Joining the 212st Century

Joining the 212st Century

10/12/2011 10:47:56 PM

 
One of the first things I want to address concerns my earlier works. I feel strongly that I need closure on that earlier period of writing. I still have contributor copies of the sources of my published work, and it's unlikely they exist anywhere else. Which brings me to the first project in my reconnection to writing. I am currently assembling a collection of my short stories into a format for e-book publishing. The collection will include both previously published and unpublished work.

I'm a computer geek of sorts, and I collect and irregularly save software of all types and descriptions, jumping from one to another like a hyper child in a candy store. As a result I am struggling to find software versions of various programs that can read and decipher the pile of digital paper that comprise the content of my stories.  It's taking time and patience going through everything, deleting of bad formatting codes and restructuring the content into a usable form. There is a smaller batch that is being painstakingly re-typed from scratch. Some of that work is being done by my wife, which I am very grateful for! My typing is fast, but my mistakes are many.

I have also selected a resource for the initial publishing of the work. The company is called Smashwords. There is a link under Resources if anyone is interested. It offers everything needed to prepare and publish work in e-book format, and includes a lot of advice and help as well.

It occurred to me that I am starting a business. I really didn't think of it that way when I first started writing, but I have to think that way now as writing is, in fact, my job. I'm going to need a name for my business. That was a quick decision. I intend to keep the pseudonym "J Walker Bell" as this is the pen name I used for all of my published work.

I'm going to need to keep track of business related expenditures and those paychecks as well (being optimistic). That, too, I'll write about and share, since I know I'll write about it anyway. Like I've said, I can't help writing. The business side of writing means more preparation and more work. Even so, I need to make the time to actually do some writing! 

Charlie 10/17/2011 2:01:54 PM

The Porch Cool! I'm thinking about using "The Porch" as a free sample from the collection once it's ready on the epub site. I may also include sample paragraphs one new stuff I'm working on this website. Almost done with my latest story!

Tim 10/16/2011 4:59:27 PM

suggestion If you have the work in print Adobe has great OCR. Oh and I still have the copy of the fanzine "Nightside" with " the Porch" in it.