The in-laws are coming, arriving today around dinner time, and Erin and I have been spending much of our spare time cleaning. People ask me, how can Erin, with her full time job, and myself, a stay-at-home dad of a precocious nearly-two-year-old find the time to write, and my answer is, come on over to our place, and I’ll show you. Just give us a few hours warning, first, so we can clean.
I’ve also been working on two web commissions; I’ve had a sudden spate of work in this area. The first website to announce is that of Carolyn Wilker, a freelance editor and speech-writer who wanted an online portfolio. At the same time, poet Stephen Bett approached me, asking for a site to promote his quarter-century publishing history. Both sites are very similar in design, but it’s interesting how, through the judicious use of pictures, Bett’s site looks more dynamic compared to Wilker’s crisper, cleaner portfolio.
And just as I put the finishing touches to Bett’s site, author and client Brian Henderson contacted me to tell me that his new book of poetry is out. Information about Nerve Language as well as some writing samples, are now available to the public.
I’ve started making major changes to The Night Girl, thanks to feedback received from a number of my early beta readers. Among the changes, the planned appearance by Perpetua’s mother, Felicity, has been eliminated. The fact that I was able to remove her from the narrative without substantially altering the climax says it all, really. I’m also working on character motivations, and think I’m getting closer to figuring things out. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again to my hard-working beta readers who took the time to read the whole story and to offer some excellent advice.
Blogging may be a little sporadic over the next week or so as the situation continues, but you never know. Keep checking in for updates, and then check out the posts by my friends in the Non-Partisan Alliance.
In the meantime, here’s a link:
I’m enjoying the latest snark from Editorial Anonymous. It’s a wonderfully funny window on the publishing process and it shows that editors are overworked people too:
do you think that the rejection process for unsolicited manuscripts could be standardised?
If there were to be a checklist… what would the choices be?
- this subject material is inappropriate for the age group.
- this subject material is inappropriate for children.
- this subject material is inappropriate for farm animals.
- a spoonful of sugar does not help nuclear winter go down.
Whether you are a published author, or an aspiring one, or just enjoy seeing some snark in action, go read the whole thing.