A wee breather...and 10 steps

Hello December! 

Yes, I realise I'm posting this on the 3rd December and during my late evening, at that.

This morning was the frostiest we've had for a while, the air crisp and cold. I do think winter is now here in my part of Scotland.

December has started at a spanking pace. I'm completely delighted to say that my manuscript for 'The Taexali Game'- Book 1 of a potential series named something like ' The Rubidium Time-Slip Novels' - has gone off to my editor.

I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't find too many anythings - like typos, spelling errors (absolute horror on that one), grammatical blips etc.I am hoping he'll spot any inconsistencies- though I pretty confident there are no major ones since I poured over the ms before I sent it off, and shed blood and tears.

So what's on my 'To Do' list now?

• Next stage after the editing will be to organise a cover since I'm going to have a go - I think - at self-publishing this one.
• In the meantime I've got a short story on a Christmas theme to write for next week.
• I've done some of the Christmas gifts shopping today so onwards with that, too. 
•  I have a huge mess of computer files which could do with a great tidy up.
• And of course, there are many domestic tidy-up jobs as well which were abandoned in November while I concentrated on my 'The Taexali Game' manuscript.  
• I've got a lot of reviews to write for novels read recently. 
• Learn how to format my novel.
• Learn how to do pre-advance publicity ( Everyone wants to know the best way to do that one) 
• Keep up with my present publicity and catch up with all the neglected social media sites
• Come to think of it, I'm thinking a weed-out of some social media groups that I don't use regularly should be consigned to the virtual dump. 

But first it's time to sleep on all of these...

Here's a bit I removed from 'The Taexali Game' manuscript:

Caracalla and Geta - L. Alma Tadema

“Severus must have trusted his son, Caracalla, to quell the natives.”

He laughed at that one. “I don’t think so! Severus had a hard time with his sons who were a bit wayward. After Severus died, down in York in AD 210, there was a lot of trouble with his sons who both tried to become emperor after him. They ruled jointly for a bit but, if I remember correctly…”

“You usually do,” Fianna interrupted.

He ignored her bored tone and continued, “One of the brothers duffed in the other.”

Slainthe!