Drive to Battersea to deliver the manuscript for a thorough second proof read. It should be ready tomorrow … at some point I’ll have to do the index but not before the corrections are inserted. Send off press releases to the Bookseller and Publishing News and I let Great Ormond Street Hospital know about the … Read more
Check that Nielsen Book Data have the details of Halfway to Venus on their database. They do – although the information evidently hasn’t filtered through to the shops yet. Finish the proof reading and I finally get the footnotes sorted. I start to think seriously about publicity – whether in fact I can cope with … Read more
Back from a soggy weekend in Gloucestershire. Collect the proofs from my sister – a pro – and start incorporating the errors I have found from my set into her copy of the manuscript. My punctuation is abysmal – I was always teased about my commas (or lack of …)
Send off the artwork for my postcards – I have decided to order 1000 – somewhat ambitious but the price differential between 500 and 1000 is minimal. I also redo the text for the book’s cover which, although it’s going to be a paperback, is going to have flaps. I continue to proof-read ….
Spend day proof-reading and checking some of my sloppier references. Why can’t I be more organised when I’m doing research? Although what I have discovered is that you can put whole chunks of text into Google and it will come up with the right reference within seconds. Magic.
Only a small amount of time on proof-reading the book today – but I have now got an image (the book cover) for postcards. Maybe tomorrow will be more constructive.
Completely different kind of day from yesterday; no one rings and no one comes round. I spend it correcting proofs and trying to sort out the footnotes some of which I seem to have got wrong by one number which of course makes all of them wrong. Ring the wholesalers Bertrams and Gardners to tell … Read more
I’ve already thought of the subjects for my YouTube videos – but I start to think about the actual content. Rupert, who’s making them for me, has suggested that it will be best to make about 6 short films. I think the idea is to put them up over a period of weeks. Help I’ve … Read more
The proofs have arrived from Antony, the designer. I print them out – 260 pages. So this is what the book will look like. I can’t believe its already got to this stage. I started thinking about this book about 12 years ago and suddenly its all coming together. A panicky moment when I think … Read more
I get a bus to the West End to meet Steph who is going to advise me about publicity. After two hours of drinking coffee – my head is reeling with ideas. As I work on my own its incredibly nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off and between us we come up … Read more