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I started writing OID’s on a rainy day in China in April of 2014.

It was a holiday weekend. I was stuck in a hotel room for three days. With nothing else to do, I began to write.

The basis of the story had been rattling around my brain for years….at least the beginning and the end anyway.

All the things that happen in between developed as I began to write.

I didn’t work on the book full time. That’s one reason this project has taken nearly five years. There were several stretches where I didn’t write for months, but with support from my daughter and friends, I slowly plugged away at it.

Then came the editing which took months longer than normal. After the initial edit, I had to work through the entire book again. As I worked, I sent the book chapter by chapter to a second editor.

Once the second editor was finished, I read through it and cut, pasted, and fixed things again….Finally I had the help of several readers who found typos, missing words and made suggestions for bits they didn’t quite follow.

I am waiting for the feedback of two more readers before I finally call this book done and put a fork in it!

It is exciting to finally finish Oids, but I have lots of work ahead of me. I need to publish, market, and promote the book if I hope to sell any copies.

Then there is the prospect of writing a second installment of Oids….and what to do about all the other stories bouncing around my brain? These need to be written as well.

I guess I can keep myself busy for quite a while.

What a hobby. Why couldn’t I just like fishing?

I have discovered a website called Reedsy.

Reedsy helps writers/authors find professionals to help connect with editors, book cover designers, publicists, etc. to help a writer down the path to getting published.

I suppose if I was famous or even confident enough I could run off in search of a literary agent and publisher, but since Oids is my first effort, it’s a best of a book and I’m not really sure what I’ve got (market potential and story structure wise) I think it’s best to have a professional editor work through it and help fix major issues before taking any other steps.

I have successfully used Reedsy to find an editor, Jim Spivey, to plow through Oids and tear it apart in an effort to make it a better book.

I sent all 899 pages (in 6″ x9″ book format) to Jim Sunday night.

So….Oids – New Arcadia has met a major milestone. I’ve finished the writing, self-edited 3 times through and have now sent it off to a professional editor.

Now I sit back and wait. I’ll use this time to start work on a new project, something completely different, but a story I am very familiar with….more on that at a later time.

 

Mike

For the past month I have been getting feedback from readers and doing some rewrites.

I also reached out to Bon Wie of NASA to help with some technology and did re-writes to make the tech real or at least not unrealistic.

I’m waiting for feedback from a couple other readers. I’m sure there are plenty of changes and fixes. I have my own list of changes I am working through.

So…when you thought you were done….even after self-editing the entire book twice…..it’s just the beginning of fixing and plugging holes.

 

This afternoon I have completed a full second edit. I’m happy with this accomplishment….finishing the day before my 59^th birthday.

I still have some work to do though. I have a character named Charnel who is begging to be in the book. She only has one chapter and a few mentions so far.

I feel I can layer her in without disturbing what’s already written because Charnel is oblivious to what’s happening in the world around her.

She does however add some important elements in her life that help define the state of technology at the time of this story.

Let’s see what becomes of Charnel.

I’m excited about Asteroid Day!

Check the website to learn about asteroids, watch cool videos and learn about the potential for Earths destruction by space rocks! ah!

https://asteroidday.org/

 

Today June 7th 2017 – I wrote The End.

The end of the beginning…..New Arcadia

Three years, two months since starting, I’ve finally finished the complete story.

I have a couple holes to fill and need to go through the entire book reading, editing and fixing.

I’m happy, but still lots of work ahead.

I printed 3 books for a small group of readers in order to get some feedback. Thanksgiving week should be a good time for them to spend some time reading “Oids”.

This is not the final version….just through the finish of Part Three and one chapter in Part Four (350 pages double sided). Enough for the readers to chew on to see if they want to read more.

I still have more chapters to write and edit before Oids is finished.