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Had the external stitches out from my surgery (skin cancer) today. Was VERY painful as the stitches at the corner of my mouth were very tight. Still healing. As a distraction from the pain, I started my book cover design. Should only take me a few days to complete it, using my own art. Then I need to do the ebook conversion. Then, I will be ready to publish (hopefully within a week).  Final? book cover (low resolution version)
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It's been two years of hard work but I'm nearly ready to publish my memoir. Proof-reading was a bit tricky with blurred vision from side-effects of medications after surgery. I've been plodding along with the finalising stages, including proof-reading a printed manuscript, then updating them in my digital manuscript. I keep wanting to tweak this and that but it gets to a point where it's 'done.' Tonight, I exported to a pdf for the print version of the book.  Template from KDP for my book cover Will try to keep this short, as I have wet hair that needs drying, late at night. I've had to sleep a lot the past few weeks, as I've had the flu then recovered from that, then had surgery. Still recovering from that. I'm still on track though to self-publish my memoir by mid-September, even though I had a break from it.  'Cosmos' - improvised dots over template Doing a mockup from ideas in my head for the back cover my memoir, Bipolar Courage: Are You Sure You're Not Autistic? The colours blend well. Of course, I will fluff around to optimise the images when I do the final files. These were the two paintings most inspired by 'Maxwell' (the 'anti-hero' in my story). They're mentioned in the story. They're cut up now but I can always ressurect them. (Tip: take pics of your paintings).  Just Like Fire (Devine Fire Goddess + Synchronicity) Started a mockup of a book cover design for my book. It's a mockup to try out some ideas in my head before I fluff around trying to get things just right.  Book cover mockup What a nightmare but the final formatting for my memoir for the print book is done. Doing the headers and footers sounds straight forward but it's not intuitive on the program. Different headers for left and right. Headers and page numbers to start after front matter, with page 1 that is not literally the first printed page. With every book I have self-published, this stage of formatting been the most confusing and frustrating part to get right. Of course, you can pay for someone big bucks to do this but there is a certain satisfaction in doing challenging things yourself. I have done this process a total of 4 times now (forget each time how). 
The final stages of a book are pretty exhausting. I had a two hour sleep crash yesterday afternoon, and again, this afternoon. I finally wrote the introduction for my memoir (I do this at the end, from some notes I'd jotted down along the way). I self-publish as an indie author. There are no hard and fast rules about introductions. Generally, I've seen it recommended, to write an introduction in the third person. I've included one, to help the reader know a little of what to expect, without giving the story away. Plus it's a bit unusual in that I haven't stated what people look like, what their jobs are, their location etc. You know, the usual stuff that people spend a lot of time fluffing out a story with. I've included my introduction, below. Expect to publish the memoir, Bipolar Courage: Are You Sure You're Not Autistic? initially to Amazon, within 4 weeks.  Outer Space High, by Xanthe Wyse Disclaimer: I'm not a legal professional. This is not legal advice. I'm up to the final technical aspects before I self-publish my memoir, about some behind-the-scenes drama in the online world. The focus is an intense connection with an autistic man, during the advocacy journey. I've been looking up about including a disclaimer, which is a statement about the limitations and alterations in the writing. It generally goes after the copyright information, on the copyright page, so all the legal stuff is in one place.  I did it! Yay! Nearly two years of effort and I have written my third book. Although it's not quite ready yet, to release to the world. Just some final polishing, still underway. It's a huge milestone, at the stage where authors would send to their copyeditor. Only, as an indie author, I am the copyeditor, proof-reader etc (a friend is helping out with the proof-reading). I've already been doing some copy-editing (improving readability etc, yet I want to retain my 'voice'). I'm quietly excited. No big parties, just a quick blog post from my room, which I will follow up with a gluten-free donut and ice-cream (spotted the donuts yesterday and couldn't resist).  I painted this dragonfly a few years ago Shedding some tears, listening to Missing You (John Waite) on a loop, as I am nearing completion of my manuscript for Bipolar Courage: are you sure you're not autistic? It's an unconventional love story. 'Zander' is my son. 'Maxwell' is a man I had an intense connection with. (Not their real names). Both diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome (since merged into Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I've been separated from Zander since he looked like the portrait. I tend to paint my stories before I write them. I've included a few extracts from my manuscript, below.  Betta Swim & Sunset Boy |
Xanthe Wyse('Zan-thee Wise'). 
Disclaimer: the author of this blog is not an expert by profession and her opinions should not be taken as expert advice.
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