Carole's Interview with Sirius Press

Two weeks ago Terre Britton, on behalf of Sirius Press, invited me to take part in one of their on-line Sunday Interviews. Between us we had fun with a lively exchange of questions and answers. For those who would like to see the the final result, as shown on line at Sirius Press on May 22nd, follow this link:

http://www.siriuspress.com/Interviews/2011/05/22/carole-sutton/

A bit more of a reveal.

From the genius that is Anton.

Imagine the picture of the loverly Lozzie as Imogen overlayed, nice font with a title. This cover is going to ROCK people.

Trials and Tribs, eh?

It never really ends, does it. Kind of like building a house. You have it all set in your mind, then that one little thing is just not quite right. So you change it. As my friends Toni, Lorelea and Amanda are oft to quote (maybe it's a girl thing)

"MEH."

But on we go coz we have to. Took my loverly model - the aforementioned Lorelea - to the photographers for cover photos. But for very very minor details, her face is that of Imogen, the person who leads you though the TV show version of Touch of Evil. 80 odd photos later and it's just not quite right. Bugger, says I, but we will do with what we got.

So finally pick through the photos and we have a few that can be doctored to suit. Jobs right. So I log onto Lorelea's profile to tell her and she has just uploaded a new iphone photo, taken after the photo shoot before she took off the makeup.

It's nearly bloody perfect, the eyes are right, the angle is right, the colour is right. Need to tweak the smile oh so little but it is THE Picture!!!

So I pinches it.

And takes it to the genius known quietly as Anton, husband of my dear friend Robyn, who has Photoshop wrapped neatly around his little finger. In a matter of minutes he has a rough cut of my cover sitting on his screen. I couldn't even get a rough cut of a rough cut in FOUR WEEKS!!!!

So now, the tiredness, the almost boredom I have slipped into with this project has been

cast aside. There is a new feeling of completion in the wind. With a cover, the book has a sense of finality about it. It is becoming more real every day. Looking now at formatting for the ebook version - both epub and Kindle version. I think Touch of Evil is really going to swing there, but I still want a real book in my hands, professionally done and looking good. As most if not all of us do. it's the gold ring, the top prize in what we do.

But for this particular moment, I try something. If this works, then below should appear the rough cut of the cover. Let's see.

Ain't teknologee wunnerful?

Stay tuned for more.

Anne Whitfield's 'A New Dawn'.

I enjoyed, Anne's story A New Dawn. From the opening line to the climax the pace and tension grips the reader in a fascinating love story which is all the more tender because of the violent background. Briony is a very sympathetic character and the settings are easy to visualize. I admire Anne's storytelling skill and her generosity in presenting A New Dawn as a Free Read. Thank you.

This was meant to be a comment on Anne's post but Blogger locked me out all day and even now I can only post. I cannot comment on any of my blogs.

Free historical short story

My historical short story, A New Dawn, is now available for FREE on my publisher's website.

Blurb

Escaping a brutal father, Briony runs to James, the man she loves.
With his family’s blessing, they marry and prepare for a new life in a new country – America.
A wedding gift of two tickets to travel on an ocean liner is a wonderful surprise.
Full of anticipation and hope, they set sail.
Only, fate has sent them a challenge that tests, not just their strength and love, but their very survival.

Read it here - http://www.knoxrobinsonpublishing.com/bindex.php?cPath=17

Away we go - Part III

Yeah okay. I know this is the first here, but hopefully the first of many. If all goes well, I will be documenting the continuing growth of my life as a writer. The word hopefully here is significant. But on with the news ...

Last week, before my sojourn to the concrete wilds of Sydney I created my first book. Not had it published or saw it turn up somewhere on a website. From scratch, and using ,materials found in my own home (some of which i bought from ebay - love ebay) I created a galley copy of my new collection (ten years in the making is new, ain't it?) of short stories A TOUCH OF EVIL. I now have a crude, but functional physical book. You can turn pages, look at words, actually read them and all sorts of good booky type stuff. And I am chuffed. Yes, you read it. Chuffed.

Making this thing was a trial, having never attempted that much formatting in one sitting, which turned out to be several sittings, and despite the fact that I still haven't actually gone through the whole thing, I have found errors (hey, there was bound to be some) that on screen I would never have even thought of. Most important is pagination, the layout of where the pages go. I know some wags out there will be hooting with derision. Page one follows page two and so on, they will snicker. My response - awww duhhhhhhhh!!!

No, as I have seen, and on inspection confirmed, there is a method in this madness of laying out a book. The first page of every story needs to on be the right hand page. Therefore, by that logic, page 1 is now right hand rather than left hand. Easy to fix, but on screen who gives a rats, right? Having that one line too many for a neat page ending - a little more tricky to fix, but had me do another edit and I lost some bits I missed in earlier edits, making the story that little bit better.

It also helped me redesign my corporate log for my publishing arm, which - thanks to LULU - will allow me to be the master of my own domain as far as printing and distribution, anyway. And I now look at publishing and think Shit! How do the big boys do it so easily.

But enough. This is my first post here and I hope you enjoy it. Please respond if you have pertinent comments, advice or discussions to add. If you spam me you are toast.

Thanks for reading. More to follow.

Baz.

Calamity's Corner... May Edition...

Wendy, I loved this month's Calamity's Corner...

Sanctum was a movie and a half. I tried to tell myself it was NOT based on a true story... although people do undertake those sort of dives. Not this little  black duck!! My son does ocean dives. Dives Fish Rock Cave with hundreds of sharks, but he is very conscious of safety.
After listening to him talk about diving  I have a feeling the characters in Sanctum ignored danger signs and didn't take all the precautions they should have.
Still... doesn't lessen the impact of the movie. The cinematography was brilliant. The Australian actors did well.
One of the women divers who helped on the movie was killed recently on a dive in Aust. So I hear. So it is a dangerous sport. Makes me NOT want to watch the movie again.

At present I am working on the word game... it's an interesting exercise. Thanks!!

Oh.. and waiting impatiently for Anita's book to come on sale. She does write with a magic pen! Imagine walking around the setting of your novel and being able to get inside your characters head the way she does. I guess Wendy, you did the same sort of thing when you went back to where The Unhewn Stone was set. You actually walked the paths and visited the places Stefan frequented.
I can see why History has such an appeal after reading Anita's interview.
Although, I think I will stick to reading your novels, rather than trying to write in that genre myself. Can't wait till June to read Tencarrow Secret and see the world through Anita and Elizabeth's eyes.