J.A. Pitts

Another year ends

Last day of the year and decade.

A lot has happened in the last year. New day gig, finished all the stuff for my first novel to be released into the world, wrapped up first couple of drafts of the next book in the series/contract.

My daughter is out with friends, swimming. My son is still asleep, but college students rarely have normal sleep patterns.

The wife and I have been up for hours. I put half a day into the day jobbe, and she’s sewing and cleaning house.

This afternoon should be quiet. May go visit a friend for a couple of hours, but in general laying low until the New Year’s Eve shindig we are going to tonight.

Tomorrow starts a brand new year. I have a lot to look forward to: First novel hits the streets in April (27th), book 2 goes to the editor, and I will right book 3 soon. In between I have the day jobbe to excel at.
My family comes first among all of my doings, and I am thinking maybe we should do a family vacation this summer. Will be one of the few we’ve ever done. I don’t recall a trip that didn’t involve staying with relatives, so this could very well be a first.

Then there is the physical side of my 2010. My plan is to hit the YMCA 2 -3 time a week, and do Tae Kwon Do another 2 days. I’ve done that many weeks in 2009, so I know it’s doable. And I feel so much better when I’m making the time.
I guess that’s the key here: time. I let certain things in my life take precedence over others. The day jobbe is notorious for impacting my work-out, and I need to make that stop. I’ll be 45 in February. I need to dramatically improve my physical fitness. I have the skills and the support. Just a matter of putting in the time.

Ya’ll play nice. We’ll discover what the New Year holds for us all, together.

Merry Christmas

There are a few things in my life I’m very grateful for: family, friends, good work, health, well-being. These I understand and are within my realm of reality.

There is something new this year, that I’m extremely thankful for, that’s somewhat new. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and have dreamed about seeing my name on a book in the local bookstores. Over the years, the bookstores have changed, but the dream has lived on. I walk the aisles of each of them, touching the artifacts, the colorful spines of the books I’ve always loved, and dream of the day my name will sit alongside so many wonderful story tellers. That time is drawing near, thankfully, and I’m still amazed.

Black Blade Blues will hit the shelves on April 27th, 2010. They are calling it a May launch, but every day sooner is good news to me. I’ve worked hard for this. Practiced my craft, honed my skills, studied and networked. I’ve done all the work needed to get a good enough manuscript in front of a paying editor and decades of dreaming is finally coming true.

I wrapped the second book in this series Christas eve. I completed the first draft on Thanksgiving day, but needed to read it, fix the glaring errors, polish it for my first readers. Now I wait for them to get back to me, to let me know if my new paper child, the third book I’ve completed, and the second in this series, is as good as I think it is.

Funny thing is, I’m not one to believe the words are good enough yet, but apparently I’m a very harsh critique of my own work. Of course, talking with all my writing friends, this is not a rare phenomenom. Many of us are hard on ourselves, on our words. But there comes a time when you have to let them out into the world, to fly as they can, while you turn to the next piece.

So today, my thoughts turn from HONEYED WORDS, to the next book in the series: HEARTH & HOME.

Beginning this one is surreal, as I’ve not turned in the last to my wonderful editor, but I have words burning in me to get down. I’ll start outlining, taking notes, figuring things out while my mind changes gears. Who knows what will happen. It’s not due for over a year, but when the words are rich and frothy, it’s hard not to let them flow.

I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season. I’m off to take down a few notes and visit with my family some more.

Peace

Barnes & Noble announces best novels of 2009

And the winner is…. Lamentation by Ken Scholes.

check it out

Black Blade Blues – Page Proofs complete.

The journey of BLACK BLADE BLUES from my brain to print has achieved another milestone.

I finished the Page Proof stage today. This was an enlightening stage. One of the things I learned that when you do copy edits, you should always make yourself a copy of them before you send the mark-ups back to your publisher. Luckily I did that. However, something I hadn’t considered. I did my copy edits with a green pencil. Showed up really well on the copy edited pages, but when I photocopied them, more than half the time, the green did not render completely. Oops. That was difficult in places.

For the proof stage, the first thing I did was read the novel through cold, like a reader would. I found about a dozen items to correct, many of them were things that were missed in the copy edit stage. Almost all were dropped words, or capitalizations for consistency.

Then I went through the copy edits, page for page and checked the proof pages to make sure the CE changes were included into the manuscript. Here I found a bunch more errors.

Funny thing is, some were simple misses, but a couple were because in my copy edit notes, I was obviously not clear on what the change should be.

This gives me a HUGE advantage for novel 2. Once I get to the Copy Edit stage of HONEYED WORDS, I’ll use a darker pencil or pen, make sure I can read the marks on the photocopy before sending the original to NY, and finally insure the changes are clear and precise.

I’m thrilled with how all this has gone. I have an outstanding editing team. I just hope you folks like what you read when it comes out on April 27th, 2010.

Peace.