Sanctuary of Fire is in production! (Book three in The Deceiver Saga)
I’ve been amazed
at how fast things are going with these books of mine. From a dream (literally),
to scraps of scribbled notes, to the laptop, to the publisher, the printed page,
out to the public, and soon, recorded into audiobooks! If you haven’t read my
earlier blogs about how all this wonderful madness got started, I invite you to
please take a scroll through my previous posts that take you along with me
through the wonderful journey I’ve been on. Nothing has been handed to me. It’s
taken a lot of hard work, dedication, and ignoring the naysayers—but I will say
this, God’s hand has been in it and his blessings undeniable. And I wouldn’t be
where I am today without the love, encouragement and support of my family and friends.
Back in
February I sent the manuscript in to my publisher for the third book in The Deceiver Saga, called Sanctuary of Fire. There will be more
books in the Saga than just three, so don’t panic. You wouldn’t be without a
good book to read when you get done with this one. I’m guessing there will
probably be about six or seven in The
Deceiver Saga, but since there seems to be more and more evolving every day
in my beady little mind, I’d can’t say there won’t be more than that! You’ll
just have to wait and see! Well, read, wait and see. ;O]
We started
production on Sanctuary of Fire in April.
We’ve been through the major copyediting and are finishing up the cover design and
inside layout right now. In the next week or so I expect to have the cover art
revision back and the digital file of the layout to review. The fun part of
this phase is that they will also send me a printed proof copy to rub my anxious
little hands over and feast my dry eyesies upon. Of course the purpose is to
read it off the printed page so that whatever I don’t catch in the way of lingering
errors or typos in the digital file will pop off the page and present itself
from the 3D book. That, and they want to make sure I’m happy with how the
actual physical book looks as a whole. I can’t wait!
It’s always
fun to work with the cover designer/artist and try to get what I have in my
head presented in the physical world. On each of the books so far, I have been
asked to fill out a questionnaire that my project manager sends me. I have to tell
them things like: What mood I want the cover to project and what feelings I
want it to invoke, how I want my pen name listed, what my final decision is for
the book title (if I wasn’t sure already), what symbolism I feel represents the
theme in the books(s) and of course, what I see in my mind when I think of this
book’s cover.
Sanctuary of Fire has proven to be a difficult book cover
to nail down. Not for me, I’ve known what I want on it since before I was finished
writing it. I know what I see in my mind, and I’ve tried to express that as articulately
as I can to them. But everyone’s interpretation of what they read and what they
see in their head is different. So even though I may try to explain in detail exactly
what I want on this cover, what they see in their mind as they read my
questionnaire, may not be exactly what I myself was envisioning. So far, they’ve
sent me a few different cover designs and revisions. They’ve done awesome work,
there’s no doubt about it! But, it wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t fully
expressing what I was imagining or wanted expressed. So I sent them more notes
and they’re working on it again. Each time they revise it, they get closer.
Just a few more little tweaks and we’ll be there! I can’t want to post it once
it’s done!
The
thing to remember is that if you don’t speak up about what’s important to you, people
won’t know they’ve let you down or disappointed you. You have communicate
openly and honestly to those you are relying on to make your dreams come true.
Especially for something as important to you as these books are to me. I guess
my message to you today is, don’t settle, be honest, and don’t be afraid to
communicate. Don’t have to be intimidated to communicate your needs. Just don’t
do so in a manner that’s rude or condescending. That isn’t “honesty”, that’s
just called being a jerk. And no one wants to help a jerk and no one wants to
work with on either.
Keep
on, keeping on! And be blessed!
R. J.
Machado De Quevedo
(Author of ‘The Deceiver Saga’, Speaker, Blogger,
Dreamer)
Follow me on
Twitter @TheDeceiverSaga
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