THE MAP AND THE STONE is so close to release now. I’m just waiting for a couple of images to come in and I promised to hang on til the end of July. But the story is formatted, dedication written, acknowledgements and thank you page all done, copyright page sorted and ISBN attached. The cover is done and the interior is littered with fabulous artwork from a variety of artists. (more…)
Archive for the ‘NaNo2009 – Read it here.’ Category
The Map and The Stone
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Dedication vs Acknowledgements.
Sunday, July 4th, 2010For the first time I’ve just dedicated a book to someone. I’ve given it a whole page to itself, separate from the Acknowledgements.
I’ve thanked people in previous books, I’ve given special mentions – but those are simple acknowledgements that I’d not have finished the work without their support and friendship.
This is different, this is a proper “This book is dedicated to..” It feels very different.
The Map and The Stone – Illustrator(s) wanted.
Friday, June 25th, 2010I have a kids book in the pipeline – close to ready in fact and I think I want some illustrations. The book is a fantasy aimed at kids aged 10/11 and over. I’ll want 14 black and white images for the interior, and also looking for a cover if anyone fancies giving that a go. (more…)
Almost there.
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010The Map and The Stone has an isbn and there’s a cover being developed. I’m on a round of editing that should be one of the last, although I suspect you can never be properly “finished”. There’s always something else to change and tweak. I just have to find a place where I can balance the “I think it’s done” with “I never want to see that book ever again” (more…)
Bogged down.
Sunday, May 16th, 2010I’ve been bogged down in editing The Map and the Stone and blogging sort of goes on hold while that happens. Sorry, but that’s the way it is. But I’m now almost there with 12 chapters out of 14 done and the end of chapter 14 left to write. (more…)
Last bit. Long post, sorry.
Saturday, November 28th, 2009After he got out of the bath he got dressed again, in warm clothes and said it was because the house was cold. After the bath it was tea time and Lou used another couple of Lily’s eggs to make scrambled eggs on toast with beans on the side, which Rhys wolfed down as if he was starving and then he sat and ate an apple and a pile of biscuits while he drank a mug of hot juice. He chattered incessantly about his day with Greg on the dig and eventually took himself off to bed after watching TV for a while. (more…)
Rhys makes a decision.
Saturday, November 28th, 2009Sunday dawned cold and wet with rain spattering against the windows all day in a constant torrent that ran down the edges of the roads and Rhys wondered what damage that might do at Greg’s dig. But they stayed indoors, baked a cake with two of Lily’s chicken’s eggs and Lou finished off the housework while Rhys wrote his short description of what it might have felt like to live in the years when plague ravaged the town. When Lou read it later she smiled to see much of Greg’s talk rephrased and used and she was glad they’d stayed in town for that the day before. (more…)
Plague, homework and archaeology.
Friday, November 27th, 2009Saturday found Rhys and Lou in the town library, researching the history of the church and the Black Death plague that had ravaged the town in the thirteen hundreds so that Rhys could write an account of how the plague had affected life in what had been a small market town. He sat with his head buried in a book while Lou browsed the shelves nearby. (more…)
Friday trip and Greg.
Friday, November 27th, 2009The morning passed slowly for Rhys and he could hardly sit still but he wasn’t alone and he didn’t get noticed any more than anyone else and Mrs Hartshorn seemed to be giving them a little leeway for their excitement as long as they worked at the tasks set them. (more…)
Friday, and it’s the day of the trip.
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Upstairs Rhys heard the murmur of muffled voices as the TV went on and he grinned as he pulled off his school clothes and then pulled on jeans and a t-shirt with a hooded sweatshirt over that. He left his shoes off and kept his socks on because his feet were cold. He took the stone from the shelf and held it in his hand, intending to call the Darkling to tell it about the trip on Friday but he caught himself and laid the stone gently on his pillow unused and dull. Then he ran back down the stairs to do the little bit of homework he’d had to bring home to finish off. It wasn’t regular homework just finishing off something he hadn’t done in class because he’d been talking and there wasn’t much to do. He gathered the pencils and paper that he needed and sat at the kitchen table to work. (more…)
