Category: Blog
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Celebrating Towering Accomplishments
March 31, 2015. The 126th anniversary of the public opening of the Eiffel Tower. Also, today I completed Crossing Swords and ordered the first print run! Why is this an interesting coincidence? Because the book begins by comparing Mary Baker Eddy’s career to the Eiffel Tower: “Figuratively speaking, Mrs. Eddy is already as tall as the Eiffel…
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Crossing Swords first edition book cover
It took ten versions over two years and now it is done: the final book cover for Crossing Swords. I wanted a cover that looked like an 1870s event flier or newspaper feature page. Originally I envisioned the cover almost completely black and white, but without actually using black or white. Working through many design iterations, artist Mark Peyser tried variations with…
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Making it Shine
What does it take to make a book shine? An incredible amount of attention to detail, I am learning. Patience, persistence, longsuffering. Now I understand why it typically takes traditional book publishers a full year to publish a book once the author completes the manuscript. And since I am trying to treat Crossing Swords with that same level of…
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The library shelf at call number DDC 306.81
Crossing Swords could share shelf space with authors like Stephanie Coontz, James Dobson, Maggie Gallagher, John Gottman, Karl Pillemer, Laura Schlessinger, and Darryl Strawberry–who have all written popular books on marriage that share a DDC number of 306.81. DDC number 306.810973 The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system was first developed in the early 1870s–during the same time period as the…
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Ready for Libraries
In preparation for publishing, Crossing Swords has now been through a cataloging process done by a professional cataloger. This is an extra bit of book description that “indie” books (self-published and small press) do not always have. By taking this extra step, it will be that much easier for Crossing Swords to find its way into…
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Manuscript complete!
The final edit of the Crossing Swords manuscript has been completed! Nearly 50 readers of the manuscript contributed substantive comments on a dozen drafts of the manuscript over the past two years. Every single comment has been carefully considered and addressed to the best of my ability. Thank you to all of you who took the…
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Author at Work!
With the Kickstarter fundraising campaign now complete, I am turning my focus to finalizing the book! That means a lot of quiet focused time alone at my desk, being an author! I will emerge again as soon as I am done with my last-minute research, writing, and edits and I am ready to engage with the…