{"id":40,"date":"2015-08-07T19:57:30","date_gmt":"2015-08-08T02:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2015-08-07T19:57:30","modified_gmt":"2015-08-08T02:57:30","slug":"july-2015-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/july-2015-update\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2015 Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s finished! Book One is finished! The absolute and final edit is complete and I have a full, publishable draft. But not so fast! The text may be done, but there are still several more tasks to be completed before this novel sees the light of day.<\/p>\n

The Blurbs<\/h2>\n

First, there are still lots of little pieces that need to be written: query letters, inside flap synopsis, and that annoying 2-sentence explanation of the entire book that is just about impossible to write. It\u2019s not that I have been procrastinating on these items, oh no. Well, maybe a little. It seemed as though every time I read a new article or post concerning writing these items, either the information I was reading changed or completely contradicted what I thought was my game plan. I think these items will be a blog post of themselves, so I won’t bore you with the details just yet.<\/p>\n

Second, is the all-important interior design. This entails making sure all the font is consistent, and that spacing and layout is consistent throughout the whole novel. Since I ping-pong between word processors, formatting is different between the two, so I must consolidate. I’m using a free eBook tool called Calibre. Since I have a web programming background, editing the HTML of the book before putting it into eBook format is a relatively easy, albeit, time-consuming task.<\/p>\n

\"Book<\/a>

The interior design feature of Calibre<\/p><\/div>\n

And third, and perhaps the most exciting on my way to final publishing, is the artwork. I have enough Photoshop skills to get myself in trouble, but no enough to make a cover the way I envision. Interior art such as chapter headings and maps are easy enough to do since they are monochromatic (black and white) and easily producible in Photoshop. The cover, however, needs a huge slap of TLC. I have a concept to which I have passed on to someone far more qualified than myself to turn my concept into reality.<\/p>\n

So, with that out of the way, on to the ever-important statistics! Only added about 4,500 words to the entire series as most of my time was spent creating the publishable draft of Book 1.<\/p>\n

The Progress<\/h2>\n

Book 1: Publishable draft complete!
\nBook 2: It’s so close to being the first draft!
\nBook 3: Editing, mostly; 68%
\nBook 4: More than half the draft is done.
\nBook 5: Almost \u00bc draft complete<\/p>\n

Well, the weather is hijacking my mood (two tornadoes and two freak hail storms in as many weeks), so I have a lot of cleanup to do in the yard before winter sets in.<\/p>\n

\"Well,<\/a>

Tornado!<\/p><\/div>\n

I can see it \u2013 the cold, cloudy days of winter peaking over the mountains. Already, I can smell the chill in the air and feel it seeping into my bones. Winter is the perfect time to stay inside and write, so maybe I’ll finally get caught up on my other novels.<\/p>\n

But hey, no promises there.<\/p>\n

Stay warm and stay dry!<\/p>\n

-Rissa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s finished! Book One is finished! The absolute and final edit is complete and I have a full, publishable draft. But not so fast! The text may be done, but there are still several more tasks to be completed before this novel sees the light of day. The Blurbs First, there are still lots of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates","tag-updates","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2015-07-Update.jpg?fit=535%2C534&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6odz9-E","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/october-2015-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":0},"title":"October 2015 Update","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"November 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s almost here! The publishing date is almost here! I\u2019m tying up a couple of loose ends such as photography and defining samples and previews of book one. Worst of all, though, I\u2019ve flip-flopped on the title for book one, and I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that sometimes too much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Updates","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Oct2015_Update2.jpg?fit=500%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1225,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/covid-19-and-new-years-resolutions\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":1},"title":"COVID-19 and New Year\u2019s Resolutions","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"January 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m late to the game on the whole New Year\u2019s Resolutions thing, but I have a good excuse. With this most recent variant, the probability of catching the virus went up a substantial amount. Going by numbers in my city, it appears to be about a 20%-25% jump. 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I've been writing. A lot. And also reading a lot. I think it's the reading that's been taking me away from the social aspect of being a self-published author.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Updates","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/QnFairyFarts.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/quest-for-stories-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":4},"title":"Q4S Part 3: CreateSpace: The Final Draft Frontier – Part II!","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"November 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is Part 2 of the CreateSpace post since there was just too much information to jam into one. In this post, I\u2019ll walk you through the final stages of the CreateSpace Trade Paperback exercise which involves uploading the interior of your book, as well as the cover. 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