It's finally here. I finished The Spell Box - Green Lady Inn Book   four last week.
I had hoped to have it published in August to have it available for the 'season' down here in Florida but life got in the way.
So far it's only in paperback. I'll work on the Kindle version in another week or two.
I'm having my husband read it first to find any lingering problems. As I said in my last post the editing is crucial. It's taken me a while to not trust editors. They miss things too. My darling husband is a bigger control freak than I am and he will find any mistakes. I also want him to find any timeline problems. Since it's taken me over a year to write and with lots of starts and stops I want to be sure it flows correctly. I know my editor found two.
If you want to catch up on the strange happenings at the Green Lady Inn in Salem Massachusettes I have made the boxed set of book one, two, and three free for this coming weekend.
I will be away on the other coast in Melbourne for an event with the Authors for Authors group. Their annual book fair is November 17 - 18 at the Eau Gallie Civic center. It's a great way to meet other authors and do a bit of networking.
Thinking of networking if you are in Florida you shouldn't miss the Southwest Florida Writers conference. It will be held on April 13, 2019 at the Port Charlotte Cultural Center. I will be giving a workshop on social media marketing. I will also be available for one on one consultation that day. 
I'm writing a new book just for the conference. It's working title is Gator. It's about alligator poaching. I've already killed a college student off in the first chapter. I wonder how many more I can kill off? I'm hoping to meet with an agent at the conference with my finger crossed that they will love it. 
As always I'd love to hear from you. Ask a question or give me a review. 
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Editing for a self-published author is crucial in order to be taken seriously.
You need a professional editor. Someone who does it for a living not just your old English teacher or the neighbor next door.
​My first novel, Broken Branches, was edited three times by three different editors. When my husband finally read it three years later he still found errors. In my novel Honey Tree Farm - for the Love of the Beekeeper's Daughter, he found thirty-eight errors. I had paid a friend who was also an author to edit it. Needless to say I never used her again. 
I make all kinds of mistakes usually in spelling. I can even confuse spell check. I blame it on the fact that my mind is working faster than my fingers can type.
​In my latest children's book, Hayden and Fred, I made an error in placing the text. On one of the pages I had to move the text a bit away from the edge of the page. I did that but forgot to move the text box down and cut off a word. My illustrator in Wisconsin noticed it after I sent her several copies to place in a store up there. 
I rush to print, that is one of my great problems. As an author you need to slow down and make your book the very best it can be before you publish. It's a lesson I've learned the hard way and still have a problem with.
​I was at an event when a customer pointed out an error in  my very first children's book, Just Batty.  I had spelled the same word two different ways in the same paragraph. I'd been selling the book for two years and not one person had told me or maybe no one noticed.  It was my first book and so excited I didn't have it edited properly. Always order a proof copy and give it one last edit before you publish. 
Not only is it good for you as an author but it helps all the other self-published authors out there.
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