Monday, June 20, 2011

Second Week

Omitting the post titles is very tempting to me right now. It took me more than six months to decide on a title for my book (well, one that didn't make me scrunch my nose), but since I don't think you'd appreciate waiting six months between blog posts while I try to think up creative titles for them, these factual and slightly boring ones will have to do. ;)

We're starting our second week now, and finishing up some event-planning. Last week we took a tour of a couple resorts/retreat centers, for an event this fall. The field trip was a lot of fun, and both the centers were very nice. One gave us chocolate covered strawberries (one of my favorite things!), scones and mini muffins to try. Can you guess which resort I liked best?

I've been learning a lot about marketing, and how to incorporate social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, &c.) into promotional strategies. It's very interesting! I'm also loving working alongside Rebekah . . . We laugh a lot. (Don't worry, it doesn't interrupt our work too much.)

Saturday I spent doing nothing but edit my novel. Sunday I went to mass with Mr. and Mrs. G (it was beautiful), went to lunch at the resort I liked, finished reading a book Julie had assigned, and, after calling my dad, got right back to editing. My goal for the weekend was to completely finish the final draft of my book, and I'm pleased to report that I did! It's hard to believe I won't be tweaking it again before publication.

Now I'm working to format it correctly, which is a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. Getting it into proper format has also doubled the page count (though it should be shorter once I get it into the right font and other things). I hadn't been expecting that. For some reason it hadn't occurred to me that putting it into smaller pages would make it longer (Word is typically 8.5x11 inches, and a novel that large would look . . . funny), but so it does. Who knew?

Once I'm satisfied with both the format and my cover art (this weekend at the latest), I will be posting the book on Amazon for publication. It may take some time before they review and accept it; they have to do that to be sure nothing's off with the format. When it's on the site and ready to be purchased I'll let you know--probably with a very excited celebratory post!

Tomorrow Rebekah and I begin the teacher accreditation process with IEW, to become better acquainted with it and therefore know more how to market it. :) I'm excited! We'll be taking a 2-day course with teachers in the area, and Andrew will be leading. I've been told it will be a fun experience.

Time to do more formatting. :)

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