Thursday, December 19, 2013

In Which Time Fails to Materialize


Wibbly Wobbly, it may be, but somehow the stuff fails to show up when I really need it. I'm really not sure what I was thinking... the PLAN, as it was, was madness...

Which PLAN you ask? *BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA*

*cough*

The one where I format the paperback and load into all the other formats in plenty of time to be available for Christmas...


Obstacles

1)  I got behind on my timing of Book 5 in the serial, so was tangled in production when I should have been writing. This has set me back across the board. I THOUGHT I would be done writing 'all 10' by now... but I am NOT done with 10 and there actually will be 12...

2)  I had a couple beta readers hit obstacles for reading book 6, so that is running a bit behind, too.

3)  Formatting the paperback is more complicated than I thought.

4)  The DAY job has remained SWAMPED. Normally I sneak a few things in on any given day because WORD (which I have at work and not home) plays more nicely with all those uploading programs (I have tried to upload books from home twice now and Kindle doesn't like my home computer. And with no time to steal at work, I haven't managed to do that other formatting, partially for this reason.


Accomplishments

1)  I DID manage to do my final cleanup of What Ales Me and sent it to Ellen.

2)  I page-proofed Keeping Mum.

3)  I edited Book 6 for 2nd readers.

4)  I DID format the paperback. It is books 1-4 of the serial and available HERE

5)  And Joris created the BEAUTEOUS full cover (front/back, spine... did you know dimension of spine changes with page number? I know that now)

6)  And I've written almost all of book 9, started book 10 and plotted a couple character strands of 11... so getting there.

7)  Got my proof copies (and ordered some promotional ones) (I will take a picture, but not probably until this weekend... I'm not sure where the camera is)


Still To Do

1)  Shop, send Christmas presents and a couple gifts... (I know. Not a writing exercise)
2)  Finish formatting for various OTHER formats (can you format for formats?).
3)  Finish 9 and 10 THIS month (plot 11 and 12)
4)  First Edit of book 8
5)  2nd edit of book 7
6)  3rd edit of book 6
7)  If POSSIBLE (which I don't think it is) Publish book 6—this will PROBABLY be early January rather than December.)

So There... It feels an awful lot like I'm making a lot of excuses these days... hopefully my TWO WEEK vacation, which begins at 4 on Friday, will give me the time I need to finish up.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well of course the dimensions of the spine change with th page count, silly tart... Didn't you ever notice the difference between, say, The Hobbit and the single-volume version of The Lord of the Rings as they stand together in your bookcase? ;)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hart, you are juggling many things - it happens. Just keep moving forward.
Cool the print book features all the covers on the back.
Just think how much you will get done in the next two weeks!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

A little behind is better than not moving at all.

I'm still lobbying for a 40 hour day.

Maurice Mitchell said...

Eat that elephant Hart! One bite at a time and you'll get it done. I'm impressed with your progress so far!

Andrew Leon said...

Time never works the way you want it to. I had planned to have collection 4 of Shadow Spinner available before Christmas, but that's not happening, either.
So, yeah, I feel... um... I know how you feel.

Helena said...

So are you gonna spend your entire two-week vacation writing and editing? So much for relaxing over the holidays. Me, I'm behind in EVERYTHING! Ah well.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Hart - at least your plan and goals are there .. good luck with it all -things end up working. Breathe!! and enjoy something of the Christmas break - cheers Hilary

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I'm exhausted just reading this! I need another cup of coffee. And a chocolate peanut butter Christmas Tree. Or two. :)

Hang in there, Hart!

jack welling said...

Go Hart Go !

Congrats on the new gig, by the way. Don't know if I passed that on. Always seems that vocational excitement and creativity (read - excessive stress) leads to those bouts of avocational creativity.

Excited for you series. Enter (laughing). Exit (pursued by a bear).

Unknown said...

How do you keep track of all that? Seriously--you are amazing. Even if you don't catch up on all this it sounds as if you're still ahead of the game. Merry Christmas, Hart! (Be sure to allot yourself a smidgen of time to enjoy it. Throw a snowball or something.)

Old Kitty said...

Beautiful and most NAKED Tart!! You continue to dazzle me with your utter awesomeness!! You accomplish so much and then some! WOW!

Wishing you a most fabulous and wonderful Christmas and New Year!! Take care
x

Laura said...

Hello lovely- just popped by to say I hope you had a fab Christmas and have a very happy new year... sounds like you have been crazily busy- may 2014 be wonderful for you
Laura xx

mooderino said...

Wish I was this prolific. Hope you get a break sometime in 2014.

mood
Moody Writing