I’ve just given final approval on the ebook formatting and back cover art.
The Oak and the Moon (The Alignment Book 3) is complete.
Publication happening soon. Very soon.
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: Complete
Final proofread: Complete
Cover art: Complete
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…
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
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.
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
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
Editing is complete. The first proofread begins on August 31. Check out this final edited hardcopy sitting on my desk. Hard to believe.
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
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
Readaloud is complete. Conclusion: the last three chapters need to be reworked. I’m taking tonight off, but I get back on it tomorrow.
I’ve completed the first round of revisions and I’m now on the second round. It’s the most time consuming part, but I make visual progress every day because I’m working off actual marked up pages that get a nice little red check mark at the bottom when done. Four stacks of pages. One is finished, and I’m halfway through the second.
After this second round of revisions, I’m DONE. And don’t try to talk me out of it.
Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete! (160,627 words)
My revisions: First round complete, final round in progress (45% complete)
Professional editing: Starts mid-July
Final Draft: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Proofreading: Not started
Cover art: Not started
I wrote the last lines of THE OAK AND THE MOON last night just before midnight. Fifty-five chapters, one epilogue, and 160,627 words. This first draft is the longest one yet. I start my edits immediately–or, I should say, I resume my edits. I’ve already edited the first 128,463 words. They’re ready for my editor. The remaining 32,164 should be a breeze due to the care I took with the initial writing.
For the past couple weeks I’ve been sifting through five and a half years’ worth of notes. Most were used. Some were discarded. Others were saved for books 4 and 5.
And you won’t believe this: only ONE F-bomb. Hard to believe, I know. But you’ll understand why when you read it. You’ll also understand why this book is so long. More on that later. :)
Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: Complete! (160,627 words)
My revisions: In progress (79% complete)
Professional editing: Starts mid-July
Final Draft: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Proofreading: Not started
Cover art: Not started
First draft of THE OAK AND THE MOON is sooo close to being finished. I’m thinking three more chapters will do it, maybe four. I won’t waste time blabbing about it when I could be finishing it, so here’s a quick status. Now I’m off to write the end of this thing.
Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: In progress (151,178 words and counting)
My revisions: In progress
Professional editing: Starts mid-July
Final Draft: Not started
Proofreading: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started
Kay Camden 