Everything old is new again

What can I say? I'm a nerd. 

I've been lazy with the last several books and let a program format my books for me. When I first started out, I did all of that myself because those options weren't available. Welp, I've decided I don't want to use the program I'd been using because I don't want to distribute the paperback via the channel that did the formatting. So where does that leave me while prepping the new release for sale? Back to square one.

Books have to look a certain way. There's room for dressing things up a tad, and to make that easier, I've developed templates and macros. However, because it has been so long since I've HAD to do it, I'd forgotten a lot of what I used to know. I've changed computers a time or two along the way, losing my hard work with the new systems. 

I spent a full day last week recreating those templates and macros and putting them all in one place. The nerd in me is excited to be doing something else creative aside from writing the books. The author in me is frustrated that I have to remember how to do all the formatting all over again. Which is why I wrote macros. And templates. Again. And I have to remember all over again where and how everything is stored. Those fun little graphics at the start of each chapter? I save those into building blocks. Building blocks are part of the “normal” template. The macros have to know which building blocks to pull. Then there's the matter of "drop caps" or "starting caps." Most books begin each chapter with the first letter of the sentence in "drop caps" (large and as a block at the edge of the paragraph) or the first three words all in capitals. If you have 40 chapters, that's a lot of manual labor when a macro can do it for you in a flash.

The end result was a merging of nerd with author, creating both the tools I need to use and applying them to the book that will go on sale April 16. In the meantime, I'm waiting for final comments from my editor so I can put the finishing touches on THE JANE DOE GHOST. Can't wait? If you order it ahead of time you can dive right in the minute it's available on release day. 

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Now that Elspeth “Elle” Barclay’s mother has retired from “clearing” haunted houses, Elle and her boyfriend step in to evaluate disturbances reported by a local client. They debunk the haunting, but find spiritual energy outside the house. The victim of a hit and run accident, a Jane Doe ghost asks Elle to tell “someone something,” but Elle has no idea who or what. In spite of that, the ghost’s pleas become increasingly compelling.

In an effort to identify their Jane Doe, Elle and her boyfriend take a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine, in search of the dead woman’s family. The family, however, isn’t interested in talking to Elle.

Even after Elle has passed along the information to Jane Doe’s family, Jane Doe continues to haunt her. What more does she want? Elle has never encountered a spirit who can manifest her energy physically before. After a man connected to Jane Doe is found dead, is Elle’s life in danger, too?