This past Friday I finally reached the finish line for No More Smelly House. And when I got there, I felt like I needed a vacation!

I had researched, read and revised so-o-o-o much with this book, that I was just sick and tired of working on it. By Wednesday I was forcing myself to get finished. Those final 48 hours were torture. But I made it!

Now for the final few steps…

* First I’m having a plumbing expert read through certain parts to make sure what I’ve written is technically correct.

Unfortunately I don’t know any plumbers. So I posted a project on a freelance site to find one. Here’s the project description I used:

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Title: Plumbing expert needed to review 9 pages

Are you a plumber, plumbing expert, or do you have access to a plumbing friend?

If so, I have 9 pages of plumbing related information that needs to be checked for accuracy and clarity. I need clear suggestions (if any) for making it better or more readable.

The information deals specifically with odors coming from P-traps, garbage disposals, dishwashers, sinks, toilets and washing machines.

I need your suggestions delivered within 3 days after choosing a winner.

Payment will be made promptly upon receiving the final draft.

Please respond listing your plumbing experience, or the experience of the person you’ll be referring the work to.

Thank you.

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Within 4 days I received two bids.

The person I chose has a father-in-law who’s a master plumber and a brother-in-law who has been a plumber for five years. The cost – $150.

* Next, I’m having a few friends read through the entire book to see if everything sounds clear on their end.

Depending on the feedback I receive, I may have to add some illustrations to a few parts. I’ll see.

* Then it goes for the final proofreading. I’m hoping I can get it to this phase by next Wednesday.

As far as the marketing…

If you click on over to the No More Smelly House blog, you’ll see that I’ve begun adding some new posts this week. Once I have at least five posts up, I’ll start actively promoting the blog.

This is the part I get excited about!

I was just honestly feeling flustered about all the writing and revising that had to be done on my end.

Ye-e-e-s, I write for a living. But I go through rough patches just like anyone else. And I think that’s an important point to bring up.

We all get stuck. There’s no way to avoid it. But you really just have to get up and keep moving. Self motivation is art that more of us have to practice.

That’s part of what separates the people who complain that they can’t make any money, from the people who make money everyday. And you can quote me on that.

Alexis

I bet you were probably thinking I flaked on that No More Smelly House project didn’t cha?

Well hear me loud and clear – I didn’t.

The last time I blogged I was 40-something pages into writing it. And I thought I was almost done. I kept thinking, “just a few more days… just a few more days.”

Well 40-something pages has turned into 80 pages. And now I can honestly say that the end of my writing journey is near.

It actually ended a little prematurely last week when I had the nerve to get an awful case of writers block!

I didn’t want to put any undue pressure myself, by trying to force the words out. So I did what I said I wasn’t going to do.

I hired a ghostwriter to pen the introductions for 6 sections in No More Smelly House.

Yeah, I cheated a little. But if I sat and waited, it might have gone undone. It’s hard to regain a strong momentum if you let a project sit for too long.

In any case, here’s the project description I used to find my guy:

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I’ve written a 70+ page manuscript on how to rid your home of bad smells.

I’m looking for someone who can write introductions – consisting of 3-6 paragraphs each – for the following sections:
* All Over the House Odors
* Animal Odors
* Kitchen Odors
* Bathroom Odors
* Laundry Room Odors
* Smoke Odors

I’m not looking for somebody who’s merely going to summarize what I’ve already written.

I am looking for intro’s that maybe have a quick story, give the reader interesting/shocking facts, offer a bit of humor, etc. I like color and personality.

Once you’re chosen as the winner, you will receive a copy of the manuscript.

Payment will be made immediately upon receiving the final version of the work. (I have a spotless payment record on eLance.)

And I need the work to be completed within 5 days.

Thank you in advance.

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The gentleman who I chose had a perfect feedback rating, samples of previously published work, and agreed to do it for $120.

I just received the intro’s over the weekend, and so far they’re great. I’m very pleased.

What about the No More Smelly House blog?

In the midst of writing No More Smelly House, I realized that I wanted to take a different direction with the No More Smelly House blog.

When I really sat down and thought about it, I just couldn’t imagine having to smell 500 different air fresheners a year. There really aren’t that many scents to go through. So I’d run out of content ideas kind of quickly.

Instead, I’m going to primarily focus on products that help to neutralize odors in the home, all natural type products, and have a little smell good stuff thrown in.

For example, during my writing I found that lots of people dislike the smell of offgassing furniture.

Like if you buy a desk, and it has that ‘new’ smell to it. That new smell is usually formaldehyde. And it can give people with sensitive systems headaches, sinus infections, breathing problems, and so on.

So in the blog, I’ll feature interesting pieces of furniture that don’t offgas.

Or, there’s a new lightbulb that has a fragrance already built in. Everytime the bulb is on, the room gets a sweet scent. That’s interesting because it’s not a normal, everyday air freshener. Much more blog-worthy.

Are you still doing No More Smelly House as a print book?

You bet!

Print-on-demand to be exact.

Aaron Shepard is the author an excellent book titled Aiming at Amazon, that offers a super simple approach for using print-on-demand to get into Amazon.

His technique is brilliant, and I promise it will save you thousands of dollars in potential book printing fee’s. Really exciting stuff!

Anyway, I got my ISBN numbers a couple of weeks ago. On the Bowker web site it says they’ll take about two weeks to arrive. But I received mine in three days. And I didn’t order the rush service. So maybe they’re not busy right now.

And I found a company that’ll create an index for No More Smelly House and design the interior of the book. According the rates listed on the site, it should be less than $300 for everything. (But I won’t tell you who they are just yet, till I give it a go.)

Well friends, that’s the update.

I’ll probably be back with more frequency now that I’m wrapping this project up. I actually have two more titles in the works. But they’re not quite as intense as this one, so I’ll have a bit more time.

Keep on writing baby!

Alexis