I think by now, ya'll know that when I say it's finished, I mean the ink is on the paper so to speak, but it's not anywhere near done. Nope. I'm 85% finished with writing the book, but now I'll need to go back and fluff and stuff it. I've been doing a bit of fluff and stuff along the way, to be honest, but I do and will need to go through it chapter by chapter, literally line by line to open it up, fill in the blanks, make changes, and create a more flowy-flowy atmosphere for my characters. I can't believe all the mistakes I make when I write. Just like when I write blogs. I find 10-20 mistakes and either go back and change them, or I leave them in and say phooey...get it next time. I can't do that with the books.
With "Of Kilted Pleasure" I'm dealing with the creators at the publishing house to allow me to resubmit the old PDF with corrections without charging me more than just a small revision fee. It's sort of like asking the wind to stop blowing in Oklahoma, but there are times when you can. It's hard to get these people to even get off their duff to assist; they don't do phone assistance, only email -- so it's a complete and unnecessary waste of time! But, in the end, if they can do it for me, I know I won't make the same mistake with the Murder Book; or any other book for that matter. NOPE, never again.
I am now 85% finished if I am going with the goal of 80,000 words for the manuscript. I have 68,000+ words now. I'm on Chapter Thirty-Four and it's going to be a catch-up chapter. It's an intel chapter in that it is written to inform the reader about the past, current events, and the things to come. It sets up situations and puts some things to rest. Nick will have a telephone call from Edinburgh to Oklahoma City; wishing his family back home a very Merry Christmas. He'll explain Hogmanay to the folks back home, he'll tell them what all he's been up to, but leave some of the scary parts out so his mom doesn't worry. He'll be asked a few questions, and that will be the setup part. The audience will hear his mom ask about so-and-so, and this or that; Nick has to explain to her, and thus the audience, what will happen.
I feel like I have four or five chapters to go. If they are all about 2500 words, it makes perfect sense. It's getting really good. One bad guy was caught, but he wasn't that bad. The next one was caught, she's bad, and won't get away with anything. The one coming up will be a challenge for sure; he's really sleazy and a bit greasy as well. That's a clue, but you don't know that. We'll see what happens to him. For that matter we'll both see because I've not got it all worked out in my head yet, so it's not worked out on the computer either. This thing lives, it breathes, and I work with it. I don't tell it what to do.
I may throw a Scottish recipe for something in the book just for fun. MacRae may have to have his girls help him prepare a little something something for the holidays. The next few chapters will be written this weekend. I'll have the book completed as far as the word count goes by Sunday night. I'll spend next week reading it, going through it, and making changes. I'll take the next week to correct that. I'll wait two more weeks, re-read it, find more errors, and finalize it. So, by August the book will be ready to send to the publisher. Sounds good.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time, effort, or money on the cover of the book since it's a murder book, and I'll have several to follow in a series. I'll be sure to have an art deco-style front since it takes place in 1930, but it won't be anything too spectacular. I won't spend money on it. I need to publish more books. If they sell then maybe I'll go back and redesign the covers. You just never know. There's so much that a person can do nowadays with self-publishing. I am not a graphics person, but others are and for a very cheap price I can get something created if I need to.
OK, so that's it, I'll be writing tomorrow and all weekend. I'll keep you posted.
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