InsaneJournal

Current mood:	accomplished
Entry tags:	personal projects, random mental floss

Long ass update, with mostly good news...
I canceled another live reading today. My voice is just not working for a reading at this point. I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to record a new podcast soon, but if I can't get the voices right, I may just fake it to put out another episode.

In the meantime, I went through Shadow Walker and updated it with a new revision. I put it into a justified format with indents for the HTML version, and I've made e-book versions of the file as well. You can go to www.zoewhitten.com/content/stories.html to pick up the file in your preferred format, (Shadow Walker is near the bottom of the list) or you can check out the story on the web site with the improved formatting.

After that, I imported a copy of Redemption Lost over to the Palm eReader format (PDB) and uploaded that to Lightning Source. I still need help from them on unlocking the book to proof their version, but the unlocked version on my computer looks good.

The funny thing is, the program for the Palm conversion is set to simulate a 160X160 resolution screen. Hard page breaks can be formatted in, and the rest of the lines are "soft breaks" which don't really show up in the file. So, for instance, the chapters can be forced to go to new pages. The file is resolution independent, so on the PC reader, the pages are great. They literally look just like the print version. There's even a table of contents with links to the parts. I'm drifting...the point is, on the editor, the book is OVER 2500 PAGES. 0.o Each page contains roughly one sentence. So, if you're going to read this on your iPhone, it might take a while. ^_^

So...once I finish this project up, that will make FOUR file formats that the new book can be found in. I may also start making up PDB versions of the free stories. I figure, the more formats I have, the more chances I have of snagging new readers.

The next projects on tap, besides the attempts at podcasting, is to run through the first two books of the Campaign trilogy, alternating in each book between chapters.

I should mention a new ally in my editing efforts, Sam...that's Microsoft's default reader voice. Sam consistently reads like shit. He mispronounces many words badly. Like crotch comes out "crows nest." No, seriously. If I write, "No." then Sam says, "Number." Sam is a bastard retard, BUT Sam reads all of the words, and he catches all of my errors. Something is repetitive? I notice it when Sam talks. Got a misspelled or misused word? Sam will find it. And his flat, slow pace makes sorting out where natural pauses should go easier.

The plan is, I'll whip through a chapter, and then have Sam read it. Then I'll make changes until it sounds decent. These will be the files that I send to my editor for the new and improved ISBN releases, but I'll also take this version and make up some new e-books. I think I mentioned this before, so I'll move on to my next item, a mini-rant.

So, Harriet asks me for the links to my books on Amazon. I go searching for my books, and as I'm copying the link, I notice that The Lesser of Two Evils is now $12...NOW it's $12. Holy shit, I changed the price something like 8 months ago, and only now is the price change going into effect. Now, when this particular incarnation of the book has all of four to six months left in its life cycle...sigh, of course it would. When else should it happen, if it doesn't happen late? @.@

All right, that's just about all of the news. I do want to mention that I've seen issue 4 of Necrotic Tissue...and Alpha Male is the FIRST story in the magazine! It's a special double-issue for Halloween, and I'm the first in the book... for HALLOWEEN! You really can't beat that. ^_^ I've been over the story, and it's laid out well. But, perhaps even cooler is the illustration. Someone drew a man stabbing a werewolf in the eye with a dagger, and that actually happens in the story. Granted, the picture isn't entirely accurate. I don't recall when my protagonist lost his shirt in his flight from the house, and I don't know how he retained his gun harness despite losing his shirt. Still, it is an AWESOME illustration. I can see the man in the drawing being Paul Blake, given the description I'd made, and I was really impressed with the way it fits into the story at just the right point. So, if you want to check out this free PDF magazine, you should head over to www.necrotictissue.com and subscribe.

Okay, I'll get off the ballyhoo wagon and go to bed now. ^_^

Later...