My editor returned the text of Through my Eyes. Again. in under 10 days – much faster than I had expected – and I am now working on a myriad of suggestions. The first result of this is that Chapter 6 of the sequel Through Different Eyes has languished and still exists in outline only – my apologies. As we are also fast approaching the end of a truly chaotic, Covid-19 impacted Academic year here in Australia, my free writing time will be further reduced. I am however de...
2020-10-17 23:03:10 +0000 UTC
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I have been pondering hiring a professional editor to work with me on Through my Eyes. Again.. I received useful feedback from readers and a few kindly souls agreed to read and provide more detailed feedback. After much thought, about 10 days ago I finally selected an editor. Since then, she has been firing chapters back to me and I have been racing to work through them.
Many of the edits are simple and require almost no thought on my part: for example, the way I had formatted ...
2020-10-10 06:34:51 +0000 UTC
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After much pondering and some discussion with a few other authors (who kindly suggested it didn't need editing) I have decided to get professional editing assistance for Through my Eyes. Again.
I am, in a small way, proud of TMEA. First of all because I actually finished it after many decades of starting a novel only to grind to a halt (my first attempt was age 10). But most of my good feelings about TMEA are as a result of the feedback I received from reader...
2020-10-02 04:58:38 +0000 UTC
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The first draft of TDE Chapter 5 is attached below. Your comments and feedback are most welcome - preferably on the #tde-drafts channel of my Discord server You will find the link to the Sync server where the latest versions of all the draft chapters are located in the #tde-drafts-announcements channel.
In order to access the Sync server you need to link from your Patreon account to my discord server. If you can't then see the #tde-drafts channels on my Discor...
2020-09-28 22:58:19 +0000 UTC
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A new cover is coming along with a new edition of "Through my Eyes. Again." The new edition corrects a number of errors in the text and reformats it to make reading easier. Three file types will be available (epub, mobi, and pdf).
I expect to post these in the next few days, downloadable by patrons - so watch this space
The cover was created by Chris Pink and contains a fair bit of symbolism. The underlying design was inspired by an old East German (DDR) propaganda poster and in ...
2020-09-25 04:40:11 +0000 UTC
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Hi there
As a new author, I'm very interested in understanding what my readers thought about my book so I can work on improving my writing. To help with this I've put together a short (about 4 minute) survey that I would very much like you to complete. If the survey sparks you to want to make a more detailed response, please message me directly.
Thanks
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6N99ZRB
2020-09-19 10:57:36 +0000 UTC
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Most readers will, at some time, have been rendered to tears when a character that has involved them deeply is killed off by the author. My first experience of this was at age 12 in the final chapter of the Lord of the Rings, when Bilbo departs for the Grey Havens. Since then there have been many occasions where I have stopped reading as the page blurs beyond my tears. Most recently this occurred in the last book of Ryan Sylander's Hook. Pick and Lens tril...
2020-09-13 01:55:32 +0000 UTC
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As promised, here is the first draft of Chapter 4. As always, I would really appreciate your feedback. My discord is the best place for that and I recently sent you all an invitation link in case you couldn't find it here.
Take care of you and yours in these strange times.
Iskander
2020-09-11 12:39:14 +0000 UTC
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Good news - chapter 4 (at nearly 10,000 words) is now written. I need to read through again and do some edits but I will be posting the resulting draft this coming weekend.
I've been asked several times now if TDE has an outline, as TMEA grew 'organically' towards an end that moved around a bit as the book progressed.
TDE is a bit different. It's Col's story from when she disappeared from Will's and Lili's lives early in the summer term of 1964 and it necessarily has to link up wi...
2020-09-08 23:15:49 +0000 UTC
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I thought I'd let you know how the draft of Chapter 4 was coming along - it's nealy 8,000 words and I think that I will be able to finish and post it this weekend - marking of exams and assignments permitting. There's a fair bit of scene setting to be done as Kal and Mutti Frida settle into their new histories and lives in Australia - but then ASIO (the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation - Australia's verion of MI6) pokes its nose in and things get interesting...
Thank ...
2020-09-08 03:12:57 +0000 UTC
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Patreon hosts some interesting people - and they get involved in Patreon's Show-up. These are usually on Fridays at 10am Pacific Time and the link for those is here. Unfortunately, timings are not great for Australia though!
Hi there patrons
It's a bit later than I had hoped, but here's the first draft of TDE Chapter 3. As always, I am very interested in your comments, so please be frank about things. My Discord server is the best place to have that conversation.
Iskander
2020-08-07 00:52:00 +0000 UTC
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Hi there, Patrons
I had hoped to post the draft of Chapter 3 this weekend - but life, as always, gets in the way. If I have time to finish and proof it, I'll post it during the week. However, my spare time is seriously constrained by several things, ranging from an Instructor panel meeting at my gliding club to a plasma donation (which takes so much longer than a blood donation) and boning up on the standard particle model (particularly the Feynman diagrams) for my 12 Physics students. ...
2020-08-02 04:14:16 +0000 UTC
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Hi there
Please find below a redrafted sequel chapter1 and the first version of chapter 2. As always, I'm very interested in your comments and critiques.
I expect the writing rate to decrease somewhat as I am back to work on Monday, but I hope to put out a draft chapter at least once a month for a while as I have outlines up to chapter 5...until the characters whack me round the earhole and tell me differently!
Stay safe in this uncertain world.
Iskander
2020-07-11 02:33:22 +0000 UTC
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As promised, I'm working on a sequel to "Through my Eyes. Again." - it's working title is "Through Different Eyes" - and here is the first draft of Chapter 1.
Your comments/critique would be greatly appreciated.
2020-06-30 04:49:43 +0000 UTC
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Hi there
I have managed to get Scrivener to produce reasonable (certainly not perfect) ebook (epub, mobi) and pdf versions of TMEA - and they are available below for patrons.
Thank you for your support - and please let me know if you find errors in these!
Iskander
2020-06-23 08:24:17 +0000 UTC
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Hi folks
As I have indicated, I have completely rewritten the final chapter. It is now two chapters (19 & 20) and beta versions of these are attached below.
I would greatly appreciate your feedback on these - preferably on my Discord server - please use the tmea-spoilers.
Enjoy (I hope).
2020-06-14 07:35:18 +0000 UTC
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I have received quite a few interesting and insightful comments about Through my Eyes. Again. since posting the final chapter. As I have already revealed, this is my first 'public' attempt at a novel (and the first novel I have ever finished) and there are very clearly some rough edges and dangling threads that require rectification. I have also had several lengthy discussions with a couple of authors whose opinion I greatly value. The upshot of this is that I am embarking on a large...
2020-05-31 03:24:33 +0000 UTC
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Yesterday I posted the final chapter of Through my Eyes. Again. to my Patreon. I am now busy on a final (I hope) pass through all nineteen chapters, checking spelling, grammar, imposing uniform formatting on book titles and foreign languages words and sentences (and deciding which ones require translations and which ones do not)…in other words the vital but boring ‘paperwork’ part of writing. Somewhat inevitably, re-reading what I have written for the umpteen...
2020-05-17 04:43:30 +0000 UTC
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Here's the final chapter of TMEA.
I'm now working a final pass on all 19 chapters and from them I will post ebook versions shortly - when the cover art work is complete and I've sorted out how to get Scrivener to create the ebooks in the format I want.
Thank you for coming with me on this journey!
2020-05-16 04:02:41 +0000 UTC
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A reader has suggested to me that there was something not quite right with Will’s character – and this, as you might imagine, is a difficult thing for an author to hear about any character, let alone the protagonist of a story. But it is important to recognise that, from their perspective, they are right: that is the way this reader understands Will. Fortunately, in conversation last year with an author I respect deeply, I was reminded that every reader brings themselve...
2020-05-12 06:43:59 +0000 UTC
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Hi
Here is the penultimate chapter of TMEA. I am currently spendingmy spare time working out with Scrivener in order to provide clean electronic book versions of TMEA. This will happen some time after the release of the final chapter next week - depending on how quickly I master this aspect of Scrivener.
In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying TMEA. If you are, please let me know via a comment here, on my Discord channel or at Stories on Line (and don't forget to vote, p...
2020-05-08 23:18:10 +0000 UTC
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This week has been strange in a number of ways. Through my Eyes. Again. is assuredly not my first attempt at writing a novel (that was at age ten), but it is the first time I have finished one, which is quite special, whatever the merits or otherwise of the object itself.
Now, you might be thinking that finishing is a function of having vast expanses of time as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, but that is not the case: in real life, I am in my eleventh year...
2020-05-04 00:46:56 +0000 UTC
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Here is chapter 17 of TMEA. The latest news is that the writing is now complete - at 19 Chapters.
I am currently doing a final sweep through the entire book, editing and tweaking and will upload a complete copy of the book as an epub and pdf a week after posting chapter 19 to SOL.
This writing experience (I hope the first of several) has been interesting. Whilst TMEA may not be great literature, it is definitely not rubbish - but where it sits on that continuum is very much up to ...
2020-05-02 04:47:30 +0000 UTC
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Here in Australia, there is a feeling that we are, perhaps, past the worst of the pandemic. The number of new cases has been falling for days and the deaths are now in single digits each day. As we look around the world, it is clear that, compared to many similar countries, we have passed relatively unscathed (fewer than 7,000 cases and about 80 deaths, so far) through this first infection wave, in part through the luck of being an island nation. But the experts are reminding us that there co...
2020-04-25 22:33:24 +0000 UTC
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Here's chapter 16 of TMEA - enjoy!
Feedback is greatly appreciated - either below or on the discord channels.
2020-04-24 23:04:12 +0000 UTC
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Here's chapter 15, with chapter 14 now on SOL.
2020-04-17 23:02:23 +0000 UTC
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Spike Milligan, when asked why he wrote, claimed that God’s finger pressed on him and he had to write. As a fully paid up atheist, I am pretty sure there is no God, so I do not have that excuse.
Robert Heinlein famously said:
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.
And that, in part, is certainly great advice in today’s virus-infected world. Humour aside, I think Heinlein was suggesting that mos...
2020-04-12 00:47:51 +0000 UTC
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Hi Folks
I hope that you and yours are staying well. Here is Chapter 14 of TMEA, which I hope provides a morsel of escape for you.
2020-04-10 21:55:29 +0000 UTC
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Well - last week I made a complete mess of my posting and managed to post Chapter 11 - again - instead of chapter 12. I was very much distracted last weekend as I needed to persuade my work that I had to work from home to protect my spouse, who suffers from asthma, from Covid-19. Fortunately, I was successful in that endeavour and I now feel much happier about our circumstances as we hunker down to see out this pandemic.
So, here are both Chapter 12 and 13.
Please let me kno...
2020-04-04 03:08:47 +0000 UTC
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