Secret corridors aren't as easy as they sound!

Spent most of yesterday afternoon drawing up the floorplans to Summer House. Probably would have been nice to have these diagrams before I started, instead of 72K words in, but most of this stuff I didn't know I needed until I wrote it.

I will have to change the narrative a little to fit the floorplans. Secret corridors and rooms aren't as easy as they sound! I'm still not sure I've got the fine details right, but at least the general directions and dimensions are close.

Trying to finish "Shadows Over Summer House" by April, but I don't know if I'll make it. Lara is prepared to take on the editing that month, so I'm going to try.

Goosed my "major" publisher again, and again no response. It is time to give up, I guess. This was sort of my last hurrah.

What will happen to the ghostwritten book I sold them a couple of years ago, I have no idea. The subject matter has been very topical for the last few years, and I worry they're letting opportunity pass.

I'm tempted to give the money back...if that is even possible. I know that I'm not terribly interested in re-writing it for someone else. It was never about the money. The only reason I sold it was because I thought I'd have a better entry into the publisher, but instead they can't even be bothered to acknowledge my emails. I mean, even a, "Hi. We see hear you," would be nice.

So, right or wrong, I take away from my experience that my writing is good enough for the major publishers, but my name and social media presence isn't. 

I got Mike Corley to adapt one of the covers I'd already bought (for the book I ended up selling as a ghost book), and used it for "Deadfall Ridge." Thanks, Mike, for doing that. Looks perfect for the story, so at least I didn't throw that money away. But it also means I've given up that the publisher will ever get back to me. "Takeover" same thing,

I'd thought to send "Shadows Over Summer House," but not hearing anything, along with the fact that there is a bit of "Turn of the Screw" type supernatural to it which the publisher had made clear he wasn't interested in, means I probably shouldn't bother.

Disappointing but also indicative of how the "major" publishers treat most writers. This was the kind of stuff I put up with 30 years ago, too. It was only the opening up of Amazon and small publishers that brought me back to writing.

I like my current publishers. I can write to my heart's content, send the finished stories off to them, and actually get responses and results! Amazon, you magnificent bastard! (Says the writer part of me--my bookstore and reader part are still a little leery...)