I received 2 copies of the proof of For Good Men To Do Nothing on Thursday. It was like giving birth. Twins. Brand new and squeaky. Baby analogy over. The typesetting was all wrong – it’s to do with how you prepare your script for CreateSpace, the Amazon paper-publishing wing. I have always paid someone to do that for me, but this time I thought I’d have a go myself. Idiot. But, with some work on Saturday, I think I’m there. Once all the script amendments are in, I’ll resubmit and get a second proof to check. All of this may delay the publishing date by a week, but I’m determined to be my own boss on this.
my baby…
I’ve reread the manuscript and made some changes. Rosemary, my proofer/editor (hello Rosemary!), has done a fab job and my subsequent changes were ones of ‘tone’. I have to say that I don”t think I can do any better than For Good Men To Do Nothing. I really can’t. I am at the zenith of my abilities as a writer. I”m not saying it’s any good (although, if I don’t think it is, you’r’e hardly going to like it), but I can’t do any more to make it any better. Sorry.
And I’ve had another go at the cover. This is mostly about the photo that provides the background for the cover. I’ve tried to make it ‘as one’. It’s complicated, that’s all I can say. Again, for the first three books I paid someone to do that. This time it’s all me
Anyhow. The really good news. Bex and Steven came back from The Bahamas yesterday (hence a day late for the blog). They have six weeks here until they head off to Seoul for three years in SK. It is great to see them. Thanks to Mary for having us again, so we could launch to Gatwick yesterday morning early-doors. And it was great to have the whole family round last night (in our new, but not v big garden). Unfortunately I’m at work for the next 4 weeks, so will miss a lot of Bex and Steven’s stay. Ho hum… As you’d expect, they are going to be here and there, including a trip to Madeira and then Bex goes off to Florence with pals of hers for a couple of later in July.
Surprise, surprise! On Saturday whilst I was in Mary’s house and C and Mary were downtown metropolitan Godalming, C bumped into a v old Army pal of ours, Alex and his wife Sarah. He popped up to see me and, as is always the case with old Army friends, it was like we”d only been apart for a few days. Fab.
Finally, for the record. My thanks to Rosemary – editor/proofer. We met on Saturday morning and I was met with a wave of enthusiasm and energy which was almost overwhelming. She’s shared Unsuspecting Hero‘s screenplay with a director friend of hers and continued to tell me how wonderful she thought Sam Green was in comparison to so many other thriller series. I know a good number of reviewers love the series, and I know some pals do. But it’s so good to meet someone who is genuinely and uncompromosingly energetic about the whole thing. Just what I needed…
