“Hog Valley” is out the door

Technorati Tags: "Hog Valley",writing,publishing

 

My second novel, “Hog Valley”, is now available through my web site, www.garyshowalter.com. It will also be available through www.amazon.com within ten days and other on-line retailers will pick up some time later.

In order to mark the release of “Hog Valley”, the prices on both novels have been reduced from $18.99 to $15.00. Please do not hesitate to purchase multiple copies for presents…

Truth to tell, if I had a day job, I wouldn’t quit it to be a writer.

But what the heck; you gotta make do with what you’ve been given, and make the best of it.

I’m suffering from a burst of optimism

Technorati Tags: publication,"Hog Valley","The Big Bend",moving,price break,Christmas,Hanukka

 

Hi, Folks:

I expect the printed Proof copy of “Hog Valley” to be in my hands very close to the end of this month. The novel should be available for purchase on Amazon and my web site within another ten days. Or so.

I've placed a thumbnail of the cover art for "Hog Valley" on my web site www.garyshowalter.com. It's worth a look.

I’ll let you know the day it becomes available.

“Twisted Key” is lagging. I haven’t written a word in the manuscript in a few months. Life has gotten in my way in a very big way. Health issues, mostly, and moving apartments, and more health issues. But I can see the end of the proverbial rainbow from where I’m sitting, so there is great cause for optimism.

I may not have done any writing, but I have done a lot of thinking about “Twisted Key”. And no plot I ever met suffered from an overabundance of thinking.

The moving is finished, though we are still unpacking . For another, the retinal surgery is behind me and the eye is doing very well, thank you very much. I recently had a nasty bout with an Upper Respiratory Infection, and the antibiotics are well on the way to clearing that up (all of the dust from packing up an apartment and unpacking may be the cause of the URI).

And I am now working on a 22” wide-screen monitor, which is truly a miracle of modern technology. I don’t have to squint at a small CRT screen, and any headaches I suffer will NOT be due to my monitor, ever again.

It’s been hinted at on my web site, but I’ll give you a bit more information. As much as I can at this time, anyway. There will be a major price break offered to folks who purchase “The Big Bend” and/or “Hog Valley” in the next few months. I’m doing this both to mark the publication of my second novel and to encourage folks to pick up a few Christmas and Hanukah presents.

I’ll drop the prices as low as I can, and try to keep them in place at least through the first of January, 2011.

But tomorrow I go for a blood test.

Waiting on “Hog Valley” and other stuff

Technorati Tags: production issues,health issues,"Hog Valley","Twisted Key"

 

I’m waiting on the Proof Copy of “Hog Valley”. The interior work and the Cover work are complete. As soon as I receive the proof copy in the mail

I’ll check it thoroughly and, hopefully, give my final approval. This week, I hope and pray.

In spite of my best efforts, I have not written a single word in “Twisted Key” in several weeks. Health issues – torn retina, gout (nasty, nasty stuff), moving between apartments, final edits and wrangling with the production teams on “Hog Valley” and most recently a really bad upper respiratory infection have gotten in the way of any writing.  That’s life, I guess.

But that does not mean I’m not thinking about the plot. I am, and when I can I’m running down leads and making contacts for information to flesh out the story.

The recovery from the URI is slow, unfortunately. Getting back to some semblance of normalcy from something like that takes time, especially when you’re not nineteen. Heaven knows I haven’t been nineteen in a couple of years. Heaven knows that – I’m just getting around to realizing it, myself.

I hope you have a really good week.

“Hog Valley” vs. Moving

Technorati Tags: moving,writing,anxiety,exhaustion

It’s a tie, on several levels. Both projects have together drained me dry, where either project alone would merely have left me exhausted. As far as pure anxiety is concerned, “Hog Valley” wins with sleepless nights and nightmares of covers glued on upside down and interior text in Ukrainian or only half the pages have type in any language. I’ve just this afternoon seen the final proof for the cover. It is gorgeous. The final interior proof should be here in the next day or so.

But Moving has it over “Hog Valley” in physical strain, shortness of breath and just plain exhaustion.

All of us – my sister, her husband and yours truly, are now living in the new apartment in Orange Park, along with the furniture and all of the odd bits still in boxes or simply dropped in an empty spot. Which boxes are stacked in the middle of the rooms and along the walls. Meaning, of course, that you simply can’t get there from here. If you are stout of heart and willing to plot a very will he - nill he course (or no course at all) you can forge your way into the kitchen, but it is very unlikely you will ever be able to return to whatever civilization you left behind.

I was in the living room watching television yesterday afternoon, when I recalled a reference book I needed for “Twisted Key”. So I headed for the library room just behind the kitchen (I think that’s where it is, or at least was), looking for a particular box of books, and somehow wound up walking on Edgewater Drive in Orlando, carrying my dirty laundry bag. I turned around very quickly and found myself back in the apartment, this time in the laundry room, with the reference book in hand.

That was a very close call, I tell you. I didn’t have any change for the Laundromat.

Neither Richard nor myself have seen my sister in three days, though we can hear her cries. We can also hear the trumpeting and roaring of some large and hungry beast, hard on her trail.

Before you snort in derision, remember this is Florida, where anything is possible. In fact, in Florida, anything is very likely.

I can’t believe it’s Friday already

Technorati Tags: I've had better weeks,"Hog Valley",production,"Twisted Key",moving

 

What a week this has been. Never mind all of the mess surrounding the move from one place to another (It’s not over yet. The movers only show up tomorrow). “Hog Valley” is in production, and I’m spending so much time in ‘Meaningful Discussion’ with the production teams that I don’t have any time or energy to work on “Twisted Key”.

First off, I stipulated a font sixe for the body text, but the proof came back two sizes smaller. I told them to use the font size I’d given them, and their response was to tell me it was going to cost $200.00 of my dollars to affect the change. I said ‘No’. More on this later.

That same day the cover art proof arrive in an email and it was suggested to me to get a better quality digital photo for them to work with, because the photo I’d initially provided was way too weak on detail. So I had to drive to the artists home a few hours away, re-photograph the artwork and come back, clean up the image and let them know I had it.

When I did that I found out that the publisher had ‘waived’ the charge for the font size change. I was thoroughly wiped out by the drive, and very relieved by the change in position of the publisher.

Now I’m praying the book cover design folks won’t try to bill me for the new artwork. They didn’t screw this one up – I did…

Well, it’s Labor Day weekend. Maybe nobody will notice that little fact…

 

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

It’s been a very busy week

Technorati Tags: Moving woes,events calendar

 

Maybe I’m finally getting old. I don’t remember most of it. What I do remember is shifting boxes, rearranging my room to fit more stuff into it, building tables and assembling chairs, shifting more boxes, working out an events calendar for book signings during the Fall months and scraping together the cash to cover the expenses involved.

I hate moving. I love travelling, but I purely hate moving.

On the publishing front, I did receive the proofs for the interior design layout and the book cover for “Hog Valley”. The interior proof was right on the money, but there were a few issues with the cover design. As I mentioned in a previous post, I did get in touch with the artist and requested another round of photography to get a 300 dpi image I could pass on to the design team. With any luck I’ll have that early next week.

 

So here’s the Events Calendar:

Book Signing Events

September 11     Historic Grounds Bookstore, Green Cove Springs
            4 - 7 PM

September 25    Florida Heritage Book Festival, St. Augustine
            7 AM - 5 PM

October 9        Fall Festival - Calvary United  Methodist Church, Orange Park
            10 AM – 2PM

October 16 & 17 Orange Park Festival
            7:30 AM - 6:30 PM (2 days)

November 13    Historic Grounds Bookstore, Green Cove Springs
            5PM - 9PM

November 20    Andrea's Bookstore, Palatka
            12 Noon - 3PM

 

If you’re in the north Florida area, I hope to see you at one of these locations.

Well, one of my editors is very happy. the other is on vacation…

I got an email from Eve Bell yesterday. She said she was taking the rewritten portion of “Twisted Key” to the library with her. I’d sent her my rewrites about a week ago, before we started to move into the new apartment.

This evening she sent me a reply. She is now a very happy editor, indeed. Lots and lots of happy words in her email about the marked increase in clarity and exposition of the plot, and she was really happy about the character development.

My other editor, Mickey Summers, who also does the cover art, is supposed to be back from vacation soon. He’s got the rewrites, too. I also need to see if he can send me new photography of the painting for the cover.

We’re shifting a lot of boxes into the new apartment this week, and with Richard (my brother-in-law) off work this weekend, I hope to have most of the boxes here by the time we quit lugging stuff on Sunday.

Because the movers are supposed to load up the furniture on Monday and bring it over.

Maybe I’ll be able to get back to work on “Twisted Key” some time next week.

Hope you’re having a more productive week than I am.

Technorati Tags: editors,cover art,moving headaches