Cruising Past Seventy: The Inner Journeys: March 2014

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Our Lifestyle Adventures: Taking a Break V

the palo verdes are blooming in the desert!!!
dinner at Lilybeth and Mark's lovely home
The palo verdes are blooming in the desert...yellow trees!!! So I now consider spring in the desert as beautiful as fall in the temperate places! So, after a week of work, it was a good time for visits with friends, two parties, and a memorable Phoenix concert.

The first visit was to the vacation home of Lilybeth Brazones, Ann Gatmaytan’s sister, and husband Mark. Lilybeth is my constant playmate in WWF. They came to visit us in February when we began playing other games like Rummikub, Squabble, and Cadoo. This time around we played Scattergories and talked about their recent trip to Iceland so we could get tips for our own visit there in June.

view from their New River home
St. Rose Philippine Duquesne Church
Before we proceeded to their home, Bill and I heard mass at the St. Rose Phillipine Duquesne Catholic Church. I thought it was a church dedicated to Filipino parishioners but, no, Philippine is the middle name of St. Rose Duquesne. It is a lovely church in Anthem, Arizona, about fifteen minutes from their New River home that is atop a hill with a beautiful view of the surrounding valleys. 

at Joe's Crab Shack, with Bev and Dan
Then Bev and Dan Johnson, a couple we met at a campground in Moses Lake in eastern Washington in 2010 and who were with us in Florida when Bill had a heart attack in December of 2011, were camped at Goodyear, Arizona about an hour from ours. We met halfway in Tempe at Joe’s Crab Shack. Wow! We not only feasted on Pacific Dungeness crabs (most like our Philippine alimasag), but we also excitedly caught up with each other’s happenings in the past two years. 
   
Unfortunately, the six month hiatus we are having in Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort is about to end. Some of our neighbors are leaving in a couple of days, others in the first week of April, while Bill and I will leave on April 15. So, as a tradition, our street block had a party! It was a potluck that ended with a great ice cream sundae buffet so I had seconds. As everyone reintroduced himself or herself, Bill said he was my driver and every other husband who followed him echoed the sentiment!

5500 Street Party 2014
at Cheesecke FActory with Tess
And, surprise of surprises, my sister Ellen's good friend and my BFF Jingjing's bff, Tess Nonato was in PHoenix for a conference with her company Allied Residences where she is a regional manager. We picked her up from her Embassy Suites Hotel and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory to reminisce her days with Ellen and Jingjing. 

Val's (standing) birthday 
And, before many were gone from Viewpoint, we also had the final birthday celebration of Val at their park model home at Viewpoint. Val is a director of the homeowners’ association. But, we had to leave early because, for the first time, Bill and I had to go to downtown Phoenix to go to a concert, one of the perks of being in a big city. We were not fast enough to book the Andrea Bocelli concert but we were able to buy early tickets (usually a lot cheaper than when you buy close to the concert date) of the Il Divo concert.

at Comerica Theater for Il Divo
the stairs at Comerica: a keyboard
I love this quartet and, when we were just dating, I gifted Bill with their most popular cd and Bill began to love them, too. The show was at the Comerica Theater, a state of the art show venue with 5,000 seats in downtown Phoenix. Of course, I dressed up for the occasion for it was going to be a romantic evening! But the biggest surprise of the evening was that Lea Salonga was blended in to the show, not just a front act.

Lea Salonga with Il Divo
Il Divo in concert at Phoenix
But, why not when the Il Divo Musical Affair was about the greatest songs from Broadway? After all, she had won a Tony for her performance in Miss Saigon. She has also starred in Les Miserables, Aladdin, and Mulan. Her special arrangement of On My Own and I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables was a definite highlight. But Carlos, Urs, Sebastien, and David wowed the full-packed theater with songs from Phantom, Man from La Mancha, Evita, West Side Story, Lion King, etc. all-time greats of musical theater.


Well, that’s my timeout from writing. Definitely, loads of fun!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Wonderings on Wanderings: Selecting a Publisher

design/title number 1
 design/title number 2
The first thing I was confronted with after finishing my manuscript and sending it over to my editor for Round 1 edit was whether I should go the Traditional or Self-publishing routes. Now that I have sent the revised draft for Round 2, I have decided. Here’s how I made the two decisions. (Included are three tentative cover designs/titles; please comment which you like best!)

design/title number 3
In traditional publishing, the author writes a query letter or a proposal to a publishing house (or has a literary agent do this for them). If the house decides to publish the book, it buys the rights from the writer and pays a small advance on future royalties. Then it puts up the money to design and package the book, print, market, and distribute the book to the public. If the house decides not, the author can turn to another house or literary agent. In self-publishing the author provided the funds to produce the work and market and distribute the book. In the past, the author printed copies resulting in stacks of unsold books gathering dust in the garage! Print on Demand (POD) technology changed all that.
self publishing arm of Amazon

The fundamental differences between the two are 1) time, 2) money, and 3) control. With traditional publishing, a manuscript can take years to become a book because an author may have to pitch the manuscript to several publishing houses or hundreds of literary agents before it is picked up. With self-publishing, an author can literally have a finished book within six months. But authors have to pay for this service, which can be thousands of dollars. Traditional publishing pays some advance and vigorously promotes your book. When you self-publish, you're all by yourself. Thus self-publishing works best for people who are good at marketing and want control because an editor at a publishing house may turn your manuscript into something very different from what you want.  With self-publishing, the author decides about content, design, and appearance, even where the book is marketed and distributed.

self publishig arm of Simon and Schuster
I am 65 and did not want to wait. I am self-publishing! But then I was confronted with many self-publishing companies that offer various publishing packages. Fortunately, the day I turned over my draft for Round 2 Edit to my editor, I found out that four of the most popular companies (AuthorHouse, iUniverse, xLibris, and Trafford all owned by Author Solutions that is affiliated with Pengin/Random Books) had a 50% off promo but only up to Friday, March 14, in just two days! I quickly asked them to give me up to Monday, March 17. They all did! Together with three other companies that did not have promos (CreateSpace by Amazon, Outskirts Press, and Archway Publishing of Simon and Schuster), I set up a matrix with the following criteria: technical services such as ISBN/Congress/copyright assignment, cover and interior designs, formats and trim sizes available, business services such as retail price and royalties, distribution arms, marketing extras, and intangibles and add-on services. 
independent publishing house
The variety of offerings led me to think clearly what my goal was in publishing the book. Was it to tell my story to friends and relatives or to tell it to a wider audience? If the former, I should select the cheapest alternative which turned out to be $925. If the latter, I should select a completely different type of package, one that would give me the opportunity to be heard by a wider number of people. I chose the latter, at $1,299 (originally $2,599) that had an editorial evaluation service with the package. If the editors deem your book to be worthy, they stamp the book cover with an Editor’s Choice seal and, if your marketing program is deemed adequate, your book is advertised with the Rising Star collection. With sales of 500 books in traditional outlets like bookstores, your book will be stamped a Star and  given financial aid. 

one of four by Author Solutions
So I bought the chance to be in these Recognition Programs for $325 more. Even if I do not land them, the editorial evaluation alone will enable me to improve my book. Besides, with the royalties provided, it means only an additional 300 books to recoup the additional investment. I thought it was worth the risk.
one of four by Author Solutions

At the time of this writing, I have signed the Publishing Agreement with iUniverse and I have at most six months to turn over my manuscript to them. I plan to do so before Bill and I leave for Europe on May 17. Six months after, I will have a book on the market!

one of four by Author Solutions
In other words, I have finally committed to deliver to you, my dear readers, a book about what you have been reading about in this blog: our four and a half year cruise of North America…with all the juicy stories behind the scenes! 
one of four by Author Solutions and the one with whom I signed up

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Our Lifestyle Adventures: Taking a Break from Writing IV

largest UFO sighting in history, The Phoenix Lights, on March 13, 1997
Thanks DJ for giving us these SeaHawks Champions T shirts!
But, of course, I had to take time out! It was a milestone in Bill’s life: he finally reached the midpoint in the Sexy Sixties and Seventies, his 70th birthday! So, on March 10, I cooked up a storm, green chile enchilada casserole, beef tacos, nachos and dips, and cut veggies plus the traditional chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream for our friends and neighbors at Viewpoint. Starting at 5 pm, the party went on till nearly 9 with the campfire still blazing. One of his favorite cards had 70 pennies given by Bonnie of 5524.

Bill with neighbor-friends at his party
his many cards
It is nice to note that around the same time are the birthdays of Claudine, my second daughter on February 7, Krishna, my first Apo, on March 1, Trisha, my panganay (eldest) on March 12, and April, and my bunso (youngest) on March 12. Last year, they all celebrated together on a ‘Moveable Feasts’ party at Trisha’s house in Seattle when we were gathered for a reunion. Please see http://rvcruisinglifestyle.blogspot.com/2013/03/ola-celebrating-moveable-feasts.html. No luck this year! 

Bill, signing up for K of C at the Friday Fish Fry
March 7 was also the start of the Friday Fish Fry tradition in observance of Lent. The Knights of Columbus hosts this annually and for $7 you can have fish fry, potato salad, cole slaw, and hush puppies at the local parish hall. Bill and I plan to complete all seven Fridays with them. He also finally signed up to be a member of the KofC chapter and will be inducted on April 28. A great find on the wall of the corridor leading to the dinner while we were in line is a latticed woodwork of the lines of Our Father.

Our Father, latticed woodwork
tennis socials at Fat Willys
We also had the last Tennis Socials of the season on March 8 at the bar and grille inside Viewpoint, Fat Willys. Almost two hundred avid tennis players gathered for a dance with a live band. Besides having lots to eat, we danced to many rock and rolls. Finally, we started our tradition of Date Nights on the second Sunday of the month after the 4 PM Mass, March 9. Next one is April 13! This time around we went to Cheesecake Factory where I just loved my lettuce wrap and Chocolate Tower Cake!

Arizona wildflowers in bloom
my everlasting poinsettias
At my School of Practical Philosophy class, we talked about timeless beauty. Our assignment was to find things of beauty around us during the week. As it is nearing spring, the wildflowers of Arizona are creating a storm, the desert flowers of cacti are already in bloom, and, the poinsettia plant I bought in the first week of November 2014 is still going strong! It was the centerpiece of my birthday table last November 25 and it still was the centerpiece of Bill’s birthday table last March 10. I wonder if it will make it to next Christmas. What a thing of beauty!

cacti in spring
The Phoenix Lights on March 13, 1997
Lastly, Bill and I were intrigued by the phenomenon that happened on March 13, 1997 so we went to see the showing of the documentary film, The Phoenix Lights, at Harkins Theatre in Scottsdale on March 16. The lights were the largest UFO sighting: a mile wide of 5 to 7 orbs in a V formation gliding very low without sound, lasting for many hours, traveling from Nevada through Arizona, and then Mexico, seen by thousands of individuals corroborating each other, and celebrated annually on March 13 in Phoenix. The author of the book of the same title and writer and producer of the documentary together with people who worked with her formed a panel at the end of the showing, answering questions from the audience, half of was composed of people who were witnesses to the event. It was very interesting for us who have adopted Phoenix as our home city! 


Bill with the audience, half of whom witnessed the phenomenon
author and writer/producer, Dr. Lynne Kitei with a panelist
But, back to the book project again that is nearing completion!   

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Wonderings on Wanderings: Finishing Round 1 Edit Revisions

42. Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone
Well, I have finally submitted to my editor my new draft of the book for Round 2 editing. It took me 7 weeks and the draft has been made concise by 25 pages! Yes, I believe I have cut down the fat. The book is now just 155 pages with even more stories!

My editor says Round 2, copy edit, will take longer. It took her 4 weeks for Round 1, developmental edit. I hope she only takes 5 weeks this time so I will have the second half of April to complete the final draft for submission to the publisher.

In the meantime I have begun the process of digging from about 1,000 photos published in my blog posts (from about 10,000 we have on external drives) the candidates for inclusion in the book. Here are three candidates for each chapter. Please help me select the best photos by including the number of the photo in your comment. The one that gets the highest votes will be the cover photo and the top one in each chapter will be the chapter intro photo. Thanks lots!

Candidates for Chapter 1
13. Star in the Desert
Towards a Cruising Lifestyle                                                                               
11. Carol, the Corporate Executive

12. Our Cruise Ship Wedding
                                                                                                                  

21. Arctic Circle
22. Me and Vino
Candidates for Chapter 2
From the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Cancer      

23. Mazatlan, Mexico



31. Deer at Daybreak at our campsite
32. Our New Home
Candidates for Chapter 3 
Buying a Bigger Home



33. Mabry Mill, most photographed part of the Blue Ridge Parkway
                                                                                         


41. Grand Tetons
43. Citizen Carol
Candidates for Chapter 4 
Becoming a Citizen  
    








51. Mt. Rushmore
53. a Heart Attack
Candidates for Chapter 5 
Getting Scared
52. Arthroscopic Surgery
                                                           

61. with Liberty Bell
62.  at Times Square
Candidates for Chapter 6 
An Intense American Education                                                                    






63. the Thanksgiving pumpkin

71.  a Pimple in Montreal
72. Carol's Surgery
Candidates for Chapter 7 
4th Cross-Country Run






73. Find me at the Cadillac Ranch
81. Forgetting her Cowboy
Candidates for Chapter 8 
82.  Forgetting Marilyn
Making Decisions
83. Choosing Phoenix
                                                                                                                                                                 


91. Carol, the wife

Candidates for
92. Carol, a Filipino-American
Chapter 9 
A New Cruising Lifestyle and Carol       

93. Happy Bill
There are also 4 appendices and 6 cross-country maps that I have to produce for inclusion in the book. I have not found the best mapping software to use. Hopefully, I find the software soon so I can complete these by April 15. If you know of a good one, please do not hesitate to post a comment, too!

While my editor is doing copy editing, I am also comparing several publishing houses to find out which one provides best value from several angles: technical production, business value, distribution reach, and editorial value-add. My target is to be able to select by April 30, when I also complete the final draft.