Actually I started my new novel The House of Sin and Splendor around 2018 right after I finished ghostwriting Irene's, but life got in my way! Aside from cataract surgery, followed by deteriorating vision from posterior vitreous detachment; my writing was derailed by a plethora of problems concerning repairs to my home including getting ripped off twice!
I've already blogged about those things so I won't revisit them now. Anyway my manuscript was pushed onto the back burner.
Later, I don't remember the exact date, I lost my ATT cable connection; no internet, TV, or phone. However I was still able to work offline. Unable to do anything else, I started reading thru the chapters I'd written.
Hey this is really good, I thought! Why did I stop here, I had so many plans for these characters!
Though my vision is crappy I am not blind! My novel became a priority. And when the pandemic struck that enabled me to speed things up. I didn't sit around letting my brain rot during the lockdown!
As an independent writer and one on a fixed income, publishing is expensive. But thankfully I found BookLocker to be reasonable as well as highly professional. I will hire them again.
I wanted a video ad for my novel as well as book boost. Since I'm not a tech person I needed these for promotion. So I decided to forgo an editor to keep cost down.
Plus I've had terrible experiences with editors! I fired THREE! All had been hired to put my books on a PDF file as well as edit. The first two times I didn't own a computer, the third I was between computers.
The first editor up and disappeared with my manuscript along with those of several other clients. She left no forwarding address or phone number and had to be tracked down. Eventually we were able to gain access to a phone number but our calls were never returned.
Thankfully, illustrator April Sampson found her new address and drove all the way from Lake Wales to knock on her door and demanded the manuscripts back.
The second confessed she memorized sentences because she couldn't touch type. During her memorization my wording was changed and badly. When I pointed this out she became angry and threw a tizzy fit!
The third, I suspect was also a memorizer, but with an even worse memory. Character names were frequently switched around and spelled inconsistently throughout.
None of them were forced to decipher any cursive writing, all were handed typed sheets of paper! I've learned the hard way that being unqualified doesn't stop people from taking a job!
And with my previous novel (Seed of Deceit) the first editor quit half way thru complaining the story conflicted with her Christian values. -- She knew from the onset I didn't write Christian fiction and should have refused the job in the first place!
After receiving my author's copy of Sin and Splendor, I gave it to my friend Marie to read. I needed a fresh pair of eyes, ones that weren't impaired. I instructed her to look for egregious errors only and ignore small ones because I'd have to pay to start over to make any corrections at this point.
There are some typos and I trusted spell-check too much. But these are far and few between and don't ruin the story. Now at long last, The House of Sin and Splendor, a supernatural thriller and mystery is in print!
If you are a fan of the supernatural and even if you're not, I believe you will enjoy it. Also check out my cool video ad on the BookLocker website along with a sample chapter.
To purchase a copy of my novel go to: https://booklocker.com/11774
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