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Quick TOATM Update

Here’s a quick TOATM update for all you patient people. I can’t believe it’s been three weeks.

The paperback format is finally done! *cries* We had a few files get corrupted which slowed us down even more.

What’s left: ebook formatting and proofreading (should be way quicker than the paperback), back cover and spine artwork, review of paperback proof (hardcopy).

This will all come together fast, like Liv’s dagger into an assassin’s eye. :)

Paperback and ebook will be published the same day, very soon…

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TOATM Update – October 16

We found some boo-boos in the final proofread that must be fixed before finalizing the formatting. It’s going to add some time. One to two weeks is my guess. Sorry, but it has to be perfect.

All that said, I’m working hard to get this book out as soon as I can. We still have a few things to do (ebook formatting and proofreading, spine and back cover art, approval of the physical paperback proof), but they will all happen quickly once these final changes are made.

I hope you’ll find it will be worth the extra wait. :)

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete (161,377 words)
Professional editing: Complete
Proofreading: Complete
Formatting: In progress, delayed by 1-2 weeks
Final proofread: Complete
Cover art: 50% complete, remaining half starting soon

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TOATM Update – Paperback Formatting

Draft two of the paperback interior for THE OAK AND THE MOON is currently under close scrutiny. Even closer scrutiny begins in a few days by a take-no-prisoners proofreader who’s doing the final pass.

I’ve compared my final Word doc to the formatted pages to check that all the Irish and other italicized words came over correctly. Two computers make this process easy. I completed it in about an hour last night. See below—that’s the Word doc on the left, paperback version on the right.

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Now I have to continue my read-through of the whole thing. It’s weird to read this book. After the editing process it becomes such a polished thing, so much improved over the rough version that’s still in my head. It will take several reads of it in its new form before it sinks in.

Tonight I’ll take a break from proofreading to watch the supermoon eclipse—a supermoon + Blood Moon visible from my part of the U.S. We have heavy cloud cover as I write this, but according to the weather forecast, it’s supposed to clear up just in time. If not, I’ll be watching the live stream on Time.com.

Interesting timing for a lunar eclipse as I finish this book. And that’s all I’m sayin’ about that. :)

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete (161,377 words)
Professional editing: Complete
Proofreading: Complete
Formatting: In progress
Final proofread: In progress
Cover art: 50% complete, remaining half starting soon

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TOATM Update – September 16

Editing and first round of proofreading are complete. The final draft is in my formatter’s inbox. I’ll probably see first drafts from him in about a week, along with the artwork for the back cover and spine.

And here’s something awesome yet terrifying: I wrote the first two paragraphs of book 4.

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete (161,377 words)
Professional editing: Complete
Proofreading: Complete
Formatting: Starting very soon
Final proofread: Not started
Cover art: 50% complete, remaining half starting soon

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TOATM Update – August 22

Editing is complete. The first proofread begins on August 31. Check out this final edited hardcopy sitting on my desk. Hard to believe.

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Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete (161,377 words)
Professional editing: Complete
Proofreading: Begins August 31
Formatting: Not started
Final proofread: Not started
Cover art: 50% complete

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TOATM Update – August 15

Here’s a quick update for all you people drumming your fingers and/or tapping your feet. Especially now that I’ve spilled the cover. The COVER!!! *dies* Am I right?! :)

Last round of edits will be completed in the next week. Proofreading of unformatted file begins August 31. That should take about a week. Then the file goes to my formatter. His turnaround is usually a couple weeks, depending on how many changes I need to make. The last step of formatting is a final proofread. Another few weeks for that. Final changes then get sent to the formatter (fingers crossed there will be none). He’ll need a few more days to get things squared away, and the cover artist will need about a week to design the back cover and spine.

So, let’s pencil in a November 1 release. Samhain. A perfectly witchy time of year.

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete (161,377 words)
Professional editing: Nearing completion
Proofreading: Begins August 31
Formatting: Not started
Final proofread: Not started
Cover art: 50% complete

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TOATM Update – July 20

First round of edits are back from my editor. I just got through three chapters in about an hour. I’d say it’s going pretty quick. Three chapters in one hour, 55 chapters total…somebody do the math for me, my brain’s had it for today.

The back cover blurb is just about finalized, which means in a couple days I can get everything submitted to my cover artist for him to get started. Yep, we’re getting that close. :)

TOATM is now up on Goodreads for anyone who wants to add it.

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete (161,377 words)
Professional editing: In progress
Formatting: Not started
Proofreading: Not started
Cover art: Not started

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TOATM Update – July 3

So, there’s this thing called strep throat. If you haven’t had it, you’ve probably heard from people who had it as a child, and they’ve told you it was horrible. You can sympathize, but just partially, because everything in childhood occurs from a different perspective. The basement of your childhood home? HUGE. (But have you seen it lately? It’s not.) Dairy Queen dip cones were SO GOOD. (Try one as an adult. Meh.) And riding your bike to the end of the street? It was a country away. You’d need to pack a lunch.

Let me tell you this. There is nothing different about the perspective when it comes to strep throat. It’s horrible. It’s a 104.8 temperature while dosed up with ibuprofen horrible. It’s forgetting to water your flowers for 3 days so they almost die in July heat horrible. It’s sleeping all day, and all night, and still being corpse-tired. It’s forcing yourself to drink water because you know you have to but your stomach is coming up your throat.

And it’s not so much about the throat. Maybe a little at first. But then the rest of it kicks in–I don’t even know what to call “it”–and you’ll be sweating and shivering and forget your name for three days until you somehow make it to a person who can hand you some amoxicillin.

I guess that’s the tl;dr way of admitting I haven’t touched TOATM for a good week.

My hardcopy has been sitting like this:

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My laptop has been sitting like this:

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And I’ve been in a strange land far away, safe from harassment by fictional characters.

I have less than two weeks before this draft is due to my editor. And to be honest, the last time I sat down to work, I had this feeling: I’m not sure if there’s anything else I can do with this.

So in honor of my fever/amoxicillin delirium, I call this draft finished.

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round complete! (161,377 words)
Professional editing: Starts mid-July
Final Draft: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Proofreading: Not started
Cover art: Not started

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Remember Me

We started a movie the other night hoping for a sweet love story to ease us from hectic day to bedtime. From the first scene, we knew we were wrong. We were in for some intensity. We were right.
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Remember Me is a movie about people, and how lives are forever changed by things in our control, as well as things very much out of our control. I hesitate to call it slow because it sounds like a bad thing, but in this case, the pacing is part of its brilliance. The acting and characterization are exceptional, creating people who are real and relatable. And it has one of the most effective and unpredictable endings I have ever seen. With the strength packed into a subtle delivery, it’s more than touching–it’s a full-on grab that will keep its hold for days. What a rare thing for a movie to leave me so stunned, sobered, and contemplative. And a bit traumatized. I feel like this movie has picked me up and moved me somewhere else. That’s a powerful thing.

If you read anything else about this movie you’ll rob yourself of its power. Don’t read the synopsis on Netflix or IMDB, and whatever you do, don’t read reviews. Turn it on, settle in, and lose yourself in it. Once you reach the end, you’ll be so found you’ll be speechless.