Everyone who posts on this blog comes up with such clever topic ideas. For some unknown reason, my mind has drawn a blank. Not that I'm ever that clever, but it does seem like something would pop into my mind.
Because I'm so embroiled in planning the promo for my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Dispel the Mist, that's all I can think about. Though the manuscript has been through the editing process at my publishers, I'm now waiting on the galley proof to go over. For some reason, galley proofs never seem to arrive in a timely manner. With my very first book the galley arrived on a Friday with instruction to have them back by Monday. This was long before email and it was an impossibility to get them back that fast. I sent in my corrections, but the typos were all still there when the book came out.
Last year, I had a big book launch planned for Kindred Spirits, out of town and in a Bed and Breakfast with pre-sold tickets for a luncheon. I sweated bullets. I got the books about four days before I had to leave for the event.
With Dispel the Mist, I don't have anything quite so lavish planned--though I do have events nearly every weekend and I'm hoping I'll have books by then.
This is the way it is with every book I've written. I'm told when the book will be out, I make plans, then I go through the nerve wracking process of whether or not I'll get the galleys, have enough time to proof (very necessary) and get them back for the whole printing process.
I'm truly eager for Dispel the Mist since one of the characters is the Hairy Man, an Indian legend who may or may not still be roaming the mountains above the Tule River Indian Reservation (Bear Creek Reservation in my books). The cover has a very realistic rendition of the pictograph of the Hairy Man on the Painted Rock on the reservation.
I had a great time writing this book and my heroine's encounter with this legendary creature.
Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com
Whew! The galleys came, I made the corrections and sent them back. (What's amazing to me is how many mistakes I found after my critique group went over it, I paid an editor to go over it, and my editor at the publishers went over it twice! I have a reader friend who says finding mistakes in a book she's reading is like finding clues. Wish everyone felt like that.)
ReplyDeleteMarilyn, I'm correcting the copy-edit of THE COUGAR CLUB now, and I'm trying to be eagle-eyed at spotting errors (some that the copy-editor himself put IN). Oy! And I'm sure I'll catch a few more things when the galleys are ready. I doubt there's a book out there that is completely mistake-proof. That's just the way it is.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Susan
Great post, Marilyn!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your blogs. It was great learning about the next steps after getting the "nod." I look forward to being embroiled in that welcomed institution one day soon. LOL
Smile!,
Sarah
Worrying about errors in the final product keeps me awake at night. And of course, there's always that family member who's more than willing to point out a typo you, the proofreader, and the copyeditor missed in various stages of production. I wish I could get a little less anxious about it, but being as my day job is as an editor, I guess it comes with the territory? Maggie
ReplyDelete