For RWG meetings, the guidelines for articles for group review is as follows: two to three pages, double-spaced.  I had planned to pick a segment quite distinct from my last segment, to get reviews on another topic/character/scene. On second thought, I believe I’ll pick the next several pages.

HMM … another shiny object appeared. It was an ad, on my blog, suggesting I’m ready to take the plunge with my Blog, of turning it into a book. See the ad below!!!

Turn your blog into a book!
Blog2Print from SharedBook turns your blog into a soft cover or hard cover book. You pick the cover, add an optional dedication, then preview and you're done. Prices start at $14.95.

I pulled out two reference sources which may help in my new approach to marketing, “How to get happily published”, written by Judith Appelbaum and published (third Edⁿ) by Plume, a division of the Penguin Group. The second source was “The Everything Guide to Writing a Novel”, written by Joyce and Jim Lavene and published by Adams Media. They each offer insights into when and how to select an agent.

I also did a quick recalculation of the pages, Golden Gate was 92 pages in 8.5 inch by 11-inch format, and I wanted to recheck my approximation as to what that equated in paperback format. It worked out to roughly 318 pages, based on size of pages for regular paper-to-paper size in a Tom Clancy paperback novel – Patriot Games. So my first effort seems to be in the ballpark for a reasonable length.

I did spend much of an afternoon taking my small, scribbled notes (I carry a notepad to write down brilliant thots as they drift through my mind, and to note the bright shiny objects as they interrupt my train of thought. I need to take these – I called them addins – and work them into the draft chapter segments I now have. My chapters don’t yet have the rough flow I need in terms of characters, dialog, and actions, but inserting these into the draft will help me work out the flow.

Another project that had crossed in my field of fire, and caused me to lose focus was publication of a research paper on the good ship Josephus. That paper,  “Passages of Josephus, Liverpool to Boston, 2 May – 7 June 1853,”documented the shipyard in Kennebunk, ME where the ship Josephus was built in 1850, identified the craftsmen who built it, details its construction, launch and first several voyages. My paternal grandfather Wm. Joseph Rowe was born on Josephus as his parents sailed from Liverpool to Boston in 1853. Additionally the paper identified the cargo, crew, and passengers on the ship as it sailed to Boston.