Galleys In...

Finished my review of the galleys for Ms. Zephyr's Notebook today, and sent 'em in just before noon.

At that point my brain turned off completely, so in spite of the mountain of outstanding work I have waiting, I took the dog out for a run along the Seaview Walk in West Van.

It was good for both of us.

Galleys have now entered the techno-age. Used to be that the publisher would send out a copy of the actual galleys, the author would carefully evaluate and make any changes required and then pop them back in the mail.

These days it's done by PDF. At least that's how my publisher does it. I ran 'em off and carried them around with me all weekend. Somebody spilled coffee all over a couple of pages last night at my son's lacrosse game. So I was grateful I didn't actually have to send them back.

Instead, I sent a list of changes, along with my acknowledgements and dedication. Haven't heard any screams of hysteria from Toronto yet, so I'm crossing my fingers all is well.

With all my conversations here about this book, I'm not sure I've ever described it. Here's what the book jacket says:

When Logan Kemp hurls himself into a rugby scrum one morning, he has no idea that by afternoon he'll be fighting for his life. Worse, the only other patient on his ward is a troubled girl named Cleo who may not be hospitalized just for a broken wrist. When all he wants is his regular life back, the thought of Cleo throwing away her own leaves Logan determined to change her mind.

Cleopatra Jones wants to design the perfect life; a teenage boy and a few well-meaning health professionals are not going to stand in her way. But Cleo soon finds that life -- and even death -- can interfere with the best-laid plans.

Both teens reinforce the walls that have kept them safe in their own worlds, but the secrets in a teacher's notebook show them how the word sustenance can have more than one meaning. Facing the biggest challenge of their lives, Logan and Cleo discover the powerful forces of redemption and forgiveness.

One of the good things about Dundurn (my publisher) is that they let me write my own book jacket copy -- so at least it's not been written by someone who hasn't read the book.

So, as you can see from this description, Ms Z is a bit of a different story than the previous three I have published. It's still a novel aimed at teens, but with a contemporary setting and theme. I'm quite interested to see how it does when it makes it out into the great wide world, as it is so different from my earlier work.

I guess I'll know soon enough.

~kc

Galleys!

They're here!

The galleys for my upcoming novel, MS. ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK, arrived today.

They are about 2 1/2 weeks late, mostly because this book has required more design work than any of my previous novels.

My second book, SECRET OF LIGHT, revolved around the life of Leonardo daVinci. (Interestingly enough, I believe I was writing it just about the time that Dan Brown was putting fingers to keys on his own modest endeavour of similar topic, though substantially different execution.) Anyway, the only interior design element of that book that set it apart from a conventional manuscript was the insertion of leonardo's famous mirror-writing signature. As I recall, I had trouble finding an image clear enough to allow the designers a decent shot at reproduction, and in the end, I think I traced it. So really, it was the kc dyer rendition of the odranoel. (This is not correct either, of course, as here I have just reversed the letter order and not the letters themselves...)

By contrast, Ms Z. (whose period I disagree with but have been forced by the mores of conventional Canadian usage to accept) is an internal design nightmare. The manuscript contains post-it notes, drawings, memos, report cards, letterhead, doodles, internet messaging, email, a menu (wait a minute -- I think the menu might have been guillotined...), selections from a graphic novel, doctor's orders...well, you get the picture.

Or pictures, as the case may be.

Anyway, it's now time for me to go through the galleys and make sure all is well. I had a quick look this afternoon before I had to brave the TransCanada on a trek to Surrey for a SiWC board meeting, and I was pretty happy with what I saw. There was a big problem right at the end, where two graphic depictions had been dumped instead of placed where they belong in the ms, but that is easily solved.

Over the next couple of days I'll talk here a bit about how the whole process of reviewing the galleys works. It's almost my favourite part of the whole book publishing business, because there is so much looking forward involved. A new book is a new beginning. I'm really happy with this story, so that makes it even better.

I haven't seen the final cover design just yet. The one accompanying this post is an interim design -- almost there but not quite. I'm hoping for a coffee stain and some grafitti from a friend of mine.

We'll see what I get.

~kc