Double DOH!

... and it gets worse :-(

OK, so I send the story off and I'm thinking, "What could possibly go wrong now?" as I pat myself smugly on the back... ... ...

A lot, that's what.

The next day I received this polite but alarmigly cryptic message from the guy in charge.

"My assistant editor has read through your story and has a minor problem. The version you sent us still seems like the work in progress, has all the red and blue deletions and the like. "

Because I'm about as proficient on Word as I am at Astro-Physics, I managed to send the document off without accepting the edits.

So all the lines and boxes that appear while editing WERE STILL THERE !!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

How embarrassing is that then?

If this story is accepted, then it's one in the eye for those who claim that editors and publishers have no soul, lol.
The covering letter actually read,

Dear blah blah,

So, embarrassing, here is my third attempt at submitting my story,
"The Ides of March" for your Vampyre Anthology.

I am so disappointed in myself... :-(

As you were.

Reg :-/

DOH !!

I've just sent a short story off to a website.

I spent ages on pumping it up to the required word count and formatting it to their expectations, (every publisher wants their submissions, "just so". You'd have thought they would have made a standard for this sort of thing by now, eh?)

Then came the covering letter. Because I wanted to casually slip in my idea about the Classical Horror anthology I'm on right now, (not an easy thing when you're trying to pitch for your short story AND sell them an idea for something that hasn't even beem written yet), I had to give it extra special attention, be extra clever with my wording and extra blah blah fishcakes, whatever, you get the idea..

Yeah, well I finished it and was pleased with the whole package. I mean REALLY pleased.

The covering letter read like a dream and after attaching the Word doc. for my short story, I pressed send and patted myself on the back. Job well done, thought I... ... Not.

After pressing send I noticed a Word doc still open. It was my short story, formatted to their requirements but NOT SAVED !!! DOH !!!
So basically they recieved the old format and it looked nothing like what they had demanded on their website.

I saved it, copied and pasted the covering letter onto a new email, attached the document and wrote above the writing for the official covering letter:
Dear mr. Blah blah,
  This is my second attempt at sending you my submission and it's due to
the fact that I forgot to "Save" the title, my name, word count and
email address in the original document.
How embarrassing is that?
So... apologies and onwards.

Do you think they'll mind? LOL.
Whatever, life goes on, eh?

Reggie ;-)

Has it really been that long since I last posted??

  Has it really been that long since I last posted???

  Wow...

  So, what's been happening?

  Well for once, a lot!!

  Tim, the guy in charge, the boss, the head man, the top dog, the big cheese, the head honcho etc. etc., has sent me the first 14 chapters of edits to peruse at my leisure.

  14 chapters may sound a lot but it's not; but what the hell, the editing process has finally started and we're up and running!!!

  Actually, I'm quite excited about it.

  I had a scan through what he's done, changed something and sent him it back.

  I've just read back what I've written and realise how totally mundane that sounds, but dear reader, I can assure you it's not. I've been dreaming of this for years now, literally!! A publisher is going through my work, preparing it for marketing, I mean HOW COOL IS THAT???

  Very, in case you're wondering.

  Anyway, so what else is new?

My story about The Wooden Wolf of Troy is coming on nicely, despite my tight schedule and recent run of parties and shifts. I'll be on that after I've posted this.

  The band I write lyrics for, Gods Will Be Done, are now recording their second CD, The Apex Predator.

  Now, unlike The Book of Blood, their first CD, I don't know all the songs on this CD very well at all.

  Yes yes, I wrote the lyrics and sometimes heard the music before the rest of the band did. However, it was all very basic, worked out on a computer and definitely not how the band performs the songs.

Of all the tracks on the new CD I know four very well indeed, the rest I haven't heard with a singer at all, so it's going to be very, very interesting....

  So, now you know peeps.

  The book won't be out for Christmas, but I'm hoping the rush of Kindles that everyone will be buying for Christmas will boost the ebook market and thus my sales; as it's going to take some time before "Division" comes out in paper.

OK, take it easy.

Reg.

PS: Haven't Liverpool done well recently??? Great stuff :-)

The new cover.

I never actually saw the point of learning to draw while I was in school.

After two years of studying for my art O level/GCSE examination I managed a resounding, "U" grade, (Unclassified: as in not fit to even be looked at because it's so bad.)

So I think it's safe to say that, when it comes to the study of transferring ideas into pictorial form, I rank amongst the biggest failures in the records of Bryn Elian School.

It's nothing to be proud of, I hear you cry; and rightly so!

I despise the whole Chav culture that celebrates idiocy, eulogizes ignorance and smiles fondly at indolence. The whole, "I'm cute cos I'm thick" attitude leaves me angered and slightly perplexed at its popularity.
However, I just didn't see the point.


My blinkered view of the future was to either be a reporter or a soldier and nothing else seemed important.
What was I going to do when the communist hordes sweep across the plains of Northern Germany? Knock 'em dead with a great Ilfochrome Classic print?

It made more sense at that time to go out with a cassette deck and listen to The Clash with my mates, rather than do Still Life down the park; and at least the album was called, "Combat Rock"!

It sounds awful, I know, but that was the way I ticked around 1982/83. I tried hard in other subjects but with art I just didn't see the point. If only they had given me my first choice of woodwork...

Whatever, that is all by the by, because luckily for me I have talented friends who not only do kick-botty tattoos, but can also transfer pictures on paper straight onto the computer screen.

How clever is that??

Yes, once again The Chief, (AKA Chris Salmen of Combat Colour) has come up with a brilliant cover for my book.

I originally asked him if he had any problems with me using the Div. of the Damned logo he came up with in 2007, (is it really that long ago?) and he said, yes.

Yes, as in he does have a problem with me using the old logo.

"Harumph," thought I until I read the next line, he does have a problem with me using the OLD logo because he wants to make a NEW logo!!!

How cool is that then??

(Very cool, in case you're wondering.)

Anyway, here it is, the proposed cover for The Division of the Damned.

Enjoy...

Cool or what?
(Don't answer if you don't like it, lol)

OK, I'm off to mow the lawn now, take it easy.
Reg. :-)

Update!

Just in, hot of the press, 30 minutes ago.

Hi Reg,

Sorry, missed this one. I thought I had answered all my NR messages.

We will be with your book this month - what with total re-writes of books, our Internet collapsing for several days, new promo initiatives, the summer holidays and a thousand e-mails flying around from authors wanting updates, life is a little but hectic, but we are busting through.

So there you have it peeps, the mills of Night Publishing grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine... or was it the Mills of Justice?
Ah, whatever.

I've been asked by a very nice lady to write a piece fror her Blog about extreme music and why I like it. Actually, what Hannah really asked for was a write up on loud music and beer drinking of which I'm quite the scholar at, if I say so myself.

Anyway, I'll be doing that shortly.

Apart from that, I'm plodding along nicely with The Eckton Empire.
I've managed a whole bunch of ideas for my Classical Horror short story thing and done enough research on it to cure Ebola!!

As I wrote, not much going on, but it's getting there...

Take it easy Peeps.
Reg.

PS. I'm playing a gig on Saturday as well. It's going to be a fiasco!! The organisors have billed it as a festival but there's only TWO bands playing... DOH !!
Total Fail.
Whatever, I get to play live, drink free beer and scoff free bratwursts so it won't be THAT bad now, will it? Yuck yuck yuck...