When I was a network engineer, I leveraged a common if perhaps inelegant method to troubleshoot a misbehaving, large computer network I referred to as”divide and conquer.” When the network is so contested that it cannot be managed “in-band,” the offending computer must be physically located.

The basic premise of “divide and conquer” was to pick a spot in the “middle” of the network – usually some core device, a switch or a router (which is what we used to call Layer Three switches back in the day), and examine the device. A badly misbehaving network manifested itself in all lights blinking fiercely or, in extreme cases, almost completely solid. The little green LEDs indicated traffic activity. Bad network events often created a saturation of traffic, thereby clogging the network pipe for those trying to do actual work.

The next step was to determine which half of the network contained the source of the activity. Often these core switches / routers had “backbone” connections connecting to two or a few other core switches / routers. In the simple example where the network has three core switches, unplugging one connection will result in one of two actions (usually): the lights will stop blinking ferociously, or they won’t. If they stop their manic dancing, the source of the problem is on that half of the network just unplugged; if not, it exists on the other segment. Repeat the process as best as possible at the downstream device, until the switch that feeds the misbehaving machine is identified.

As I cogitated on the approach to my next novel project, I wondered if  this divide and conquer – a method to traverse the beginning of a broad overview to the details of the subject at hand – could help bridge from concept to details. Sometimes the best way to answer such a question is to limit the thinking and initiate the doing – so I did just that.

I started with the basic premise of the book,  not much of a story, but having the elements of an interesting tale – a feel-good journey with a happy ending.  From that I developed three acts quite easily – the description of the problem, the path to resolution, and the new world. Here emerged two more characters: an external antagonist and a supporter. My first round of division, into thirds, had tripled the detail and taken little effort.

At this point I put the theory into practice. I divided each act into two parts, again adding detail to each of the acts but nothing detailed. With six sections, I repeated the process and then began again, with each iteration adding more detail. When I reach the end of the fourth division, I will have twenty-four chapter outlines, a healthy goal but not one that I will limit myself to. Each chapter outline contains two to four scenes.

I haven’t yet completed the fourth division, having finished only through the outline for chapter nine (and approximately 3500 words). Still, I have already found this method to be fruitful in drawing out the creative process. I’m not ready yet to call this method of creating a novel a success, of course – but thus far I see promise. Stay tuned for updates!

With the release of From the Loft, I have self-published four works. Each provided lessons that have helped improve the process, beginning with the writing and travelling the entire road to marketing. I still have much to learn, but I am in a position now to relay knowledge gained to aspiring indie publishers. After all, to learn and to share are two reasons why I entered the indie writing realm.

At a recent display / signing at the #FranklinArtScene in @DwtnFranklinTN, a man probably about ten years younger than I paused at the book display table, picked up a copy of one of my novels, scanned it, and proceeded to ask about the plot. Excited at a possible sale, I proudly recited the same story summary I have said many times before. My anticipation of financial gain muted as I realized from his change in facial contour that the genre, or perhaps just my representation of such, did not appeal to his taste. Yet he continued to ask more questions, not about the content but rather the creation of the work. With a bit of my ego restored, I relayed my journey from the beginning of the self-publishing process. After a few more minutes of pleasant conversation, he thanked me and wished me luck.

The book remained, my financial stature did not change, yet I, and I hope he, gained from the conversation. Perhaps he was one like many of us who has the dream of writing a novel, who has a burning story within that he wants to express, and that I might have ignited a spark in him to drive forward. I remember when that happened to me. Several years earlier a colleague casually remarked at a social event that the company he worked for, Ingram, was about to launch a major upgrade to their indie author publishing service, Ingram Spark. I too had the dream of becoming a published novelist, having penned an 80,000 work of beauty (to me). However, the traditional path of query letters to publishers and agents had produced little response. I saw Ingram Spark as a possible venue for realizing my dream.

Self-publishing is not easy, particularly when one performs all of the actions. Just creating an eBook file, for example, can cause frustration (see my earlier post PlayOrder does not equal 1-Huh?). Roadblocks are (hopefully) eventually conquered, and with each another tidbit is learned. When I advise other aspiring indie authors, I stress that often the writing is the easiest component of book creation. I think that often such revelation is disappointing, until I point out that there are services that will do all of the post-writing work (editing, cover design, ISBN procurement, and so on). The disappointed look returns when I mention the estimated costs of such services.

Nothing in life is free, and if it is cheap, usually the product will also not meet quality expectations – you really do get what you pay for. I never discourage anyone from paying for services for economics, but for me I maintain complete control over the entire process because I strive to put forth finished products that are 100% my creation. I believe that some other indie writers feel the same, but do not know where to begin. Such is the primary reason I blog about my lessons learned and offer individualized indie publishing consulting services.

As with writing, my motivation is not monetary. I want to pass on the limited but growing knowledge I’ve gained, to pay it forward in a way. I gain great satisfaction in the hopes that perhaps I can help another achieve their dream of publishing a book. Perhaps someday in the near future the man who asked me a few questions at the art scene will join me again, but on the other side of the table, proudly displaying his creation.

Hey there, where ya goin’?

Not exactly knowin’

Who says you have to call just one place home?

He’s goin’ everywhere

B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear

Thus began the catchy jingle to a late 1970’s television show B. J. and the Bear. Born from the popularity of movies like Smokey and the Bandit, the show followed the lighthearted adventures of a truck driver and his chimpanzee companion. The freeness of an open life on the road spoke to many – apparently not enough, though, as the show only lasted a couple of seasons.

I’m in the contemplation stage of a new novel project. I’m just beginning to hash out the general plot and the main characters. For one of the major players, I’m toying with the idea of placing him or her (have not yet settled on the gender) as a truck driver. That freedom of driving anywhere and everywhere echoes the nature of the character I am trying to develop.

Whenever I create a character, a scene, or a plot element, I strive for realism. While B. J. McKay was entertaining, I assumed the depiction did not emulate the the true life of a truck driver. Still, my knowledge of the trade is quite limited, constrained by my own passenger vehicle driving experiences and sensationalized versions of drivers as represented in pop culture. While I respect the application of the laws of physics on these monstrous rigs and yield appropriately, the life of a truck driver is foreign to me.

One of the cool aspects of creating worlds through the written world is the opening of doors to learning about life outside of our limited individual experiences. Today I have spent perhaps an aggregate of an hour during lunch and after work researching the truck drivers’ world and am already astonished. The sacrifices one makes for such an important – no, a critical component of our economic and life existence cannot be overstated. These men and women basically forgo a regular home life so we can have everything at our fingertips – eggs, iPhones, aspirin, basketballs, furniture, cars, hot water heaters, lumber, newspaper, computers – our life.

Yet almost daily, I see some of my pedestrian drivers visibly upset at truck drivers. Many of them also appear not to understand the basic laws of physics as well. Don’t cut a rig off and slam on the brakes!

Truck drivers’ pay has apparently stagnated over the past two decades, while the economy has, over the same period, flourished (Great Recession included). Yet many take to the roads sometimes seven days a week to drive ten hours to make a living – and make our living. I can’t help but think it takes a special kind of devotion to choose such a life.

But this blog is about writing, not to extol the life of a big rig truck driver. Heck, at this point I’m not even sure if I have the profession’s descriptor correct, and if I don’t, I apologize – I remember vividly when I learned not to call a pipefitter a plumber. To bring a realistic life to the character I am contemplating, one must research. When writing – be it an indie novelist with light book sales or a highly followed author who can command six or seven figures per work – getting all story elements correct is necessary. One-dimensional characters do not advance a plot; they smother it.

So where are ya goin’ with your work? For me, I’m not sure yet. I don’t know at this early stage of the novel development if the character will end up as a big rig driver or something else. Still, I will never look at the pilot of one of those awesome transports the same again. Such is a benefit of writing – the opportunities to learn about the world we all coexist in – but only if we allow ourselves the privilege.

Photo – Screen capture of the opening to B.J. and the Bear S1E3

When you’re an #indiewriter, you do everything yourself, or you pay others to take care of some of the seemingly never ending elements of the self-publishing process. Part of the reason why I entered the independent author world is to learn about all aspects of publishing, so I of course opted to assign all of the chores to myself. You learn from mistakes – well, let’s say I have learned much, including today, when I entered the home stretch of releasing From the Loft.

Today, after some changes precipitated by rushing to publication as I explained in a previous posting, I loaded all updated files to Ingram Spark, confident they would all pass the file validation process, except for one. I knew I’d have issues with the EPUB file – I always do. And I always forget what the issue solution is.

To create the EPUB files, I use a program called Calibre. It’s an amazing freeware product that is intuitive to use, so much as a freeware product can be. If you’re a self-publisher looking for a great e-book management tool, I highly recommend looking at this product. When I launched my first publication over three years ago, Summer’s Drowning, I did so to learn the basics as I prepped for the release of my first novel, Forgiveness, a year later. I’ll detail some of the mistakes and frustrations of that learning process in a future post (creating the correct PDF format was an extreme challenge that had a wonderful, cost-free solution), but creating the EPUB file was not a major hurdle, except for some minor table of content issues.

Previously, I had subverted that by simply removing the table of contents in the Calibre editor. However, this time around I wanted to understand the errors Ingram Spark said I had made (a minor ego hit, yes, but I’m in it to learn, right?), so I closely examined one of the messages that said the play order did not equal 1.

What the heck did that mean?

Google – what a wonderful tool. Apparently, Calibe attempts to build a table of contents based on metadata in the Word document (I format all of my works in Word – again, a topic for a future blog post). However, if a table of contents is not existent in Word, Calibre makes some odd programming assumptions – that which Ingram Spark throws a red challenge flag at.

Here, Calibre’s table of contents editor is your friend. No, not the CLI emulator as shown in the picture above, but its GUI representation. Yes, I know I’ll get flack from old (and I do mean old) network engineering colleagues who think using a CLI to configure network equipment is akin to blasphemy – and I would agree – but xml coding is not, nor will it ever be, my specialty.

I navigated the editor, created a basic table of contents, saved the file, and submitted to Ingram Spark. Success! Another tidbit learned, satisfying a primary objective – learning.

Now I just hope I remember how to do this when I attempt to create the EPUB for the next project.

I use an editing service for most of my writing projects, but often after the “final” edits are completed, I “tweak” the results, often more than once. Well, perhaps ten or twenty times. At some point you just have to “let go” and give the work you have labored on to the public, and realize as soon as you release it you will find fifteen things you would like to change – all in chapter one.

The danger here though is in introducing new errors to the manuscript. As an indie writer who reads my manuscripts likely hundreds of times during the entire creative process, simple spelling errors are prone to overlooking. I try to reduce that possibility by first reviewing the “final” manuscript in Microsoft Word, then the formatted PDF (on my PC and Kindle and a copy printed at home), then the MOBI file on my Kindle. All of these steps to ensure that when I send to Ingram Spark, it is an error-free product.

Ingram Spark recently had a promo for indie writers – for the period of a month, Ingram waived all setup fees. I’m all about saving $49, so I rushed through my final proofing and submitted on the last day all error-free files – the pdf of the full cover and manuscript (for printing) and the properly formatted EPUB file (for eBook readers). I was quite pleased with myself for meeting this self-imposed deadline.

Still, there is one more check I like to perform before the book goes on sale – ordering one printed copy for myself. Actually, this time I ordered two – I was so confident the resultant product would be perfect that the second copy was for a gift for my mother. She provided material I thought I had lost for the project, From the Loft, a compilation of articles I had written for a magazine years earlier. She would get the second printed copy for Christmas.

I excitedly opened the package, confident of the contents. Immediately I noticed an error, if only a sight one – both front and back covers were slightly off-center. Sizing these for printing is somewhat of an art. Still, the error was not obvious, and I figured most would not see an issue.

Then I opened the book to the last page of the preface. I had changed the last line at the last hour before submission to be “Read, chuckle, enjoy!” But somehow between my typing, proofing and submitting, the “u” in “chuckle became an “i.”

“Read, chickle, enjoy?” Nope. That was in your face (even if few read the preface in books anyway).

Of course, that one error led to a review of the whole book, to which I discovered a few more minor errors and another major one – “Chapter Twenty-Sox.” The review also led to about two dozen minor changes – see the end of paragraph one above. An artist is never satisfied with their work.

The lesson learned? If you rush, be prepared to pay. In the next few days, after I finish my final, final, final reviews of Word, PDF, and Kindle files, I will submit the updated files to Ingram Spark and pay the $49 I had tried to avoid. But the end product is better, and I come away with another tidbit of experience to pass on. And that is why I entered the indie writer world over three years ago – to learn, experience, and share.

And my mother will still get the “collector’s edition” – errors and all.

Welcome!

I am an indie author with four published works – two novels, a collection of poems, and an anthology of humor articles. I began my indie journey a few years ago after a random discussion with a colleague of mine about a new indie resource his company had just launched (Ingram Spark). With 4+ years experience in all aspects of book creation, I hope my musings will provide my peers and others interested in the indie space information, comfort, and encouragement.

My works may be found on my indie author website, www.rhm.884.myftpupload.com.