Back to Ottawa, Back to Work

Christmas at the Blurton household(s) was short and sweet. In my three and a half day vacation, I managed to do the following:

• Chat with my parents into the long hours of the night.
• Have Christmas dinner at my younger brother's home.
• Play with his adorable little daughter Hanna.
• Go to my older brother's house for Boxing Day dinner.
• Play with his daughter and see the newborn - both adorable.
• Get my butt handed to me in Settlers of Catan (at least Chris didn't win).
• Play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer (short review: it's awesome).
• Sleep in a room-sized dollhouse.
• Play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood singleplayer (short review: it's also awesome).
• Have another Christmas dinner at my parents house with Gramma Blurton.
• Fly home, get sick and work the next day.

So aside from the getting sick part, it was a pretty awesome vacation if not a wee bit condensed. My favourite moment was I was showing my little niece my iPad and the thirty or so Disney movies installed on it. This was her actual quote:"I like your movies (pause). I love you."That one just about melted my heart and made me ask my brother if I take her back to Ottawa with me. This year it really hit me how far away from my family I have gone. I only get to seem them twice a year now and a whole new generation of Blurtons are growing up without me. It made me reconsider my move to Ottawa, until I remembered what Ottawa has that Enderby doesn't:Jobs.I wonder if these are the same emotions that my ancestors felt when they made the trip over the ocean from Britain. They must have known that they would never see their families again and yet they still made the trip, looking for a better life. I guess I should count my blessings. At least I get to see my family twice a year.After the vacation, I returned to work for a quiet two days and then spent the long weekend recovering from my illness. Unfortunately, I gave it to my roommate. In the meantime, I did finally finish the line edit of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne. I had never imagined that it would have taken so long (approximately 6 months). I still have a few pages of notes of things that I need to go to fix but for the most part, the next draft is ready. My next step will be to hire an editor to do another line edit, clean up the text and finalize it for publication). I pray that the final edit will not take nearly as long.Oh yeah, my birthday party is coming up. This year I'm turning 32. Thankfully, I have aged well. The birthday party will be at Pub Italia on Wednesday at 5:30 pm. If you don't know where Pub Italia is, then I probably don't want you showing up to my party. :) Here's to 32 more glorious years.Until next time, keep the comments coming.

The Line Edit is Done

Those of you who have been following my blog will remember that I had hired Erin Stropes from kallista.ca to do a line edit of my novel Evermore: Call of the Nocturne.  I am happy to announce that she has finished and returned my annotated manuscript to me.  Or, I was happy until I found all the (valid) criticisms levelled at my baby.  But not to worry, I did what any self-respecting writer would do.  I went into the corner and cried.After a couple of hours and a couple of hundred tissues, I pulled myself from my misery and began to focus on what I needed to change.  After some thought, I identified three major issues with the plot:

1. The ending was too difficult to understand.
2. The timelock used during the story fizzles out as it approaches the deadline.
3. One of the major characters disappears without reason for half the novel.

The first problem I was able to solve last night with some clever tinkering but the other two will take weeks of work as I read through the manuscript yet again.  This will be followed by a second swing through the novel as I address the thousands of small (and yet valid) points that Erin raised.  Following these two drafts, I will have to submit it again to Erin for a final line-edit review.So while Erin's editing has levelled a blow to my self-esteem and delayed the novel's release for months, I still find that it was worth the time and the money (about $1200) to have the line edit done.  Despite all the aggravation and extra work, the end result will be a manuscript that will be far more fun to read.  Thus for those of you that are considering publishing your novel digitally on your own, I would fully recommend hiring an editor.  They truly do pick up so many things that you missed.  In fact, I would recommend three rules:

1. Hire an editor.
2. Your editor is always right.
3. Your editor is ALWAYS right (it needs to be said twice)

Follow these rules (don't forget to pay her) and you will be able to produce a manuscript that you won't be ashamed of.

I have myself an Editor

Publication of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne is moving along quite nicely.  After some searching, I have found an editor.  Henry Baum, writer of The American Book for the Dead, recommended Erin Stropes (www.kallisti.ca) from Montreal, QC.  After reviewing Erin's work, I have hired her to do a line edit of my manuscript.  Needless to say, I have been quite pleased about the quality of work that I have received.  I have received her comments on the first few chapters and it is clear that there is still a lot of work that I still need to do.  One of the things that digital publishers must do is ensure that the quality of the manuscript is top-notch.  One error or poorly-worded phrase and the reader will assume that you are an amateur and close the book.  For an independent author to succeed, he or she must provide a superior product than what you would find in stories.  Their stories must be more original, their characters must be more interesting, and their prose has to be top-notch.  It is for this reason that I made securing an editor a top priority for this manuscript.A full line edit will set me back about $1200 and will take a couple of months to complete.  This will be followed by another couple of months of revisions on my end and then perhaps another edit if it is warranted.  It is a lot of money but at the end of the day you are selling quality.  If you are not willing to put the investment into your own work, then you are in the wrong line of work.With the editing process, a 2010 release is still possible but it's going to be tighter.  In the meantime, I will prepare one of my short-stories for release.  This will allow to learn the ins-and-outs of digital publishing on a much smaller scale.  Stay tuned for more details.