09 Nov November Catch Up
First week of November in the books. First snowfall a few days ago too and dark by five o’clock as our clocks fell back an hour. Looks like we’re getting into it now.
A few events coming up. I’ll be at Chapters Barrhaven next Saturday, November 16 from noon to 2:00 p.m. with Barbara Fradkin. This is a Crime Writers of Canada mystery weekend at the store with other Ottawa crime fiction writers manning the table at different times over the two days. Come by and say hi, maybe get some Christmas shopping done, if you have time.
I’m also slated to be back on 1310 News The Power Lunch from noon to 12:30 on Monday, November 25. The one place I get to air my views ….
So this week, I completed my first review of my latest manuscript and got it up to 78,400 words. I then put the file into smaller font and printed the entire manuscript and have now started going through it again. Amazing the little errors you miss reading it on the computer screen as opposed to reading hard copy. The brain processes in mysterious ways. I’m reading the text aloud and this is helping me to pick out mistakes and to hear when a sentence isn’t flowing. I’ve already added two hundred words and am on page 20 of 145 pages. I’d really like to get up to 80,000 words minimum when all is said and done. After this review, I have a couple of trusty readers lined up to give me their input. I hope to be finished this editing business by January and then we’ll see how its received by those in the industry!
It was also my Monday to post on 7 Criminal Minds blogspot and you can read my post if you missed it. The week’s question concerns networking at book conferences and how I go about it. There are some good insights by my fellow bloggers this week if you read the entire weeks’ offerings.
This coming Monday, I have a phone call scheduled with my publicist Elham to talk over Closing Time book submissions to reviewers amongst other items. Sounds like the book editing is complete but I’m not sure when it’s being printed. I’ll try to confirm the publication date too as I was told May but Amazon has its release in March.
So, today I’m off to the Hunt Club this morning to curl in a charity fundraiser with Ted and my daughter Julia. We’ve recruited a friend Dean who curled with us in past city-wide spiels so this promises to be a great day. I’ve been in every one of the Curling for a Cause events starting from its inception some six years ago. This year we’re raising money for The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, a vital part of our community and a most worthy recipient.