blurb for the back of the book. Now with that and the cover art done, they are just waiting for me to get the edit to the final proof back to them, so they can incorporate what they want of it. I'm on target to get that to them tomorrow night, and then once they're done with that it's time to send the book off to the printers.

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Wow.

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Just, wow.

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I never really thought I would do this...actually follow through and bring one of the stories I carry in my head to life in a novel. And yet in a few weeks I'll be holding a copy in my hands.

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Wow.

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UPDATE: I finished the final edit this afternoon and went ahead and sent it in.