Leaving

I leave tomorrow for a week.  Not taking laptop.  Bye.

Finished

The edit is done.  As I expected, there was very little to do. I’ll mail it tomorrow.

Now I’m really free.  No contract.  I’m not worried.  I’ve been getting good reviews. I think Ballantine will want two more books.  But I don’t have to think about any of it.  It’s now in the hands of my agent.

I’m reading STRANGE BUT TRUE by John Searles.  So far I like it a great deal.

Tonight Yankees and Red Sox.  I can stay up.  Yes, I can.

 

It's Here

The manuscript has arrived.  I was out all day so I haven’t looked at it.  I’ve taken it out of the envelope that leaked the hideous gray stuff all over me and my floor, but I haven’t taken the rubber bands off the manuscript and I won’t do that until tomorrow.

I don’t feel great apprehension because I don’t expect to be asked to rewrite whole chapters or even great chunks of a chapter.  I think my editor would’ve indicated that if it was the case.

The really good news is that I received a check today which is the last payment for TDFH.  Except when the tons of royalties start rolling in.  Right. 

I do hate the thought of having to go to bed at 10 and up at 7 even if it’s only for a few days.  I’m so spoiled.

This and That and New Rules

Saturday I did a reading and a Q&A at the Westhampton Library in New York.  It was a gorgeous day and I didn’t expect much of a crowd as it’s a beach town.  But a lot of people attended.  Not that it was standing room only, but there were a respectable amount of people.  I hate doing these things, but once I’m into it I like it.  I wish I could remember that before hand. 

My editor called on Friday to say I’d have the edited manuscript back by Tuesday.  He also said there wasn’t much to do.  That was the case with the first book so I tend to believe him.  Still, I didn’t want to see that book so soon.  They do everything very fast at Ballantine.  I’m going away next week for about five or six days and then looking forward to a vacation in August.  By that I mean a vacation right here where I live.  But I bet the copy-edited manuscript will wing its way to me sometime in August.

I’m enjoying my freedom now,  and not looking forward to having to do anything with TOO DARN HOT.

The reviews in various newspapers and in online magazines are beginning. So far there was only one lousy one where the reviewer went on and on about Hammett and said that I didn’t measure up, and that my PI was no Sam Spade.  Really?  Why compare me with Hammett in this way?  I don’t understand that.

It didn’t bother me because I thought it was so stupid.  Bad reviews in newspapers or magazines, or blogs that I respect are a different animal.  That certainly can make me feel bad.

As I said in an earlier post, I don’t have a contract for future books in this series.  So at this moment I have no plans to start writing in the fall.  That may change if a contract is made with Ballantine, or some other publishing house.  I hope the latter doesn’t happen.  I don’t want to leave my editor.

One thing I didn’t have time to mention during the gruelling days of the final draft, is that Ballantine sent out a new style sheet to all authors.  I had to change my font and one couldn’t have two spaces between sentences (as most people my age were taught to do.)  So I had to think of that as I went through my revision.  And a CD had to accompany the final manuscript.  I use a computer and back up on a CD, but what about writers who still use a typewriter?  Or those who don’t have a CD drive. 

Call me crazy but I don’t like the feel of it.  I liked my font and I like two spaces between sentences.  But when I write the next book, if it’s for Ballantine, I’ll have to use a font I don’t like.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, and I suppose it isn’t, but it annoys me.  I’ve never thought of myself as part of the corporate world. What orders are going to come next?

 

 

From My Editor

Dear Sandra,

A quick note, post-lunch, to say that TOO DARN HOT is Too Darn Good.  And if I ever get free of these endless Group Meetings, I'll phone you to sing your praises.  Meanwhile, congrats on a great sequel!!!

Love,

Joe

Quote

"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip."

Elmore Leonard