Check out my "Made it Moment" on Jenny Milchman's blog: Suspense Your Disbelief.  This is my story about the writing of Russian Snows.

The book I began on November 1 of last year is now officially released.  Today is the 199th anniversary of Napoleon's departure from Moscow in 1812 to begin the march for winter quarters (retreat).  

I now have a box of freshly printed copies.  Less than a year from start to finished product.  I'm very happy with the way it has all turned out and thank everyone who played a part in getting this story into book form.

New files for the cover and interior have been uploaded and a new proof ordered.  These new files were created after reviewing proof #1.
Proof #2 is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.  If all goes well, the book will be approved for purchase.

The proof copy was reviewed this weekend and minor changes made.  The next step is to send another file to Create Space and then approve the book for production.

199 years after Napoleon entered Moscow, my proof copy of Russian Snows arrived.  It looks great in print!
This weekend will be spent proof reading the book.  I will be able to set a publication date soon.

Last night, we sent the cover and the manuscript to Create Space.  Once they check the files, they will produce a proof copy for review.  Once the proof has been approved, I will set a publication date.

I'm not quite down to 50,000 words yet, and probably won't make it at this point, but the manuscript is close to being ready.

Thanks to some terrific input from two people who have read the shortened story, Steve Linstrom and Betsy Ross, Sandie and I are making some adjustments.  We hope to send the manuscript off to Create Space for a proof copy very soon. 

Little by little we are whittling down the word count toward our goal of 50,000.  Perhaps by this weekend we'll be there.

Sandie made her edits last night from the hard copy she was reading and cut 1,100 words.  We took out a minor character this morning and now we have less than 10,000 words to cut to make the goal of 50,000.
We'll take another crack at the beginning of the story.