The official web site of A.H. Lloyd

A couple of months ago, I decided to try publishing an audiobook of Battle Officer Wolf, my first novel. Almost as soon as I started publishing books, people asked me if I had an audio version of them, but that was beyond my means. Amazon now has virtual voices that aren’t half bad, and as the old saying goes, something is better than nothing.

Before it could go live, I needed to hear it, and make corrections to pronunciation as well as fix minor typos that are very glaring when a machine reads them aloud. That took a while. Since updating the book is quite easy, I let the audio play with a copy of the manuscript open on my computer, and made corrections to both concurrently.

What that means is that a new copy of the book is also moving through Amazon’s pipeline as I type this. The ebook is live, and I’m waiting for a proof copy before approving the paperback version. I guess if there are collectors out there, now is the time to buy your flawed, limited print run old version of the book.

It has been a while since I did serious writing, and over the past few years, there are several posts where I discuss ideas and concepts, none of which managed to hold my attention. I think that’s because I’m not driving to write by economic necessity, and so I can pick and choose what I want to do. A major factor has also been the presence of grandchildren in the household, which was very disruptive. The fact that I am able to even consider working on a book is because they have reached the same age as my youngest child when I was able to tackle Battle Officer Wolf.

So while the writing isn’t happening, taking care of old business is also necessary, and I will likely turn to the Man of Destiny series for my next source of audiobooks, as they are my most popular fiction. That will also result in massive revisions, but that’s a good thing, too. As I try to build a larger audience, it is wise to put my best foot forward, and have nice clean texts.

This dovetails with the ongoing work regarding Conqueror: Fields of Victory, which is moving in unexpected ways. What started out as a simple bit of corrections with refreshed cover art is getting a little more interesting. I’d hoped to turn it around in a matter of weeks, but I’m taking a deeper look at both the core rules and increasing its use as a historical gaming system.

That will require additional playtesting, and that will require more time. Since gaming is something of a seasonal activity in this part of the world, I may extend the revision to the onset of spring. Honestly, that makes the most sense, because by then I will have found a lot more problems, and more thoroughly tested the solutions.

I like to set deadlines for work because it’s all too easy to let things slide. Sometimes (actually, most of the time) they are unrealistic, but the job still gets done, which is the point.