Writing of the 2nd novel - Proof read, Final edit, Name etc

Now that we are getting closer to the deadline - we need to get things all worked out. My version left me and it was a huge relief to just send it off. I do one version while reading aloud which gives me a fair idea which sentences do not sound right, one with a printed version to see which parts can be edited out etc. And trust me each version takes longer than you expect, each time you are looking at something almost anew. But you do decide to let go at one stage and send it off.
The publisher sends it to his editor ideally but since my book has been edited by Keerthi, we had a quick proof reading/editing job by Gita Rajan who did a wonderful job of it and at such quick time. Keerthi told me she trusts Gita completely with all her work and so did Basant and I had no problems with her at all. I spoke to her and we hit it off well and even more so when she said she liked what she read of it! Wow!

Blurb, Acknowledgements, About the Author
The proofing job took about 3 days by which time I wrote down the 'About the Author', 'Acknowledgements, 'Dedication' and the 'blurb' parts which are the most difficult parts of writing a novel. I sent them off too by which time our publisher sent me the proofed version which I had discussed with Gita anyways. I went over it again and made a few changes and sent them back. And again they come back with the changes and back and forth until we are finally ready!

Cover design
Meanwhile the cover design also has been worked on, an indicative cover design, based on pictures that Satish had taken while we were at Shrivardhan and we sent it off. I normally work with Shiva, my designer friend who also designed the cover for 'The Men Within'. The publisher was happy with it and we decided to go ahead with some changes at their end. The final printable version of the novel and the cover design normally are to be ready at around the same time so they can be sent off to the printers. I guess we were ready with all these by around the 10th of January and we were looking at a book launch on February 2, 2010.

Title
Not so fast! My original title of 'The Tryst' was already taken. I googled the name and it was showing up as a novel written by a western author. I asked our core committee for some alternate names in Shrivardhan and though we came up with a few, we finally decided that Shobha's contribution of 'If you love someone..' was the most apt. So we asked the publisher to make the changes into the cover design and in other places and the cover is ready to be printed.

Now, its off to the printers. Ah, take a deep breath and get ready to make the marketing plan, the book launch etc.