a bridge to the quiet planet

Steve’s Update 12/23/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

We’re all heading for the holidays, so let’s catch up! Also you may note this is appearing all over – I’m diversifying my posting base.

So what have I done the last week(s)?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Is selling in ebook format!  So print is next. I’ve got the document print-formatted now – which thanks to some Open Office tools and formatting choices was easier than I thought. There’s some lessons here.
  • Way With Worlds: I’ve got another book out! This one is on Organizations!
  • Seventh Sanctum: Steady as she goes here, but the next generator or three are being outlined.
  • Other: Lots of relaxing now that the holiday season is here.

What’s next?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Getting print format out and getting a draft. The text is done, the real worry I have is the cover. Covers are the hardest part of POD.
  • Way With Worlds: I’m outlining the next book, but am also pacing myself.
  • Seventh Sanctum: Want to try to update the Nexus and maybe get a new generator out.
  • General Stuff: The holidays, of course! I am also working on some productivity techniques I may be sharing soon!

Steven Savage



Steve’s Update 12/15/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Hello all!  Hope you’re doing well!  So let’s catch up on where all my projects are!

So what have I done the last week(s)?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Done!  Out!  Published as in ebook format!  I’ve already sold a few copies (some of which weren’t to friends), and set up marketing and promos.
  • Way With Worlds: Not much this week, though it is looking promising.  
  • Seventh Sanctum: I got out the “Power Princess” generator to go with the new popularity of She-ra.
  • Other: Lots of chores and stuff.  The usual.

What’s next?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Next up is going to be setting up the print copy (which my guess is going to easily take a few weeks as you have to get prints to check).  I’m going to focus on that to see how it goes before pacing my other projects.  I also have a free worldbook I want to do soon, but that’ll probably be later in the month.
  • Way With Worlds: Return to the organization book!  Right now I’m actually not sure how long it’ll take, as I’m trying some different editing approaches – but I’m treating it as a learning experience.  Probably out this week or next.
  • Seventh Sanctum: Not 100% sure!  I’ve got plenty of ideas, but a big focus is probably the Nexus.
  • General Stuff: Getting ready for the holidays!

Steven Savage

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: A Few Thoughts On The Final Run

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

All right, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet is out.  Done.  So it was a bit later than I expected, and the final run on it gave me food for thought.

WATCH SWITCHING BETWEEN SOFTWARE: I found some annoying artifacts from moving from one piece of software to another – there can be subtle differences.   I had to do some annoying search and replaces.

THINK OVER STYLISTIC CHOICES EARLY AND FOLLOW UP: You may make certain formatting choices – like bolding certain things (business cards or telepathy), certain uses of quotes, etc.  Make sure you’re consistent.  I found ONE case of not following my own formatting, and I nearly missed it.

DO A SERIOUS READ-THROUGH AND CORRECTION EARLY: I wish I did this.  Take, say, an early draft, and edit it as if it’s for print.  This will help you find your mistakes, issues, common problems, and get plenty of distracting tiny errors out of the way – so you can edit.

KEEP A LIST OF ERRORS YOU FIND OR WORRY ABOUT: This helped me a lot.  As I did my final readthroughs, I kept a list of suspicious things or choices I want to review.  This let me do some amazing fine editing easy because then I could globally search.

SEARCH AND REPLACE IS YOUR FRIEND IF YOU DO IT STEP BY STEP: Global search and replace can mess up your document (as we all know).  However going slow, reviewing EACH possible replacement (or doing it by hand for each found) let’s you avoid problems.  Also it acts as a second review!

YOU CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH: At some point you can’t edit forever.  So don’t.  Learn your limits.  In fact . . .

GO EBOOK FIRST: This is a trick I evolved from a friend.  Do an ebook first, and distribute it.  It gives you immediate feedback, then you can update the ebook quickly.  Go print a bit later (like I’m doing it 4-6 weeks later).

KEEP A “LIVE” DOCUMENT: A big advantage of going ebook first is feedback.  So I keep a “Live” document I’m always editing as a core, representative document.  That will become the print book – but if I find errors I modify all 3 documents (ebook, Print, Live) for later.

So lots of lessons to share.  I’m certain I’ll have more to share – I think I need to make a kind of writing checklist sometime!

Steven Savage