Real life has been hectic lately, so I haven't written a whole lot, but I am two chapters into the third Inspector Broekstein mystery, Whispers in the Woods, so that's something. I also finished updating the paperback version of Westward, Tally Ho! and, by all indications, it turned out well.
This month's goals: make it a third of the way through the first draft of Whispers in the Woods, continue posting an episode of Monsieur Moule's Subterranean Casino each day, and revamp the paperback edition of Double Murders are Twice as Bad. That should be doable.
In other news, my flash fiction collection After Thoughts is getting the audio treatment, courtesy of Craig Waletzko who produced Alienated. Based on what I've heard so far, it's going to sound great. He really knows how to bring characters to life.
First up, here are a few sites that really came in handy:
And here's the path I took:
1. Copy and paste the single-spaced manuscript with chapter headings into the chosen trim size template: 5.25" by 8"
2. Use a free, commercial-use font: EB Garamond
3. Change line indents from 0.5" to 0.2" and add page numbers; turn off page borders in design to delete horizontal lines in headers/footers
4. Add section breaks to eliminate running headers above chapter titles, which should be twice the normal font size to ensure consistent spacing between text and page numbers in the footer
5. Check for any weird justification at the ends of pages and chapters
6. Input the page count in the cover calculator and download the template; use Canva to create a custom project with the cover dimensions in inches; assemble the cover with free, commercial-use art from Pixabay, keeping all text lined up inside the template's white space
7. Save the book and cover as PDFs, and carefully review every page prior to publishing
This month, my goals are to wrap up AGROTHARN the Interstellar Semi-Barbarian, make it to the halfway point of Lives on the Line (Inspector Broekstein #2), and get Uncommoner: A GrimFarce out there for the world to read in eBook and paperback. So, how am I doing? Glad you asked.
From the start of AGROTHARN I wanted to write 100 episodes. Arbitrary, I know; sometimes I just like to push myself. But four months later, I'm pleased to say I've got 95 episodes on Kindle Vella with another five to go. I'm on the final story arc of "season one," and things are shaping up nicely. I should be able to post the 100th episode by the end of next week.
As soon as I finished Murders at the Manor, I knew I wouldn't be saying goodbye to amateur sleuth Willem Broekstein anytime soon. Only a day or two went by before I dove into the sequel, Lives on the Line. 20K written so far with the target being a little over 50K. Here's the current blurb:
Quirky, lovelorn Inspector Broekstein is back, this time in a mystery that begins with a bar of soap and a simple message carved on one side: Help me. All is not as it seems, however, and he will need his wits about him if he is to solve a dangerous case of infidelity, misogyny, and revenge without losing his head or his heart in the process.
Last, but not least, I've been formatting the eBook edition of Uncommoner: A GrimFarce and re-learning how to format paperbacks. Instead of using the KDP method that does it all for you and ends up not looking so hot in print, I decided to do the interior myself with the templates they offer. Then I used the cover calculator and took the template/dimensions over to Canva to piece everything together. If the PDF files load correctly, it should end up looking pretty spiffy.