Seeing Things, part 10: editing and new projects

Dear Blog Friends:

The past few days I worked hard on the cover mockup for Seeing Things.  I think I have a working cover, though the urge to tinker with it ceaselessly is pretty intense.  Here’s the current book cover.  I’m still not sure about my name and the subtitle.  First of all, is it readable?  Most readable would be white, but I don’t want it too readable. If the name and subtitle stand out too much, people will think that “Kater Cheek” is the name of the book, and I’m not exactly on the Stephen King level of author blitz. I want the teacup to be the first, second, and third thing that the viewer notices, with my name as an afterthought.  I will probably tinker with it for another 8 or 10 hours before all is said and done.

Meanwhile, I got notes back from one of my favorite beta readers (Hi Keyan!) about TREEMAKER, the second novel. She has some valid criticisms which suggest I need to rewrite the novel from chapter 25 on.  I’m thinking hard about those changes, and how I can alter the course of this novel while not ruining anything that happens in subsequent novels.  I started revisions this morning, but there’s still an aspect or two that I’m not certain about, so that’s going to take some thought.

I’ve got an idea for an iconic cover for the second novel that involves the title etched onto a rusty saw blade. I think it will work both thematically and artistically, and I’m very excited about it.  I even borrowed a rusty saw from my parents, and informed them that it would be returned in an after market condition.  I’m so excited about it that I’m going to use “work on second novel cover” as a reward for finishing my next task.

My next task is to get the next pairing of short stories ready to publish.  That will involve copying and pasting them into a document, editing them, editing them again, checking the formatting, and editing them a third time.  Usually if I edit a dozen times I can get all but a few typos out.  I don’t think it’s possible to get all the typos out.  I think typos are like roaches in a cheap apartment building–impossible to eradicate entirely.

In addition to the editing, I need to write descriptions of the stories, and add the material at the end that lets people know about my novel (which, honestly, is the reason for all of this.)

Once I get the stories edited and ready for smashwords, I’ll make a new cover.  When I get the stories up on Smashwords, I’ll put “Voice Like a Cello” and “Bear Country” up on Kindle.  I will also start charging 99 cents for them on Smashwords, because they are going to have to be 99 cents on Kindle. The new stories will start out as free, and I’ll make sure to write a blog post telling you about them here.

I also need to make a “free fiction spotlight” for Friday, both so that I have some content that’s not all “me me me me me me” and to draw attention to some cool editors.  I hope I can get the stories ready to go by the end of the weekend.

Meanwhile–if you are a reviewer, even if (perhaps especially if) you review on Amazon and/or your own blog, and you would like a review copy of SEEING THINGS, please let me know.  I am only 15% sure at this point that I will have paper copies available, but I will certainly have ecopies available. AND (this is a little secret for blog readers) I plan to have SEEING THINGS available for FREE on smashwords for several weeks before September 1st.

So, I guess I got my work cut out for me.  With any luck, you’ll see new stories before the weekend it out.

Shigoto, shigoto–

Kater