my own drum

Today, at 9:35pm, I completed a publication milestone. I completed the final proofreading, a three week process. I can absolutely say that there are no misspelled or misused words. The book has come in at 270 pages, but I believe that number will be slightly reduced as I work through the final format.

Yes, there is still more work, but I will not ever need to read each sentence, each paragraph, each chapter. Most of the remaining work will involve the addition of images, and the actual page layouts. We are producing two nearly identical versions of this novel. One is for the Books On Demand publishers, including Lulu and Amazon. The other version is the e-book, which will contain links to many of the references that are cited - names, places and things.

I'm excited to have reached this milestone. Back in August of this year was ready to begin this recently completed process, but the author wanted to read her story one more time in order to ensure that it was still accurate after passing through several editors. That read-through added an extra sixty days to the process. Then, when she was finished with the read-through, I was in the final stages of a two week cold/flu/crud. I felt horrible, and so I didn't start for another three days.

To my detractors, certain friends of the author, I say "Bah!" For weeks at least two of these people have been calling frequently and chastising my efforts, causing the author to express doubts about this effort. I'll make sure that both of you receive a signed copy of this novel.

The author is leaving in the next day or so to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday. While she is away I will be working on the different formats, and preparing a PDF file for the Books On Demand publishers. When she returns, I'm sure we will be adding more images. Why, I don't know.. but she wants them so they will get inserted. Meanwhile, the novel will be available with the limited images that we have already inserted.

After completing this phase I stepped outside for a smoke. I walked over to the edge of the woods, and I spotted lights out in the woods. They didn't look light flashlights, more like candles in a paper sack. It was odd to see those lights out there. I'm guessing that they were coming from the old mine road. I hollered out towards the woods, "Hey, no poaching!" I would have expected the lights to go out, but they continued. Whoever it was, whatever it was, it was moving slowly. I needed to move in order to see the lights through the trees. All I can say is, "Strange things in the woods tonight."