I love what I do for a living. I wanted to be an author and a newspaperman ever since I was a kid, and I managed to accomplish both goals. It’s cool to make a living sitting on my butt talking into a microphone, telling stories that end up as books that people want to read.
The not so fun part is the editing. While I can crank out a lot of words in a day, even over 11,000 as I did the other day, I am dictating into a Sony digital recorder and then converting it to text with Dragon software. And no matter how much their TV commercials want you to believe that it’s quick and easy and that you never miss a word, the truth is far from that. When I factor in the time it takes to go through and make all of the corrections to the transcribed text, I’m sure a good typist could probably get the same amount of work done in the same number of days. But alas, I’m a two-finger typist at best, and those are arthritic fingers. So I do what I can.
And that’s what I’ve been doing the last two days, making corrections to transcribed chapters, then printing them out for Terry to proof. And when I finish making her corrections, I send them off to Judy, my second proofreader. It’s tedious and time-consuming, but it is what it is. I’d still rather be doing this than anything else I can think of to earn a buck.
Speaking of books, Big Lake Shootout has been doing very well since it was introduced on August 5th, with 123 reviews, the majority of them four and five stars. I appreciate everybody who reads my books and leaves reviews. They are the best way an author can market his or her work, as well as to know what the readers like and don’t like.
Besides editing and proofreading chapters for me, Miss Terry was busy in the kitchen yesterday, making pesto from basil she grew in her AeroGarden, along with processing dill and sage from the AeroGarden, making a delicious dinner, and also some amazing dark chocolate pecan fudge. Yummy yummy!
And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.
Congratulations Linda Risinger, winner of our drawing for a four-book set of audiobooks from my pal Carol Ann Newsome’s popular Dog Park mystery series. We had 39 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.
Thought For The Day – Never in my life would I have guessed my hands would consume more alcohol than my mouth.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Your funny sign is like a politician’s promises–empty. LOL
(Just kidding with you. I know things slip by every so often.)
Now, this is going to look like a strange comment, if you go in and insert the photo. ;D
Well, darn it. I was too quick on the trigger. Not only is the sign pictured, but so are Miss Terry’s fudge. Yum!