File problems & self-publishing

      Frenzied Feline and a couple of others have requested the file of Murder by Dewey Decimal. FF didn't want to wait until I self-published it. That would be no problem except I'm having to retype the whole book.
      You will recall that I originally wrote it on Wordstar all those years ago. Turns out that the ancient WS file format is not completely compatible with Word. When I converted the file to the .DOC format, much of the file gained strange symbols, weird spacing, blank pages and garbled words. It's largely unreadable.
      Fortunately I have a printed copy. So I'm typing the whole book into the computer again. Well, not the whole thing, because sometimes there will be a page or two of almost uncorrupted paragraphs. I'm also using this type-in to change a few things.
      About ten years after I finished the book, I looked at revising it. I don't know why I didn't, but I wrote nearly 30 pages of notes for the revision before abandoning it. I'm finally using those notes. Nothing has changed in the primary plot, but the characters are gaining a bit more depth and I'm fixing a few continuity problems as well as adding a clue or two and one more red herring.
      Anyway, when I finish the re-type, it will be a better book. And it will be ready to be sent to the publisher after it's properly formatted. Understand this is just a way to get the whole book in print. I'm not expecting it to sell more than a few copies, and I will price them as cheaply as I can. I'll be using a free POD publisher so I won't have any money invested in them. You'll buy them directly from the publisher.
      I will continue to post excerpts on the blog, but I don't think most of you understand how long it will take to post the whole book. If I posted one every day -- which I won't since that will bore the readers not interested in MbDD -- we wouldn't be finished until next year, probably in February. And yes, there are people not interested in MbDD. Since I started posting the excerpts, traffic on the site has dropped a bit, and the length of page views on the days I post an excerpt has dropped also. In other words, the uninterested readers drop by, see I've posted an excerpt, and leave quickly.
      This evening I will announce the winner of the April 2007 Giveaway. You still have time to enter if you'd like. We only have nine entries so far so the odds are good. I'll be having a giveaway each month, featuring either my writings or writers that I want to introduce you to. (We'll definitely be having a Holly Lisle book giveaway soon.)
      Time to return to work. Talk to you this evening. Oh, did you notice that the word count on Darkness, Oklahoma is inching up again? We are finally moving forward.