Why so quiet?

I've been quiet for the last week or so for two exciting reasons - one, is that a store in Otago purchased a large order of my art and I was involved in assembling a number of art cards and greeting cards and two, I was doing the final touches on my second novel, "A Midsummer Knight's Quest" (which was actually written first).

"A Midsummer Knight's Quest" is now available for Kindle on Amazon, and shall soon be available in paperback format (once I receive and approve my proofs) and also on kobo and hopefully (*finger's crossed*) the Whitcoulls website.

And just so you know - translating books into ebooks is a complicated process!

To convert to mobi (for kindle):
I have to first transform the odf (OpenOffice) into html, before doing that I changed all the fonts into Times New Roman and removed all the illustrations except the title page, map and advertisement at the end (this is because interior images make a mess of the layout and although I kept them in for Aroha's Grand Adventure, this one has a lot more in it).

Then, I convert it using kindlegen, and skim through the generated mobi file, locating any errors (and there were many, I do not understand why - changing fonts, losing the bold of headings etc) and fixing them via jedit.

Once I feel I have fixed them all (and multiple times before) I save and regenerated the mobi file until finally, voila - it looks decent!

To transform into epub:
This can be done from the mobi file or the pdf. When I tried to use mobicreator with the pdf it messed up the formatting.

I use Calibre to create the file.
I then use Sigil to edit the epub - fixing the formatting errors and setting the sections appropriately (for some reason it divided my copyright page up line-by-line).

As I have made some changes, I need to redo the epub file, but it will be a while before it's uploaded. I also need to "order" another ISBN for it.

In praise of Kindle... and a few more Furries

Two saturdays ago, my husband decided to go out and do a little shopping. I said to him: "bring me back something nice." He asked, "what would you like?" and I cannot remember what I answered, but I was thinking - like a chocolate chai, or maybe a bit of cake or something. So, imagine my surprise when he walks in an hour or so later and says "here, I bought you a kindle." We had been discussing ebooks for a while, and I had specified an interest in receiving one for Christmas. So, I guess Christmas came early (and I now have to get an extra special present for him ^^).

Anyway, after downloading several self-published works and playing around with it for a bit, I decided to transfer my stories onto it. I haven't got them in mobi form - well, only one, the one that you can buy from Amazon, the others I translated into pdf and transferred across. And began reading them. I was a short way in when I realised there is something really nifty you can do with the kindle 3g - you can add footnotes. So, I began editting my story as I read it. This is an excellent use for a kindle - because I have difficulty reading my stories on the computer - too many distractions for a start, and I hate the idea of using so much paper to print it out. So, now I've highlighted all the errors (over 100 in all) and can go through and fix them up.

I have discovered one problem with my Kindle though. When walking and reading, I pay less attention to what is going on around me than when I read a normal book - I think because I don't have to worry about the pages flapping in the wind, or phyiscally turn the pages. And therefore I am more likely to get run over - or given that this is Christchurch, trip over on a broken piece of footpath and hurt myself.

Anyhow, to all of you writers, I highly recommend a Kindle - you can't edit directly on it - but you can mark the errors you find, and even "share" them (whether this emails to you or puts it on Facebook, I don't know - I haven't played with that yet).

This means that "Lemurs: A Saga"* will eventually be available on Ebook.

And now for some art:

Daniel Galbraith, Teknomage and musician. Abigail's father. Here in the Galbraith Clan colours.


Kataryna Lemusu, Abigail's mother. She died before Abigail was conceived. It's a long story (and one which is partly written and online, here although you don't get the good bits, cos I never got that far, sorry).


Aeturnis Christie, a female mage with a powerful singing voice.

Jacques Moufette, Scavenger and apparently swashbuckling. Although I cannot recall whether he actually swashed any buckles in the story. Still, he makes a handsome swordsman. If you like 'em furry and potentially smelly...

* title suggestions welcome, puns encouraged. I've so far contemplated "Lore of the Ringtails" and have been referring to it as "Epic Lemur Novel" but have decided that "Lemurs: A Saga" has a good ring to it. OR maybe a good ringtail to it. I'll shut up now.