Now Available in Hardcover

I’ve checked and double-checked and I think my manuscript is ready to send off to the publisher.  I’m about three weeks ahead of my deadline, thanks to sheltering (sort of.)  All the images — 60 of them were sent off in Drop Box about a month ago.  As always, some adjustments had to be made — file size, etc. and I had to make one substitution which was, actually, an improvement.  So now, only the text material remains — all 39,312 words of it!

I still marvel at the helpful nature of computers.   The word count, for instance, (about which the publishers are rather picky) is done for me — automatically and without even depressing a key.  I remember the old days when we approximated — 250 words to a double-spaced, typewritten page.  Or, if it was crucial, hand counting word by word.  Another ‘plus’ is spellcheck.  It’s not perfect, of course, but it saves a lot of time during the early draft stages.

Sydney Works Against Deadline, 1970

So… one more double-check and I think it’s good to go.  Woot!  Woot!  But, there will be no breath-holding until publication on this one.  I had sent my proposal last January, thinking there was plenty of time for this 2nd ghost story book to come out by Halloween of October 2020.  That’s how it worked with the first ghost book but… not this one!  This “sequel” will not come out until Spring 2021.  Peculiar timing for ghost stories by my reckoning, so I hope fans of the first book are patient.

There is no name for the book yet.  I wanted it to be “More Ghost Stories from the Long Beach Peninsula” as in KISS (keep it simple…).  But the publisher wants ‘eerie’ or ‘hanted’ or ‘weird’ or something similar in the title.  They say we will compromise.  Hmmm.  I guess more stories by any other name are still more.  Stay tuned!