For the last two days, day and night, I have been banging at the keyboard, putting the finishing touches on my next eBook. Thankfully the first draft manuscript is complete.
The title of this eBook is “The Way Of The Chicken – A Poultry Story”, and it documents our chicken journey, from the initial decision to get backyard chickens, through to the 2011 egg count. It is the sum of my chicken husbandry experience and knowledge over the past five years, including building the various hen houses in detail, health and hygiene, feed, free ranging, sickness, sadness, and elation. You name it, its in there. I even had a bit of a teary moment during the writing of some of the chapters, and found myself laughing at others. It was like reminiscing about adventures with a cherished old friend.
It has a forward, twenty one chapters, and an afterward. It currently weighs in at just over 22,400 words or 75 A4 pages, with pictures and illustrations, which may grow or shrink after further editing. It has been a massive undertaking, for me anyway, and took me a month to hammer out. I started it just as I published my first book, details of which can be found on the side bar.
I have neglected the garden, not made a single thing, and my brain is a bit mushy. I have been vividly dreaming about chickens for the last week. Thankfully, any time I needed inspiration, I just went outside, sat down, and watched the girls for a while. Their antics prompted me to either add to an existing chapter or write a new one. It was so good to have my subject matter close at hand for a good laugh.
For those interested, here is a sneak peak at the cover. I think it looks smart, basic, yet professional. Any thoughts?
Kim is going through the manuscript over the next few days, then it will be sent to a few proofreaders to make sure the spelling, grammar and sentence structure is correct. That should take about a week.
Then I will format it for the eBook, and publish it on Smashwords and Amazon. I am looking forward to the day that I hit the bit publish button!
Now, back to my life for a while. Lucky I have the day off tomorrow for rest and relaxation.
Congratulations Gavin. A huge undertaking for a working man and such a sense of achievement when the rough draft is completed. Time to have a cordial…home made of course. We don’t have poultry…..yet! They have their own personalities and some are real quirky. thanks for all your info that you’ve shared freely. We all appreciate that.
What perfect timing! I’m about to get a new fence and will have 20m of fence palings to turn into something else. Chicken coop here we come! I can’t wait to snap it up!!
Oh my word! You are making me feel guilty and lazy with all your industriousness. Congratulations.
Well done Gavin, I look forward to snapping the book up. The last one was great.
Fantastic Gavin! Can’t wait to read it – I’d offer to proof read it for you but I’m not sure I could meet your deadline!! 🙂
Greenie x
Love the cover. I want to use the Michael Leunig poultry translator app to understand what your girls think about the garden gnome.
Great cover Gavin, love a good chicken tale.
Hmmm! Tastiest part of the chicken I reckon, the tail or “Parson’s Nose”
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Kim is slogging through the manuscript as we speak! I think that it is her calling in life, loves the red pen.
Gav x