Yes, publication is imminent. I know! I promised P-day would be 5 Mar (today). I have shelved all my other projects but some things simply can't be put off, especially (happily) paid projects and this last week has been busier than I'd anticipated. Still plenty of time for my book draft but not enough to meet my self-imposed P-Day target. No complaints about that. I have 2 more draft reads to go.
Why two? I made so many changes in the last read through that I feel another read through for final minor adjustments is crucial. Finally, I will read through again one last time without making changes (from a pdf file or similar) as if I am a reader and not an author. I don't know if other authors do this - this is my first novel (does 53 thousand plus words put this into 'novel' category?) - but my efforts to ensure my book is easily readable and grammatically correct are paramount. I have read so many naturist-themed books that fall short of these criteria.
I'm on my own as far as proofreading is concerned.
On the downside, I simply don't know anyone except my English Lit graduate daughter who can give me feedback and she's so damn busy that it would take her weeks to accomplish this. Also although she knows I am a naturist at home, she doesn't know of my social involvement. My wife of course does know and although she's comfortable naked, she wouldn't call herself a naturist - even though we hike nude. But she can't proofread effectively as although her English is good, she's not a native English speaker.
On the plus side, I am a proofreader myself, sometimes for fiction but mainly for non-fiction and business documents. As long as I really work at it, proofread repeatedly and, most importantly, avoid business formality, I think i can do a reasonable job. No doubt you will let me know if I have failed.
I will try to complete the two reads over this weekend and on Monday I can buy my ISBN and enroll with amazon.
Getting really close!
Yours in naturism
Wally Greensage
Wally (Friday, 04 March 2016 22:52)
I forgot to mention that after the next draft read-through I will post an excerpt on this blog. Happy reading!