For the last few months Charlie No Face has been going through line and word editing, not to be confused with editing for content. In other words, the novel has been done for many months but is now going through publishing cosmetics - - - checking for misspellings, grammatical errors, punctuation problems. This has included long discussions about such things as how many ellipses to use under certain circumstances (… or ….) and whether to hyphenate Great Aunt (and, yes, it is hyphenated). This laborious but necessary task involves word - by - word review of the text by me and my editor; collating our “markups,” sending them to the Editor - in - Chief/Publisher, who then inserts all the changes and returns them to us; my editor and I then confirm the changes and start the process all over again. The first time around we submitted several hundred changes, though only a few misspellings and other glaring errors. The format looked like this:

PAGE 17, PARA 1, LINE 4 – Change "said, when I showed surprise" to "said when I showed surprise"
PAGE 17, PARA 2, LINE 1 – Change "that's great, dad, is someone" to "that's great, Dad, is someone"
PAGE 17, PARA 3, LINE 2 – Change "I'm taking a much deserved break" to "I'm taking a much - deserved break"
PAGE 17, PARA 4, LINE 2 – Change "selling new gas powered lawn mowers. He" to "selling new gas - powered lawnmowers. He"
PAGE 17, PARA 4, LINE 6 – Change "usually full of lawn mowers. He" to "usually full of lawnmowers. He"

Yes, very mind - numbing. We did this three times before we were satisfied that the text was clean enough. That process was completed last week. Now the publisher will send the print - ready text to an outside proofreader. It will take two weeks to pre - register the work (not sure what that means), complete digital setup, print a proof copy and get it into the hands of a reader, who then has two weeks to complete a review. If too many errors are found, it goes back to the process described above. If it is in good shape, it will go to release and marketing. So, there is no release date yet, but the end is nearing.
Some good news. My publisher, Savant Books and Publications, has signed a contract with Ingram, one of the largest book distributors in the world. This not only adds greater legitimacy to Savant books but it increases the likelihood that Savant books will be shelved in brick and mortar stores such as B&N and Border’s. Large booksellers rarely shelve print - on - demand (POD) books because they can’t return what isn’t sold. If books are distributed through Ingram, there is a return policy, which makes booksellers more willing to stock books even if all of them aren’t sold.
When Charlie No Face comes out, it will be available on amazon.com; it will come out in a Kindle version, as well; and it will now be more easily sold in chain book stores. Marketing plans are in the works.
As for Chimney Bluffs I am at 47,000 words (164 pages). This is the most difficult book I’ve written. Usually when I sit down to write, I can write 1,200 - 1,500 words in a couple of hours. Not so with Chimney Bluffs. The theme is very strenuous, for lack of a better word. I often spend as much time sitting silently in front of the computer as I do writing. I am enjoying it, though, because it forces me to think through difficult issues in the process of turning them into (what I hope will be) a viable story.