Book Update

It\’s been an action-packed few weeks: Winter is coming. We got the visa. We\’re packing for a winter in Thailand. Steve has been painting the house. The book is coming along.

Thank you so much to my Beta Readers – Joanna, Mauri, Joyce, Sharon, and especially Steve. They read it and pointed out inconsistencies, – like what happened to the hot bath my hero turned on and never got to, or the fresh snow when it hadn\’t snowed for weeks, or the horses in the yards downtown. They corrected my grammar and made brilliant suggestions on how to improve it. Thank you!

It now has a name: OVERDOSE. An ER psychological thriller.

As I\’m still chugging along through the fifth draft, the Writer\’s Digest editor has started on the first 50 pages. At the same time, I\’m studying Indie publishing, audiobook production, and book marketing while Steve is learning formatting for Kindle.

The cover? That\’s another story!

As a DIY aficionado, I forced Steve into one of my white coats, I handed him a scalpel and a milk-filled syringe – milk really looks just like Propofol but it\’s got to taste better. I got him really angry and I started taking pictures of his threatening figure in front of the bathroom curtain. It was an absolute riot, but not an artistic success.

To enhance the drama I splattered some ketchup in the shower. FYI, ketchup does not look like blood: it\’s too light and too viscous. In a supreme sacrificial move, I mixed in some red wine. That improved the viscosity but it made it look like the deceased had suffered from severe methemoglobinemia.

I ditched the ketchup and the scalpel and I tried a few interesting maneuvers with the stethoscope as a nunchuck, in keeping with the plot of the book. The good news: I didn\’t kill anyone. The bad news: it didn\’t work.

I gave up and I hired a cover designer.

I researched metadata on Google and Amazon. For those who don\’t know – and care – metadata is everything having to do with the book which isn\’t the book – title, keywords, length, ISBN. It turns out that \”Crime Fiction\” is more popular than \”Medical Mystery\” and that \”Overdose\” is more popular than \”Addiction\” who nobody seems to care for. The absolutely most popular? ER. Go figure.

I started looking for narrators on Audible. Audio is the fastest growing market, so I decided to start with a Kindle and an audible version in time for Christmas season. Many authors narrate their own book. I\’d love to do it, but since my hero doesn\’t have a Transylvanian accent and I can\’t seem to ditch mine, I\’ll have to hire somebody less vampirish.

Since I became inhabited by these characters  – those that I haven\’t yet killed – and they have their own agenda and a story to tell, I started working on the second book in the series. It\’s a lot of work, but also lots of fun.

Facebook no longer allows me to link my blog to my profile, so I had to start an Author Page, Rada Jones MD. If you \”like\” it, that will keep you updated on my blog. Even better, sign up for the blog – nobody will see your email but me – and it will come directly to your inbox, no Facebook required.

I worked a few shifts; somebody has to pay for all this, and it looks like it\’s me.

Thanks to my son Tim, who\’s become the sage of the family, we didn\’t get a dog. Not yet.

Hope you\’re still with us, and, as always, I\’m looking forward to hearing from you! Thank you all for you comments! See you