Ten Things I Had to Fix with Lunakita
Don't let anyone tell you that writing a book is easy. I'm not here to judge my 2018 self, but I should never have written a book when Luna was still setting up her stall, so to speak. Even today, eight years on, grabbing those moments to write without distractions is quite a challenge. But I have problems with Lunakita: A Dog Log (2018) that I HAD to fix. And these are just the tip of the iceberg.
At 600 pages, it’s overlong, rambling, and often incoherent as I tried to cover FOUR years with Luna. The revised Book 1 is just over 300 pages but only covers our first six months (with incidents that may have happened later, but I’m allowed a certain amount of artistic licence). Book 2 will expand on the subsequent years.
The number of spelling mistakes and grammar errors is off the charts. Cluedo is spelt Cludeo at one point. How did that even happen? Rhetorical question. Don't even mention the dialogue tags.
I misquoted The Empire Strikes Back. That in itself deserves banishment from the geek community, but I also misspelled Jabba the Hutt.
I called Luna a mongrel bitch. That was a mistake, and I’m sorry. She’s a crossbred bitch.
I made far too many references to people in the public eye or “topical events” of the time. Yes, the book is set between 2014 and 2018, but so much of it just sounds dated. Who even mentions Boris Johnson on a zip wire anymore? And EIGHT mentions of bloody Brexit?
Since 2018 I’ve lost EIGHT people from my life. From an out-of-the-blue blocking on Facebook to far too many deaths – every departure changes you as a person. My sense of humour has grown darker, so some of the humour in my first edition seems a bit "safe" and lame. "When did ghosting become the standard response to emotional discomfort?" Never ghost anyone and wrap it up as “self-care”, because it may come back to haunt you.
Luna is named Lunakita throughout the first edition. It works for the book title, but she’s now "Luna" throughout the story.
A few pages fall flat because they were placed in the wrong order.
One major life event is given the incorrect date.
My first dog, Max, is barely given a mention. Now he gets at least 3 pages. And quite right too!
If you wish to get your paws on a copy, then please head over to the main page.
If you're easily offended or "triggered" as the kids call it these days, you may wish to pass. Or if you read it and choose to be offended anyway, that's fine too. Rest assured, nothing you read in this book is going to kill you.
"What doesn't kill you makes you have to keep working" - Dave Tarnowski
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