Last week was a big week for me. I finished the first and second drafts [Indigo Romeo Lima].
Little thing you need to know … first, second, third, however many drafts are the same file. No one re-writes the entire manuscript. It’s one file. It’ll be one file until it’s gone through editing and all that jazz then I’ll duplicate it and create one print manuscript and one ePub, we’re getting ahead of ourselves though. Let’s take it back to now.
I do make formatting easy for myself by using the headers and writing directly into a template which is how I set up Pages – it’s already in the right font, the spacing I like, headers I want to use, etc. By the time I have a first draft everything is there.
Why?
Because then I can copy the manuscript and create a fast and dirty print file.
Why?
So I can create a cover template. 🙂
And that’s done. Easy peasy.
The story itself will not change enough to out grow the cover template. I know that because I have written a lot of books.
And even if I did need to add an extra chapter for whatever reason I can create a new cover template. It’s not rocket science.
Why create the cover template so early in the process?
Because it gives me something to play with while I’m waiting for feedback. Also, the story is still fresh in my mind (but mostly a series of scenes rather than the entire story). When it’s still right there it’s easier for me to come up with cover designs. This one was kinda easy anyway because from the get go this story was a puzzle, then several puzzles … 🙂

Today I go back to working on ‘Scattered on Cloth’. I’m hoping to get it finished soonish. We’ll see. I’ve set myself a goal. So, if you want me, I’ll be writing.
FYI I use Pages not Word for a very good reason, I fucking hate Word.