Sunday, November 14, 2021

what I'm up to

I've started work revamping the Brandon Scandals to have hyperlinks in the kindle version, problem is the first three are part of the data crash in which  various cats not only killed my laptop du jour, but also trashed my backup drive. 

So I'm getting m/ss back from Amazon to update. I 'll be launching the update with Hasty Betrothal free for a few days. At the moment it seems that all writing and editing  is cursed however... but it will be done.

22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I was feeling particularly despondent yesterday because everything I did seemed to be going wrong... I could not get the formatting to go right, and I had a problem with the cover... and then discovering that the next two stories were also only fragmentary on any of my hard drives, and I had none of the cover files. And I sat down and cried. But I have written to Amazon to ask if I can have their copies of my uploads, which I can then work on. It's just harder...

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    2. ... what happened was that I had left my laptop some years ago on a low table. And when I returned it was on the floor, and my backup drive had been knocked out and the laptop landed on it. One of those things on which the odds were slim but which happened anyway. Everyone rallied round and helped me recreate as much as I could which was lost, but coming back to find out that I still had problems was... tough.

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    3. and you know what else? the first three books in this series were the last ones I was working on when my Mum was alive, and she was critiquing for me; and in Advertised Bride it was the first time I had deliberately killed my grandfather for his abuse of her, and she cried a little, and said it was very cathartic. But it's making me a bit weepy.

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    4. Oh. Well, the days were everything that can goes wrong are not good days. Let's hope Amazon can deliver. Who knows.

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    5. yes, and I am sure Amazon will deliver. They did with the first one. I was just down and then it was one of those days. Thanks.

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  2. I'm so sorry, Sarah.
    My son would like to offer the lucky cornetto (horn, not ice cream - specifying because I have confused English speakers before) he received for his Christening as help.

    I commend your strenght in not threatening to turn the culprits into stew and/or fur collars.

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    1. aww bless. I am sure he makes a joyful noise!

      ... there was mention to those involved of something similar; and Linne smiled at me and said that it was a luge, mummeh, but it was a bit sudden. how could I resist that face?

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  3. I am so sorry you are having a tough time. Gentle hugs, and try to remember the good times with your mum, though you miss her so much. Thoughts with you.

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    1. thank you very much. Oh there were many good times with Mum, and she was very supportive of my work, loved to hear a chapter a day before bed as I wrote them. She was so excited when I got a NaNoWriMo certificate! and some of her stories of when she was teaching found their way into the Charity School series. She is so very much in my writing.
      I am looking to do more Brandon Scandals, a series skipping forward in time, which will be a challenge as the period is less well known to me beyond the technological advances in steam.

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  4. Hi Sarah, Just a quick check to make sure you are well (I hope so) and that everything is going ok for you. Regards Kim

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    1. Hi, Kim, thanks for checking in. I'll start posting The Falcon and the King soon; it sort of took over from Jane. About to post that Bess and the Flying Armada is live

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    2. Lovely, got it. Thank you, Regards, Kim

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  5. Are you doing any editing of the Brandons?

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    1. I'm supposed to be, but I've been rather under the weather, and put my efforts into getting Bess out.

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  6. My keyboard was playing up on the last comment. I meant, in addition to the hyper-links. I'd seen something in ~The Advertised Bride, where Diana meets Imogen, and Imogen says 'Ach-y-fie' (however that is spelt) & Diana says 'oh, want is that?'. & Now I can't locate it.
    Barbara

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    1. I do intend to do hyperlinks all through.
      I am not sure what you are asking, though? you quote a section, what is the problem? Can you search the book like you can a PDF? It's ach-y-fi if you want the spelling.

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    2. Sorry, it was earlier in the book than I remembered. Chapter 5, and part way through that chapter. There was a beginning section, then one labeled 'I', and it was in the next section, which appeared to have an 'n' as the heading, not sure if it shouldn't have been a 'II'. Imogen called Dinah/Diana's father an ach-y-fi, and Dinah/Diana saud 'Oh want is that?' Rather than What is that?
      So an edit in the text rather than a hyperlink, I think.
      I'm sorry I'm not being very clear on this.
      Barbara

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    3. I don't have any headers or footers in any of them. I have some other typos in that to correct though.
      Oh! perhaps you mean scene-breaks? I was using scrolls which appear in text in PB as fancy scrolls, but which don't work in Kindle. Yes, I need to deal with that. I'll fix them all to oOoOo which is pretty in pb and innocuous in kindle

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    4. I was only referring to the symbols to help you locate the typo, but the fix will look a lot better.
      I've also found something in Chapter 25, where Diana & the other women have got back to the boat, and met Bates. Bates says that 'He (Val) and the Marquis have been in sticky places' when talking about Byesby. That didn't seem right, and reading the next book he is a Viscount.
      Barbara

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    5. yes, I will get there.

      oops, continuity

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