Reblogged from Mary Smith:

I thought I’d be fully back in the blogosphere by now. Last week I’d written up all the chapters for Secret Dumfries and most of the ‘Did you know…?’ boxes leaving only the acknowledgements and bibliography to finish. The sun was shining so I went off for a stroll round the Osprey walk feeling ridiculously happy with life. Big mistake!

I sent off an email query to the publishers to check how much leeway they give on the word count. The guidelines say between 20-25,000 words and mine was likely to be a little bit over by the time picture captions were added in. Even at the ‘no more than 10 words per caption’ that adds another 1,000 words. Back came the reply to say the maximum text allowed is 20,000 words. I say but the guidelines states 20-25,000. They say, ‘Please check your contract.’ Oops! Much cutting and chopping and grinding of teeth followed. They did give me an extra couple of thousand words so as long as each caption is under – well under – ten words each, I’ll do it.

I thought I’d share one of my favourite ‘secrets’ from the book.

‘Around Dumfries the land is littered with prehistoric sites from Bronze-Age burial sites to cup and ring markings. The Twelve Apostles, the largest stone circle in mainland Scotland, is only a couple of miles from the town.

Continue reading at Mary Smith’s Place