New York City - doing research for my second book

Sounds so cliche, non? Visiting The Big Apple. I'm on a mini-holiday with my son Jordan in New York City. Our visit has two missions: (1) shop until Jordan drops and (2) do some location research for my second book.

We arrived yesterday afternoon and quickly re-oriented ourselves to Manhattan. After dragging Jordan about eight blocks in the wrong direction looking for the Rockefeller Center, we ended up on Fifth Avenue, shopping at The Gap, H&M, etc. There was a nasty thunderstorm late in the afternoon which I enjoyed watching from our hotel room (we are on the 36th floor at The Palace, overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral -- and oh yeah, we also overlook the Rockefeller Center, duh!).

This morning we walked, walked, and walked some more. Up Seventh Avenue to Central Park, over to Central Park West, through the south end of Central Park, down Fifth Avenue (Central Park East), and back to the hotel. We sat for a while at certain spots that are described in the book because I wanted to make sure that I had it "right". I'm glad we did this because I have decided to change some of the locations now. I guess that's what location scouting is all about. I'm so glad we did this.

During our walk, we stopped in at the Apple Store and FAO Schwartz and dropped some cash, so to speak. We LOVE New York and we love the fact that today is sunny, and all you can see are blue skies, something we haven't seen in Ottawa for the whole month of July!

This afternoon -- who knows? I want to drop in at Soho, Greenwich Village and Little Italy. Where will our tired feet take us?

An Interesting Two Weeks

Since the book was "publicly" launched on Facebook by my daughter, I have had lots of interest and have actually sold some copies. I checked the stats on my website the other day and apparently there have been over 500 "views" of my website in June so far. That seems so strange to me because I wonder who is viewing it and where are they hearing about it. I think so far it's all from Facebook (has to be). The other day a good friend got a note on Facebook that some friend of hers was raving about MY book. Talk about the six degrees of separation!!

The other fantastic news I got this week was from Dan -- my favourite nephew-in-law (he's the better half of my eldest niece Alexandra). Dan manages the "Bookshelf" in Guelph, Ontario and he told me he will take some copies of the book and display them in his store. He also has two people lined up to read the book and write a review. I'll be shipping to him this week!

Other than book news, I've been missing my husband this week who has been away in Toronto taking more training for his Commando Krav Maga - I know, I know, it sounds strange (but it fits in with his martial arts world -- check it out on his website www.ottawajkd.com)

The news it out!

Well apparently the news is out! My daughter (bless her), launched my book on facebook yesterday.....so the marketing begins. I actually have some sales from that launch -- looking forward to many more. I know it's going to be a good week. I'm in Quebec City (for my "regular" job), in a beautiful room overlooking the river in one of the nicest hotels in the world (Chateau Frontenac).

Happy reading to everyone who buys my book! Autographed copies are on their way!

Printed Copies Have Arrived

This week my books arrived from First Choice Books in Victoria, B.C. They look fabulous and I'm pretty pleased. I have one on my bedside table to look at and I've been falling asleep with a smile on my face.

The book is also now published in electronic format on www.smashwords.com - for those who like to read on the computer or a hand-held device. The cost to purchase electronically will be $3.99. Check it out at www.smashwords.com/books/view/2075

My website is up and running www.rosemarie-damico.com. Special thanks to Jordan D'Amico who designed it and made it "work". Printed copies of the book can be ordered through the website ($16.99 U.S./Cdn.).

June 6 (tomorrow) is the anniversary of D-Day and the landing of the allies in Normandy. I'm feeling akin to that date as everything has come together this week after six months of my quest to self-publish the book. It's long overdue as the book was written 13 years ago.

Lots more to do -- local bookstores to visit, publicize the website, etc., etc.

I'm feeling the pressure is off (somewhat) and hope to spend the weekend writing. Yours truly is about half way through the second novel in the Kate Monahan series and I had some great ideas this week -- while sitting in the chair at the dentist's on Monday, with the drill screaming, I had some time to think and a few "light bulbs" went off!

On the printing press at last?

This week has been frustrating to say the least. It all started last Thursday (eight days ago) when I sent a nice, but "fed up" email to the printers. I asked them to call me so we could finalize things ... which I am happy to report finally happened eight days later.

I'm told that the book has been sent to "print" and that it should be shipped to me next week!

Fingers crossed ... (my finger crossing is now causing arthritis in my knuckles)

The good news in all this is that my website has been started http://www.rosemarie-damico.com/ - check it out. It's still very rough but will quickly take shape under the great artistic vision of Jordan D'Amico, the cover artist of my book and the master of my website!

So, next week will be HUGE in my life as an author. I need to have the printed copies in my hands before I push the button to publish it electronically on SMASHWORDS http://www.smashwords.com/. Smashwords will have a link to my website and a link to this blog.

Next on my list of "things to do" is get a list of all bookstores in the Ottawa area, and find out how to sell my book on Amazon. Darryl, my partner in all things, has agreed to help me flog the book at local bookstores where I understand they might take a few books to put on their "local authors" shelf. He's also looking into Amazon for me!

So, stay tuned for updates on this journey of mine to self-publish. I'm taking a lot of deep breaths and finding great stores of patience deep inside me.

Until next time.....

Finally settled with the printer?

It's been several weeks since my book was submitted to the printer. The woman there who is the designer (Johanna) is very hard to get in touch with and it's been frustrating to say the least.

However, at long last, we have finalized the proof. (A good thing because I was about to fire them for inattentiveness).

Johanna was good enough to fix the text/printing on the back cover, which was blurry on the proof. She explained that it was blurry because of the resolution when creating the file -- we'll know for next time.

AND, the biggest freak-out for me: I found TWO typos! One on the front copyright page and one in the VERY LAST LINE of the book. Now I'm worried that there are going to be more....

So I'm hopeful that the printing will start this week. Not sure when the final copies will be delivered but I'm anxious to get them so I can post my book on Smashwords.

Last weekend I removed all the formatting in the book to get it ready for submission to Smashwords, the website that publishes books in electronic format. I'm am holding off sending it to them until I actually have a hard copy of the book in my hands. Don't ask why; call me kookie, but I don't want to jinx the pitcher so to speak.

So here we go: fingers crossed (again) (I've been doing so much finger crossing lately that my hands are cramped!)

My proof arrived!

The envelope arrived on Monday with the proof of my book.

My first impressions: it wasn't as thick as I thought it was going to be (which is a good thing, I'm not whining here) and there are a few small issues with the cover.

I was worried that 417 pages might seem too much and the book would be too big. But DUH, they do print two-sided these days so it's only about 200 pages "thick".

It's very exciting to see it in print with the cover. The front is amazing and the photo and graphics that Jordan did are great. The problem is with the text on the back -- it appears to be really blurry. So we'll have to get some help on this one.

I found out last night that the graphic designer at the printer has been sick this week so I'm still waiting to talk to her.

Next steps: get the proof into acceptable format and then we're off to the printers!