Tessera
Trilogy Blog
Post 198
Kashan Kashmeeri - Progress has been made. All pages out of the final 176 have
been reviewed, marked up, reprinted and paper clipped for further editing where
necessary. A further round of reviews, markups, re-editing followed. This
included multiple word by word checks, looking for improper tense, duplicate
words/phrases, incorrect spacing of paragraphs and use of identical font and
bolding in Chapter numbers. POV shifts were identified and corrected, as were
grammatical, tense, and character name errors. After the cover is finalized the
final product needs to go to BOOKBABY for processing as a Print On Demand
product.
Novel cover - CamScanner,
a phone app for iPhones and Droids, allows you to capture scenes to JPG or PDF
format, crop, reorient image, change colors, and make your own special novel cover.
I used a new program (Freeware, so it cost nothing) to modify photos taken of a
Tree of Life rug, the cover of the novel. It’s called Paint.net. I searched on
that term under Google, downloaded and installed it. One opens a JPG file under
the program, and like Photo Shop, one can edit it, and insert title information
for a book cover.
DATA LOSS – While transferring twenty plus year’s worth of data files (HI
CUZ data files and blog entries, Tessera Trilogy novels research, they
ALL DISAPPEARED. I went to Best Buy’s local Geek Squad. They couldn’t recover
the data and said it needed to be sent away for recovery. I then tried a local company, ComputerProsToday. Their
estimate was better, and they said there would be no charge unless the data was
recovered. Awaiting return (they pick up and deliver the affected drive/PC) of
my external hard drive and the new one I bought to take over the duty of data
backup.
In the meantime, while I await what the data
recovery company can do, I’m attempting to find and recover Journals, HICUZ
Blog posts, Tessera Trilogy Blog posts, and other data from email strings.
Data now, end of August, has been recovered.
Well, most of it. A number of file names were too long to recover, and all the
data is now grouped by type, mostly without its original title, and all the
folders are gone. So I face months of opening, renaming, and saving all the
data files. Found in initial search of the files that I have 4533 PDF files,
all without recognizable titles other than an alpha-numeric string of characters. YIKE!!!
They recovered
"all" data, though I'm still wading through it to see what might be
missing. The data came back as an enormous listing of numerically titled files.
So I have to open each and every one, re-title it, then decide if it’s a dupe,
still wanted, then put in newly designated folders by subject. I think it will
take me months, amidst other projects. I feel confident I have most of the
files.
I'd recommend the company,
now known as Computer Pros Today. They charged me $279.00, which was way less
than Best Buy. Best idea coming out of this mess - Backup files to
multiple ext hard drives.
The Next One – the sequel to The
Tessera Trilogy, has begun to take form.
It has survived its first Books-A-Million critique session.
BAM 29 Aug 2016 critique comments
BAM member –
1.
First few pages
funny, He seems paranoid and delusional – working
2.
His sense of
awkwardness seems off - disagree
3.
Does he have
asberges? He seems chatty though – still developing character
4.
Well done, but
did you intend him to come across as a loon? – No, he’s brilliant and bizarre
5.
Minor editorial
comments – agree
BAM member –
1.
Liked first few pages, then got sidetracked by
IQ references - still developing character
2.
Will this be a
satirical story? – wait and see
3.
Liked background
info on setting - thanks
4.
Better of reader
knew who Tom was early on – agree, working
5.
Minor editorial
comments – agree
6.
Liked description
of unvoiced footsteps - thanks
7.
Too numerous,
confusing references to IQ and BP – agree, working
BAM member -
1.
Funny, His minds
activities ramble. How does he know his BP is rising? – working on story
2.
Identify George
as having a photographic mind – agree
3.
Great character
introduction – thanks
4.
Thoughts of dates
and his chances were out of place – disagree, essential to story
5.
Minor editorial
comments – agree
6.
How does Bai know
of heart and BP conditions – her mother is an RN
7.
A great piece -
thanks
8.
Bai would have to
had extensive training to know how to take BP - disagree
BAM member –
1.
Liked, but nothing different to add – thanks
2.
Waiting to see what happens in next segment -
thanks
3.
No written
comments
BAM member –
1.
Funny! Is he a genius or crazy. I think he’s
crazy – no, brilliant, but weird
2.
Liked the IQ of
197 bit - thanks
3.
Rambled, then
heard steps again (he reassessed access points) - working
4.
No written
comments
BAM member –
1.
Liked it, funny,
Does the main character have asperges? Appears to behave like someone on autism
scale – They have to be coached in life – He is an interesting character.
2.
Good writing –
thanks
3.
Liked description
of characters rambling mind, good character detail – thanks
4.
Spell out Blood
Pressure (BP) – agree
5.
Explain how Bai
knows about BP checks – her mother is an RN
6.
Liked character
having IQ of 197 and developing tests himself - thanks
7.
No written
comments
BAM member –
1.
Change telling
(he normally felt safe) to showing, or dialogue – agree, working
2.
Stay focused on characters fears, apprehension
– disagree. His mind
wanders
3.
Don’t have him
reassess the footsteps – disagree;
intentional part of his wandering mind and character
4.
Correct conflict
between “rambled” and “organized” – disagree: intentional part of his wandering mind and character
5.
Remove characters
thoughts of dates – disagree,
intentional part of his wandering mind and character
6.
Why did character
not describe the woman in front of him – because she is in a shadow, working
7.
Why does
characters heart rate go up and down – agree, working
8.
Correct POV
shifts – agree, working
