Pinball Begins.

So, after thinking about it, I may or may not end up writing both books at the same time. I'm sort of in a mood to just keep writing the murder books. I know I can't get too bogged in it because I love the Kilted series too. It's only three books, so I could just write those and be done, but I think I want to put space between those anyway. I won't be too disappointed if Ewan and Aria really do spend a year apart from each other. Right now they're living separate lives so they can learn to live on their own and become the people they are meant to be. It's so romantic it makes me laugh. They could fall into each other's arms instantly, but they want to wait it out and let their love truly grow through appreciation and ...blah, blah, blah.

    What that means is, I am reading the notes I have already written for Pinball, and the very first note is that it takes place right after Murder Book. That means it takes place on New Year's Day 1930. It takes place in Edinburgh first, because Posh needs to go back to the States, but he just met up with Elaine. He and she need to have a moment, of course, then we can get into the reasons he goes back to the States to continue to catch the last of the Rub-A-Dub killers. The one that got away.

    I don't want to say too much, because if I do I would give away too much of the book I just wrote. Pinball will be a dive into the minds of the two separate murderers; John Reid whose real name is Walter E. Sanders, and Wade Murray, who really is Wade Murray, but uses the name Edward Sands when he's either in the U.S. or Canada, and when he was caught red-handed by Delores Muir the night he murdered Nathan Flores and David Sloan at her Inn up by the Leith Docks. You remember it, it's the Blackbeard Inn. Great place. I've stayed there several times, and since I know Delores personally, I never pay a penny. 

    Pinball will go into detail about the psychosis of the two killers, and where it will compare the two diagnoses, it will not be an end-all sort of medical thing. I will not be going into too much detail other than to describe how their manic behavior festers and manifests itself. I'm not writing a medical journal; I'm writing a murder thriller. I'll use parts of other books, journals, videos, and shows to draw any and all understanding and inference. I'm thinking I may go watch a few more Quincy shows. Love that man.

     I'll likely throw in a recipe for biscuits and gravy, maybe have Ama Posh make a heap of them for the boys. Fergy comes back to help and just vacation with Nick, but ends up falling in love and staying. That will need to be a tryst since he's still married up in Chicago; he and his wife are on the skids. He knows better, and Ama sets him straight about it. Nick doesn't apologize for what she says to him either. Instead, Nick tries to help him obtain his divorce.

    Pinball will have a series of gruesome unfortunate killings in the U.S.A. and one in Scotland. The one in Scotland is in the jailhouse and where fingers point to Fiona Hay Brown, it may have been someone else; we'll just have to see who did it. The reason "mystery" if there is one, is will Eoghan ever truly be free from Jane? She is out on her own, still sleeping with Reid, but instead of keeping her end of the deal with the police, she tells Reid what's going on, and it leads to real trouble both for her and for Eoghan. Will she ever learn? Geez, what a dumb selfish bitch. Oh well, it's a good character flaw to work with.

    I'm reading the notes today, pulling out things from those, and sort of thinking of the first line. I want the first line to be great. I want it to lead into the rest of Chapter One which is the chapter that sets up the book. I need to have the end worked out before I start the beginning. That way I know where I'm going, and when to stop. I have all nine books started if you consider that I'm putting notes down for each. I will build on one from the other, and carry instances, incidents, and events from one to the other. Some will be solved, some will not, some will linger, and some will be flatly dismantled. Life.  The next nine books (and more) will share Nick Posh's life from my brain to all of you. (...and the lives of dozens of others through various stages of character development.)

Photo Credit: Rightmoves.co.uk

CONGRATULATIONS!!! WOOT!!!

 Let me just say that I love the words "Congratulations" when I see them written out in printed words on the Ingram Spark site. That means my book has been submitted and it has been accepted. WOOT!!  I'm able to say that I have successfully uploaded "Murder Book" and it will be processed this week. I will have a copy of it in my hands by this time next week, and I will go over it, and see if I need to make any corrections. If I do not, I will post it as is, and start the process of promoting the book. If I do have to make corrections it will only take two days to do; such a great tool!!

    The whole font-not-being-embedded issue was a real issue. I've had it before, and I thought I knew what I was doing, but I didn't have an active Adobe account subscription, which was why I couldn't make changes. I was not even on the trial sub, I didn't have one, so it wasn't uploading the fonts I needed.  What really upset me is that the two fonts that refused to upload were both products of Times New Roman! C'mon, folks, that's a gimme!! That's such a freebie!! But, it wasn't embedding for whatever reason, therefore, it wasn't there, and Ingram Spark would not accept it. 

    Done!! I am done with Murder Book unless there need to be corrections made. I can start fully on both Pinball and Of Kilted Love. Those are the two I am choosing to write simultaneously. What a weird thing to do; but it's also something I think will help my creative mind to wander where it should, would, and could be wandering. I don't want my mind to stay in one place too long. 

    One of the things I really love about Ingram Spark is that you choose the price of the book, but then again, I hate that I only have some say in the matter. I tell Amazon and others that I'll allow up to a 55% discount for the book if they need to do it, which is great, and that's what they do. I only make about $1.98 per book in the US, and much less around the world, if it is in print. I think I make more for the eBooks. I will be checking into uploading those very soon. I have to figure out how to change my PDF into an EPUB file so I can do that. Ingram will charge me .60 per page, so that's $202 which I don't want to pay. If I can do it myself, I'm going to do it myself.

    Amazon will likely ask for $19.00 for my book. I told them $16.00 but they'll take that, add in the 55% which is $8.5 savings, then they double it, $17.00 and add $2.00 that they pay me. That's what I'm told is their way of pricing book. If I go lower than $16.00 I make about .85 per book and that wouldn't really be a good thing to do. I'll do that once the eBooks start selling because I would think I will make more on ebooks anyway. We'll see. It's all about promoting in the beginning and I don't have the money to do that right now. It will happen.

    For now, I'm just really happy that the book was uploaded, accepted, and is now being created so I can approve it. I really really hope I don't find any more mistakes. I went through it 3x and then went back over it skimming for red or blue underlines for misspelled words, grammar or spacing issues, so I could make those adjustments. I added about 100 new words to the dictionary I think. That's the best way to avoid having to see it underlined over and over again on my manuscript. The words "MacRae", "Hanshaw" and "Crainer" which are names, were all unrecognized, and I had to add them.  Geez.

    I'll keep you posted. It should be in 3 days that I get the email saying it's ready to order. I'll order it, wait for it, get it, read it, make any and all corrections, and it will and should be ready for public purchase by the 5th of August.

Photo Credit:  Ingram Spark

Ding Dang It!! It Didn't Work!

 Well, phooey and fudge!! I am just too bummed out right now, but tomorrow will be another day, and I can get the thing done I think. What am I talking about? Well, my book "Murder Book", of course. I finished it. I read it through literally three separate times to go through it for spacing, spelling, grammar, and all sorts of other stuff. I made it all so very pretty, and I even formatted it to the 5"x8" size it's supposed to be. I worked on the cover, and I created it 100% in Canva. With really cool fonts that I feel that I embedded. 

    So, when I went to Ingram Sparks' site to upload my book, and to upload the cover, the book cover was accepted, but the book wasn't. There were issues with fonts. OK. I need to go back through it and embed certain fonts. I really thought I had. I went back over the cover, checked the fonts, and added ones that looked like they may not be added. I did the same with the Word document in the PDF. It's a learning thing. I'm still learning. I had to go into fonts again and add them again, but OK, I can do that. I did that. 

    When I tried to upload the thing, it was still giving me the same errors I got the first time, saying that there were fonts not embedded, but I don't see them, so now I have to call the Adobe guys tomorrow and get it all straightened out. Actually, I could call them now, it's open 24/7, but I'm a bit tired after the last of the reading, and the disappointment of it not being accepted. I was just so hoping. It will be OK, I'll be OK. I just hate the hassles. I'm learning, so that's good. I won't consider it a loss because I know I can call the support team at Adobe and they'll fix it within a minute. They always do. I let them just take over so I'm not confused.

    This time I will write down what they say. I went online and looked it up, and did what the instructions say to do, but apparently, I still missed something. I hate that, but it is what it is. I should be far more concerned with other stuff, not the stuff I know can be fixed. It's just that I really wanted to do this by myself and not have to ask for help; oh well, I'm not above it. I can do it. I am open and willing to be helped. But that doesn't mean I won't fuss about it. 

       So, after I get the thing loaded tomorrow on Ingram Spark, I'll order ONE copy and have it sent to me as soon as possible, so that I can go through it with another fine-toothed comb, but this time reading it as an actual book. I'll then mark it up and find the mistakes or corrections I need to do. It's $25 each time you pull it and have it redone; so I only want to make ONE correction round. I'm actually hoping I don't have to make any correction rounds. Wouldn't that be nice? If I could get through the mess without making a single correction I will be thrilled. I don't know that it's realistic of me to think that way, but you never know. 

    I find at least one mistake in almost every book I read. It's fun now to try and catch them. We're talking people like John Grisham, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, you know, people who have money to pay for editing. I still find errors in those books and it just makes me feel so very good because I'm over here editing my own to save money. I know it's hard, and I know it takes time, but I would just rather not subject myself to having to let someone else edit my work. If that makes me a control freak, then I guess I'm a freakin' control freak. (I know, I am one.)

    So, I'm about to walk the dog, play a few games of solitaire and head off to bed. I will sleep, have wonderful dreams, wake up, walk the dog again, make coffee, pray, eat breakfast, write in my journal, and then settle in and call Adobe. I want there to be peace and tranquility as we venture into the world of embedding fonts to make my book acceptable. I'll even keep them on the phone so they can help me if I don't do it correctly. That's what I did last time, and they were just so sweet. I recommend being a member of Adobe when you can, or if you can. I do it for about 30 days then I let it go until I'm about to publish. Then I do it again, so I can use them if I need to. That's why I'm trying to learn this, so I don't have to use their team again. I don't like spending money on something I really should know how to do!!

    I'll get over it, but not today. I've been frugal too long for me to think it's going to happen overnight. Maybe after I sell a few million books. 

  

Photo Credit:  Adobe.com

Hats Off!! (Thank you, Nathan Flores of San Antonio)

 If I'm 100% honest about it, there are probably a dozen or more Nathan Flores living in San Antonio, TX, but the one I am personally thanking today is from a specific recruiting company. If he gives me permission to say where that is, I'll update this post, but I don't want his company to get onto him for allowing their name to be mentioned if their legal department has an issue with it. The same company said I could not mention where Kevin worked; Kevin is in another book I wrote.

    So, Nathan Flores, is a recruiter, a really cool guy, and he loves to dance. This fact was made known to me when I found him and his colleagues whooping it up on video when one or the other of them posted it on LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn. It's become a really good place to hang out with proven professionals who like to meet great people to discuss both personal passions as well as professional goals.

    Nathan found my resume and wanted to discuss an opportunity he had with a great company in Norman, OK. He's in San Antonio, so I wondered why Kevin didn't have that particular assignment. I found out that all of the companies, even though they are connected, are franchised now. I get that. It's a Subway thing. They can use the same logos and such, but they are independent.  Nathan wanted to talk to me about the job, but instead of calling me back, the man decided to dance!! Seriously? Really? You're going to ghost me to have fun? Damn!! (:

    He called me today, and we went over what it would take for the company he's looking to place me with, to actually hire me. Well, for one thing, they'll have to wait a week because I'm going through the Pilot Catastrophe training. I'm not missing it for anyone. I'm going to be that much more valued when I complete it. Nathan understood and even said he would use that as a means of leveraging my position because it shows my dedication and discipline; good move, Nathan.

    Since my new book "Murder Book" has a guy named Nathan Byers who is murdered, I thought I would run it by Nathan Flores to see if he wanted me to change the name of the dead guy from Byers to Flores. To my surprise, he say he would love it. He said he's always been fascinated with serial killers, so it would be awesome to be murdered by one in a fiction novel. There you go, I love that sort of spontaneity and devotion to one's hidden passions. 

    Nathan's name was changed from Byers to Flores, and I've even thanked Nathan on the "Thank You" page for allowing me to "kill" him in the book.  Again, there are no doubt countless Nathan Flores in the world, but this one has given me permission, and I thought that was very nice. If he also finds me a great job, hey, I won't complain. I can always do whatever it is that he wants me to do, and do claims on the side, as well as write, as well as trading Forex. I'm good. I won't be bored. People ask me if I watch this or that television show, and I'm like...what's television? No, I don't have time, sorry.

    Well, with that, I thank you one more time Mr.  Nathan Flores of San Antonio, TX and I hope your family can still recognize you after you've been murdered. It wasn't an easy one either buddy; nope. The guy was plied with alcohol first, had his throat cut, then was dumped out a 2nd story window, propped up by a tree, and had his limbs tied up with a Turk's Head knot or two, before being stuffed in a barrel with a bit of sulphuric acid and water. He was dumped by the bay and found by a kid. It's just another day in the life of a Rub-A-Dub murderer. (I should add in the book that Nathan's family mourned for him back in San Antonio, TX.) 

Photo Credit:  Collector's Weekly. 

Being Put in My Place!! Thank You, God.

 Yesterday, I was sitting around minding my own business. As you know, I do that. I was working on my latest book, "Murder Book", and I was coming up with a way to do the cover myself rather than pay for it. I'm that way; I'm frugal. I was sort of thinking about my career path, and then someone emailed me right when I was thinking about what my next steps may be. I love it when God does that. He's always there.

    The email was from a group called First Source Team. They wanted to know if I had a minute to talk; I did. They're a good group of folks who not only find you the best possible career out there; they make sure you are chosen over all the other candidates who are applying for the same job. Think about it, one opening equals only one winner. There isn't room in the chair for two folks. You are you, they need to see who you are and if you are the one they're looking for. With Google and other companies like them getting more than 2,000,000 resumes each year for various positions, think about how many people are being rejected; let alone ghosted. Geez.

    I'm not going to try and work for Google, that's not my thing. I'm a Claims Adjuster now, and I've been applying for and being rejected by dozens of Insurance Carriers who, like Google, get far too many candidates and they need to weed through them. They don't use humans to do that anymore. Who knew? I guess I sort of figured it out when I was was receiving the same (exact same) letter of rejection from the same company as I was applying for the same position over and over again thinking to myself if they're still advertising the job they must not have filled the position. It was sort of like doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome; not going to happen when their AI is set to whatever they were looking for. I didn't meet that criteria.

    The folks at First Source Team were telling us today on a group webinar, that less than 30% of the resumes shine, and they have a less than 3% chance of hitting the 90% needed mark or score in order to be processed to the next level. Companies with true and real human HR teams may not experience those numbers, but they too are told to look for keywords to "weed" out, to eliminate those who don't fit the bill to a tee. Not many people (if they tell the truth) are going to be 90% or greater in terms of a match, but you can revamp that resume to give you a boost; can't you?

    Today, after the webinar, I went over my own resume, and I changed not only the fonts and the style, but some of the keywords, the buzzwords if you will, and I placed the entire thing in a format that would read better should a human look at it. I'm told to revamp the thing for EVERY single application so I can add their buzzwords and their keywords into my resume; makes sense. My generic one is pretty good, but is it good enough? Maybe not.  So, thank you First Source Team for putting me in my place, showing me what I was doing was average at best, and why it wasn't cutting it in the real ugly nasty, and messed up recruiting world we live in today.

    I have a one-on-one with them tomorrow to go over more details and to narrow down my search to the companies that (a) I want to work with and (b) they want to work with me. I am only applying for Claims Adjuster/Reviewer roles, so that narrows it down significantly; but there are things I can do to make my resume pop and my LinkedIn profile more beneficial. Greater numbers of folks are hiring through LinkedIn now; professional people anyway. I changed my profile photo, added a better background, redid the lineup for my experiences and I changed a few words to reflect what it is I want out of a career. I want to review, examine, investigate, and estimate damage. I don't want to be a sales agent.

    With the way the world is turning to AI for everything; you gotta beat that game now to be seen. You gotta be in it to win it. If you don't, you'll be spinning the wheels and wondering why. It makes sense now why so many recruiters are ghosting us. They never really see us to begin with.

Photo Credit: The Economic Times

OMG! OMG!!! I Can Make Book Covers!!!

 When I say this is a GAME CHANGER, I mean to say I don't have to pay anyone to either format my books or to do the cover design. That's literally 100% of what I was paying Xlibris, iUniverse, Palmetto, and others in the past to do. I would write the book, then I'd pay to have them format it, trim it up to the size of the book I wanted, and then design a cover for me. I don't have to do that anymore!! I can literally do it on my very very very very own. I just completed my first book cover and I only cussed for two solid hours! You can chalk that up to being a freakin' miracle.

    Everyone tells you that using Canva or CreateSpace, etc. is so hard, and that you can't figure it out yourself, or that the trim has to be exact because if it isn't Amazon will kick it back to you and you'll have to trim it up again. OK. Well, now I can do that. I was faced with that issue with my book Periwinkle. I didn't know what I was going to do because the book size hadn't changed when I published it in 2005, but apparently, Amazon is no longer making books that size. I have to redo the cover. I didn't know how to do it myself, but now I do.

    I know how to think of a book title, write a book, edit said book, trim it and format it and save it as a PDF and then download it into a file so I can upload it onto the publisher's site. I know how to come up with a cover design, trim that, create it, add text, and photos, and even change up the fonts and colors!! I will only get better as I go. I'm not ever going to pay another publisher; just the printer and distributor. I think, if I'm not mistaken, Ingram Spark isn't even charging us to upload our files now. I may be wrong, but I will find out. I will upload my new book "Murder Book" on Thursday of this week and then when it's set I'll order one to see if it's perfect. If it is I'll have it set for distribution!! Woot!!

    I got so excited about knowing how to do the book cover that I made the book cover for the next book. I'll continue to do this for all of my Nick Posh books now, and my romance books, and just have them waiting on me to write the actual books! I'll have 15 book covers ready by Saturday probably. I know me. I will do that. I really will. I have too many stories in my head, and without having to pay anyone I can write and upload like a crazy woman. Yes, I can!! I'll have 10 books written and uploaded by this time next year I'm sure. I just have to find the time to promote them so people will know they're out there, ready to be bought.

    I'm going to download the printed books in 5"x8" and the eBooks as well. The eBook cover is easy too, and the trim for it means I have to transfer my PDF to an EPUB file; I'll YouTube that tomorrow. That's the next step so I can get "Of Kilted Pleasure" out there. I have to do an eBook cover for it, but again, not a problem. I am just too too too happy right now. Really, no, really. I'm super happy. The neighbors probably think I'm fit to be tied because the entire time I was learning how to do the manipulations from my files to Canva, I was cussing and fussing, and calling the YouTubers everything but good. I was really upset because the videos were old enough that the Windows program and websites are different now, and I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't get my freakin' photo to stretch, then it dawned on me that it was because I had resized it before I had uploaded it. I shouldn't have done that.

    We live, we learn, but before we learn we swear like the Devil and ask Jesus to forgive us over and over and over again. At least I do. I don't know about you. OK, so I have Murder Book's cover, and I'll post it now. It's simple by design, and there is a reason it looks the way it does. You'll just have to read the book to find out. 

Photo Credit: ME!

Options. I Have Them.

 I wrote this blog earlier, but when I re-read it I think I may have come across as either being rude or arrogant. I didn't mean to; it just sort of came out that way. I wanted to say how grateful I am that I have options, but I didn't mention the word "grateful" so people would have thought I was just saying how wonderful it is; rather than understanding that I really am very appreciative of having those/these options.

    I'm not working right now. I've taken off the time I need to hunker down and study all I can about being and becoming a full-time Claims Adjuster either for Auto or Property, and who knows, maybe both.  I'm not one to climb a roof, so any field work is out of the question where property is concerned, but I will do what I can from the comfort of my home in my jammies and on my computer.  It's a tough life; I know.

    Claims Adjusters are the unsung heroes who come along and help folks get their lives back after a collision, comprehensive loss, or catastrophe. We are the silver lining if you will.  Learning the trade has not been easy, but it has been fun, challenging, and interesting. I've been in insurance for years; reviewing, selling, investigating, etc. Now, I'm going to be estimating damage, authorizing settlements, and being the white-hat good-gal for a while. If I need to review, examine, and otherwise support for a while, I can do that too. It's a process.

    Because I'm licensed in my home state of Oklahoma, and in 9 other states to be a Claims Adjuster, I will not have a difficult time finding employment once the CAT season starts. Once it starts, once I'm hired, I'll be trained, and there will be no living me after that folks; I will be valued. With the experiences, skillsets, knowledge, and licenses I have today I can start at a salary higher than what I have ever made in the past. It's true. One of the best-kept secrets in the industry is the compensation that Independent Claims Adjusters make. It's upward of $100K annually, and that's below average. I'll settle for average until I am fully trained.

    The hours are long; the work is steady. There will be times that I will want to chuck it all and go back to a regular day job, I'm sure. The thing that I will use to keep me focused is my goals board. I have a goals board with a few photos on it to keep me focused to the point that I won't stop until they are all accomplished. Having options is so good. It means I don't have to accept a job just to pay the bills. It means I don't have to put up with office politics, drama, bullying, baby showers and retirement parties. It means I don't have to be there when the boss says I need to be there because I work for myself. I am the boss.  By the way, I get there pretty early and I stay really late because I push myself. 

    Having options means I can study when I need to. I can take off work and go on a vacation. I can choose to work 20-30 hours overtime if I don't want to go home or take a vacation. I can pull in the money for a project, and then pay for it faster. I can pet the dog in the middle of a Zoom call.  I don't have to pretend someone's kid is adorable or listen to what someone else is planning to do over the holidays. Last year I wanted to choke myself every time one of the 7 other women in the room talked about who was assigned what dish and how much freakin' drama it would cause if that person decided to bring the "bad" casserole. I wanted to puke!

    My best friend says she'd die if she had to stay home and work. I won't go back to the office. I like my freedom, the coffee is so much better at my house, and I don't wear silly makeup, I don't do my hair, I don't even wear shoes! I do wear socks. I will say that. I do put the socks on my feet. I roll out of bed, walk the dog, make coffee, pray, write in my journal, sign on, and work. I don't have to check to see if someone has turned on the TV. I don't have to check to see if someone is messing with the thermostat. I don't have to worry about getting there before the boss, or parking in someone's spot. I don't have to give a damn if my boss is in a pissy mood or if someone thinks I ate their lunch. (I don't, I never do)

    Being old has its benefits too. I was just made aware that I can start collecting my Social Security benefits in November. I can file in August. Woot!! I'm going to go ahead and do it now so I can invest every month; I figure I can do a better job investing than the government ever could. I'll Forex my money every month and add to it. I didn't realize it until today, but it's actually enough money for me to live on since I don't live outside my means. I have even more options now!!  If I wanted to, I could just sit at home and write.  WOOT!!  I think next time someone calls me and asks me to consider a job that is not only less pay than I deserve but also less enjoyable, I think I'll just say "No thank you, I'm good."  It's taken a long time to get here, but I'm here.

Photo Credit: Basmo.com

MURDER BOOK: Formatting it Myself!

 If you want to talk about getting out of your comfort zone, this is one of those days! I am actually (and quite literally) formatting my own book before I upload it to Ingram Spark to be printed. I do have to have my cover made, so that's going to cost me a bit, but there's a lady who claims she can do it for $10, so we'll see if she can. I can always pay her, try it, and if it doesn't work I'm only out $10, right? If it does work you can bet your butt you'll be hearing her name, so that you too, can use her services. I may not even have her teach me how to do it. Paying $10 for a cover is not a bad thing.

    So, what I have learned today has been paramount. I first learned that I don't need any other software other than Microsoft Word to format the book from a Word document into a PDF uploadable that fits the template I need for the size book that I need. I think I sort of knew that MS had these features, but I'll be danged if I knew I could do it myself. It's not that easy, but it's doable. It is probably very easy for those wondernuts who have been doing it for years, but this is literally my first time. I feel pretty good about that. I'm not quite yet to the point where I am patting myself on the back, but I am getting pretty close to it.

    I saw a guy on LinkedIn talking about doing it, and I watched his little video. He was transferring an eBook to a PDF print document and said the same process could be used to move a Word document to a PDF print document. He could show me how in another video, which he left a link to. I followed his every direction, and I now have myself a PDF ready to upload, but I'm going to go back over it another time before I do to be sure I have EVERYTHING I want in the PDF. 

    By everything, I mean first the size of the book, which is 5"x8", then the margins, the layout, the spacing, the fonts, and the size font for whatever printed materials you have, which are not all the same. The words "Chapter" and so forth are larger, usually in a different font. If you want a drop-cap for the first word in each chapter you do that, it's done with a little finesse. You have to decide things such as the color of the paper, stock weight, etc. You need to know how many words, pages, etc, so you'll be able to determine the spine and gutter width. It's so much fun, but so much to learn too. I love it.

    Once I get that all decided I downloaded my manuscript into the new template, and it went from 216 pages to 338 pages. I now know the size of the gutter and the left and right margins. I also know the print cost. It will cost $6.01 to print my book, and another $4.00 to ship it to me. I'll be able to buy my own books for $10.01 and then sell them for $15 if I want to; that's another story. I will upload them as ebooks and charge $6.00 and make the same profit. That's the way to go, but there are people who like to hold books in their hands. Amazon will sell my book for $18.99. I don't really have too much to say about it. If I had $$$ I could buy my books and sell them myself off a website, but I don't have the $$$ to do that. Besides after shipping, it's just as well that you buy it from Amazon using Prime.

    Anyway, back to formatting. It's a new thing for me, but it's a good thing for me. I am now going back over the book one more time to be sure I have the spacing correct and that I have all the things in place. I had to learn how to put in headers and footers that would alternate from page to page; my title on one page and my name on the other. I had to learn how to do the page numbers so that they too would alternate,  meaning they would appear on the outside edge of the pages. Did you know, because I did NOT know, that the right side of a book is called the recto while the left side of the book is called the verso? I'm telling you, I had no idea. Did you know you're supposed to have the even-numbered pages on the verso side? Again, I had no idea. These are things you learn as you go.

    My first formatting will be 100% done next week. I'm holding off uploading it until I can get the cover done, and that means waiting on the gal to get back from her vacation, but I'm not in a hurry. She can relax and take all the time she needs. I'll wait another month if it means she'll only charge me $10. I may not wait for two, but I'll wait one. I'm already planning the other books, and I'll just go ahead and set them up before I even have to. I can set them up using the same measurements because I know the books will all be about the same size. I'll just have one less thing to do in the end and it may teach me how to write more uniformly in the meantime. I am already finding that I don't write as many paragraphs as I need to for a novel. It's amazing how many indentions I see in the novels I pick up now.

    I use John Grisham's books and Erle Stanley Gardner's books as my examples to follow. I figure if they do it, it's good enough for me. They don't use italics for the dialogues and I do. I separated more, so I had to change that. I did find out that you are supposed to separate between thoughts or scenes within the same chapter. That was a new thing for me. The italics thing is a preference thing, and I do prefer it. It was one of the things I didn't like about reading John Grisham books and said to myself I will use them. My readers tell me they appreciate it, so that's cool.

    Well, that's it. I just wanted to throw this out there and let you know what I did today. I learned stuff. I love it when I do. If you want to learn stuff you can do what I did, and hit up YouTube for how-do-you videos. I used it 10-15 times today to find out where and how and what and when to do this or that. It was brutal, but I got it done!!

Photo Credit: The Software Pro

Nick Posh Novels - The Line Up

     Most authors would rather die than tell the audience what's coming. My thoughts are so very different. My books are not murder mysteries. No, everyone knows who did the killing. It's never been about the murder itself for me; it's about the disposal of the bodies, the coverup, the chase, the innuendo, the factors, the capture, the escape, the plan, and of course, the execution.  Murder is an ugly business, but a business nevertheless; I should put that in quotes, as it's something Nick Posh says. ("Murder is an ugly business, but a business nevertheless") There. Solved.

    The first book is finished and will be published very soon.  I'm starting on "Pinball" and the lineup to follow is this: 

Pinball

1211

Stollen

Cask

Mesa

The Kingdom

Shadow

Death Mask

    I don't think I missed any. These are the books I'll start now and hopefully have written by this time next year or soon after. I'm not going to worry about anyone else taking the titles. These titles have no doubt already been taken. You can do that as an author since your name is not the name of the other author.  It's not stealing if it's not copyrighted.  No one can copyright a title with such vague language. Besides, my story about "Mesa" will not be the same story as someone else's story. It's not like I'm going to patent it. I'm writing it. Different book. How many Springfields are there, or Main Streets? 

    After downloading 10 wonderful photos online at Adobe.com yesterday, I decided to create all the books, and put them out there, so that it's pseudo-published, and if someone does decide to challenge me, or steal from me, they can have a great time trying. There's NO WAY anyone can get my stories out of my head and put them onto their computer. It's my story; done.  Nick Posh probably isn't the only Nick Posh out there, but he is likely the only Nick Posh private investigator who is a character in a series that takes place in the mid-20th century. If not, I don't care. This one is mine.

    Nick finds himself in very dull and mundane roles in one of the upcoming books, not the next one. As a reader, you'll need to understand that the Paul Drake agency in Perry Mason has several other clients as well, and not all of the assignments are exciting. There are stakeouts, divorces, adultery, kidnapping, sex trafficking, animal theft, and so many other things that a P.I. can investigate including insurance fraud; bank fraud, robberies, and arson. Nick will see it all before he's finished, but we have to start somewhere. I can promise this; someone will be killed in every book, and Nick will seek to discover who it is.

    Nick has another saying that is in Pinball, but I'll go ahead and say it here with quotes again, to pseudo-publish it.  Nick feels that "If a suspect isn't identified within the first eight days of the investigation, the chances of doing so crawl to a near halt. Every day becomes his eternity to escape, and ours to find him." That's how he feels about it, and in one of my books, he says so. He may repeat it in a future book because I like readers to say "I remember that". Which they do if you say it a few times. If someone steals that line now, I can always go back to this post and prove I wrote it, it's date stamped. Boo-Yah!

    I'm in the mood to write, but I have to study, so I'll get back to it. I have to be human and pay my bills. Someday I hope Nick can pay my bills for me. Wouldn't that be nice? I would absolutely love it. I need to find a dark tan Stetson Fedora to put in my office for inspiration. Nick has a frock coat, but it's not the stereotypical type you see on detectives.  He wears the Fedora to honor his dad...and hide things. OK, so with that, I'll let you go, I have to eat, feed the dogs, and settle in to listen to what takes place when an automobile is flooded and someone wants to file a claim. Woot!

My life is just too exciting. 

Photo Credit: Adobe.com (later, when I use it I'll give the photographer credit)

    

Adobe Stock. GOING WILD With It.

 So when you join Adobe Stock, and I did for one free month, you can download photos to use for book covers, PowerPoint presentations, and just whatever you want to. You can post them online just because you feel like it. I will get the names of all the designers and/or artists so I can give credit, but what I did was download the maximum I am allowed to use for the free month and then I'll cancel the order and have free photos to use for my books.

    Before anyone gets upset with me for doing this, it is not only acceptable, it's normal. I am going to give the artist credit in my books, but I don't have to. They were paid by Adobe or someone, or they may have just donated their work so it would be out there; but I will in fact give proper credit. I think that's the right and best practice. I would want someone to be courteous to me as well.

    I have a total of six books that I'm planning to do this year or soon after. I have the two I've already written and the upcoming four more. Three books are in the Highland Romance series, and three are in the Nick Posh Detective series. After I finish the Highland series, I'll likely only write the Posh books. I like the genre, and I like hanging out in the 1930s with really good-looking men in Fedoras. It's my thing. Well, I say that, I really like hanging out with my naked bearded Celtic man as well, but I don't think I could write too much more about that; not without blushing.

    There are other services like Adobe that give you free subscriptions for a week or a month, and you can download their images. DreamTimes is one, Getty Images, but I'm not sure how they work really. I just know that with Adobe you sign up, you are given 10 credits, so you can download 10 images, and you don't have to see that silly watermark; you can actually truly download them and use them as you need to. I had to have words with the DreamTime folks about their watermark. It's not free if you have a damn watermark. It's just LOOKING for free. I needed it to be free.

    I have a gal in the States somewhere, I don't know where she is, that will take my image after I've added my text, and she'll trim it up for me to use as a cover for the printed books and eBooks.  I am going to learn how to do the interior, but I don't mind paying for someone to make the exterior for me. She's very inexpensive, and after she does one for me, and it works, I'll scream her name and contact out for everyone to use. She agrees that we need to wait until I'm 100% satisfied with the trim. If it uploads like I want it to, I'll be the first to sing her praises. 

    So, now that I have about 10 book cover images downloaded, I'll need to come up with new titles after the initial six. I can do that. I know I can do that. I am already writing one of them, and I have to stop because I have others to write before it. I need 48 hours in a day. I really do. When you think of writing a book, do you think of writing your book quickly from start to finish, or do you take your time and really plan out all the details? I write as I go, and I watch Perry Mason and/or read Erle Stanley Gardner as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I pick and piece things together. You're likely to see something that resembles what they wrote, and that's OK, they took it from someone else, I'm sure.

    I was reading a Sir Walter Scott novel and found something that Doyle used. I laughed. I wondered where or who Scott took his inspiration from.  There's an entire series of books written between 1825 and 1852 I think, something like that, they are called the Wilson Tales of the Borders. I think there are 24 if I'm not mistaken. They are short story anthologies really.  John Wilson did not write them all. There are several contributors, and Scott is one of them. GREAT stories, and really interesting things going on that maybe newer writers have neglected to add to their narratives. I want to add the history and be of some usefulness when it comes to people reading my books. I want to educate and entertain.

    Anyway, the Adobe Stock site is so very very well worth your attention. All of the photos are of high resolution and can be used either with a Standard license or an Enhanced license. I am using them under the standard, which means if I sell more than 500K of one title I'll need to change the photo or pay for it. I'm sure I'd just change it. I can't say for sure, but it would be an interesting problem to have, wouldn't it? Yes, indeed it would be. I wanted to thank Adobe and the artists for their contributions. They are truly appreciated.  They are inspiring too; as I was cascading through the pictures I kept thinking of what else to write....dang.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock: Viktoriia #6134076216