AUTHOR'S BLOOPERS AND BONUSES ~Part 3

The manuscript of Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy is about to be printed and getting it to this point has been a grand learning experience and much different than publishing Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls. As I have written in a
previous segment of Author's Bloopers and Bonuses, I changed 'horses' in mid-stream--meaning I switched from Word 2000 to Word 2007. Actually, this was one of the best things I did.

Although I have had excellent editors and proof-reading, I had an experience that taught me a great deal. I 'thought' the manuscript was in great shape and ready to be sent to the printer when I noticed that some of the quotation marks were not all the same. In transferring the data from Word 2000 to Word 2007--even though I was using the same font, the quotation marks were different for each Word. I therefore began going through the 384 page manuscript and correcting the out-moded quotation marks. This led me to see that there were still items that escaped the eagle-eyes of my editors and proofreader and I was able to make the corrections. Yes, it was a long and tedious process, however it was well worth it.

In Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy, I have a quote as said by Jill and that is,
From adversity comes the jewel. I am experiencing this more and more. Another example is in connection with Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls. A few months ago I submitted it to the Writer's Digest 15th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards. A few days ago I received a large envelope with a Certificate of Participation along with a letter informing me that I was not a winner. Then I looked at the Judge's Commentary Sheet and I found the jewel.

Books are judged in the areas of plot, grammar, character development and cover design with a scale of 1 to 5 and 5 being 'excellent,' or the highest mark given. My book received a 5 in ALL of the areas of judging.

The Judge's commentary in reply to the question of What did you like best about this book? is as follows: "Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls is a tantalizing story depicting the discovery of ancient scrolls about Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Though it covers some of the same ground as The DaVinci Code, the writing is infinitely better and far more believable. The heroines in the story are more realistic and the adventures described in a truer voice along with a possible time-line--something very much lacking in Dan Brown's tale. Whether the reader chooses to believe what is revealed in story form or not, the book is entertaining from beginning to end."

The Judge's commentary in reply to How can the author improve this book? is as follows: "No suggestions--the author knows how to write and tell a compelling and convincing story. Hopefully the promotion for this book will be enough to make those who read The DaVinci Code want to read the Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls." What more can be said? I have a jewel of a review and since my book has already been acclaimed as an Independent Publisher Book Award Winner in 2006, I
am well-pleased.