Why I didn't post in December
Here's the quick version.
I was on the train on my way to PhilCon (SF con in Philadelphia, PA), and I decided to indulge myself by looking at a copy of my newly-published fantasy novel, "Seabird". I had glanced at the copies destined for the con and the Broad Universe table, but had been too busy to do more than that before I left. So I got a copy out of the luggage and sat back to flip through it and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Which lasted a minute or two, at which point I noticed that a word was missing from a sentence. I began looking for errors and unfortunately, finding them. The bottom line was the the file sent to the printers was full of errors. The books were useless and so one of the main reasons I was going to the con had just evaporated.
Once I got home, I talked with my editor and we discovered what the problem was. Unfortunately rectifyig the problem required that I go through the whole manuscript again (againagainagainagain) and remove errors from what was supposed to be a pristine file. A little case of a file switcheroo followed by a file deep-six.
So, I returned home exhausted on Nov 25 after the second con, and spent the next five weeks correcting errors that had popped up like new dandelion plants when you don't kill the root the first time. I finished on New Year's Eve. Hey, I had no plans to go out and party anyway.
And so began the wait for the completion of all of the steps between submission of corrected proof and arrival of finished book in hand, in Amazon & in 9th Street Bookstore (Wilmington DE) -- for the second time. 17 days and counting...
I was on the train on my way to PhilCon (SF con in Philadelphia, PA), and I decided to indulge myself by looking at a copy of my newly-published fantasy novel, "Seabird". I had glanced at the copies destined for the con and the Broad Universe table, but had been too busy to do more than that before I left. So I got a copy out of the luggage and sat back to flip through it and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Which lasted a minute or two, at which point I noticed that a word was missing from a sentence. I began looking for errors and unfortunately, finding them. The bottom line was the the file sent to the printers was full of errors. The books were useless and so one of the main reasons I was going to the con had just evaporated.
Once I got home, I talked with my editor and we discovered what the problem was. Unfortunately rectifyig the problem required that I go through the whole manuscript again (againagainagainagain) and remove errors from what was supposed to be a pristine file. A little case of a file switcheroo followed by a file deep-six.
So, I returned home exhausted on Nov 25 after the second con, and spent the next five weeks correcting errors that had popped up like new dandelion plants when you don't kill the root the first time. I finished on New Year's Eve. Hey, I had no plans to go out and party anyway.
And so began the wait for the completion of all of the steps between submission of corrected proof and arrival of finished book in hand, in Amazon & in 9th Street Bookstore (Wilmington DE) -- for the second time. 17 days and counting...