Hooray!!!!

Printed.

Mailed.

I Can't Believe It

The damn thing is finished.  Think of all that we’ve been through.  And now it’s finished.  Tomorrow I print it and mail it to my editor.

And then…..he reacts….he sends it back with his suggested changes.  It’s not finished.

But for me…on this night and for the next week or so…that thing is done. 

It's June 28th, 2005

My publication day.  The big non-event.  Don’t believe me?

My day so far:  Got up, ate the usual breakfast. Read part of the NYT’s. Gave one cat her pills.  Cleaned the litter box. Made the bed. Got dressed.  Came into my study and began working on this book that you’ve heard so much about.

Tonight? The usual. Regular dinner.  Ball game.

No call or anything from my editor.  But there may be a good reason for that.  Yesterday I made a huge fuss about the title.  I didn’t want to use the one we’d settled on.  He was not pleased.  Some tart emails back and forth.  Then a phone conversation.  He made a strong case for the title.  I gave in.  Still, I don’t think he’d be too inclined to wish me anything today.

My agent is in France so no word from her.  Even if she was in NYC I wouldn’t hear from her about it being Pub day.  Listen to what I’m telling you: Non event.

I think I’ll finish this book tomorrow.  Then I have to print it out.  And get it the hell out of here.

The title is: TOO DARN HOT

On and On

End of another week of this line editing.  Lousy mood.  Tomorrow is a day off but it won’t be enough.  Still, I’ll entertain myself by reading THE BURNING GIRL-Mark Billingham.

Monday it’ll all start again.  If I finish next week I’ll be amazed.

What will tonight be like?  We’re angry and tired.  We have the Yankee/Mets game. We have our dinner from the great take-out place that opened about a year ago.   We have a movie.  At least we won’t have to speak.

Why didn’t I get a dessert? 

 

 

It Never Ends

That could mean a lot of things.  And it does. The rewrite goes on and on.  And the rewriting of my dialogue by my in house editor continues no matter what I say or do.  But what I’m really referring to is the title of the next book.

I thought I had it.  I thought they were lyrics from a song. Now I’ve discovered that it’s the title.  So what? you say.  My last series used song titles tricked up. I don’t want to go near that again.

Now I’ll have to argue with my editor on Monday.  And I don’t have a replacement. Maybe I’ll find one this weekend, but the way things have been going I have my doubts.

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh.

 

 

Title

I finally got the title for the book I’m working on.  This is a great relief.  As I’ve said I’ve never been in this spot.  I almost always have a title before I begin.  But here I am halfway through the final rewrite and I only had the title come to me today.

And my editor and the janitors love it.

 

State of Emotional Health

I feel I may go insane working on this book.

A Day of Rest

On the seventh day I rested.

Tomorrow I start the line edit again.

Quote

"Rewriting is like scrubbing the basement floor with a toothbrush."

Pete Murphy

The Irritating Line Edit

Started this on Monday…the line edit, that is.  Although I don’t take everything that’s suggested by my first reader (I don’t have a second reader) she’s very helpful.  She’s also irritating, annoying and a pain in the ass.  So why do I let her do this?  Because ultimately she helps me make my book better.

She catches things I don’t see because I’ve been too close.  She questions things I’ve tried to get away with. 

I have one rule.  Don’t touch my dialogue.  Does she adhere to that?  No.  She tries to get  around it by suggesting dialogue above mine.  I pay no attention.  Mine is better.

Do I enjoy this process?  Yes and no.  So far (I’m on page 103 of 500) we haven’t had a screaming fight.  Perhaps we’ve grown up? 

There are about 400 pages to go.  I’ll keep you posted on the maturity level.

Quote

"There is no royal path to good writing; and such paths as exist do not lead through neat critical gardens, various as they are, but through the jungles of self, the world, and of craft."

Jessamyn West

Rules Be Damned

For all my rules and good intentions, the big talk didn’t go too well.  First reader liked the book a lot.  But then she dared to make suggestions and criticise which led to arguments, then sulking.  It is a process from hell.

Tomorrow starts real editing and by nightfall, if things go as usual, we won’t be speaking at all.

Meanwhile, I have no title for this book.  This has never happened to me before.  I need one soon.  Like yesterday. 

Today is my last day of reading, watching the Yankees do who knows what, and generally enjoying myself for about the next two weeks.  And then I will hand it to my….oh, no.  I think I’ll stay in the day.

The Big Talk

First reader has finished.  She likes it.  But now we go over the novel with her questions which she’s written on a yellow pad.  I’ve yet to see that and I fear it.  I know there will be pages and pages.

I’m trying to get myself in a mood that isn’t defensive.  Not easy.  I tell myself to simply listen.  I don’t have to do anything she says.  Who does she think she is anyway?

Not a good attitude.   I am taking a deep breath.  Here we go.

 

The Reading Continues

My first reader is still at it.  A death disturbed life and so everything has been delayed.  The reader will resume today.

Probably the BIG TALK will happen tomorrow.  Then I’ll start the third and final draft on Monday.

Meanwhile I’ll tidy up my work room.  I think I’d rather write.

2nd Draft

I just finished printing it out.  And now my first reader is reading it. 

Panic grips my heart.

Quote

"When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate."

John Steinbeck

Halfway Through

That’s it.  I’m halfway through the first rewrite.  And I’m quitting until Thursday.

No Holiday For Me

Hope you all had a good time.  I was at my computer all weekend while you were cooking hotdogs and swimming and playing whatever people play these days.

I did have one evening.  But my days have been right here at this keyboard.  I guess I’m about halfway through the rewrite.

I have to confess I will be taking Weds. off as it’s my birthday.  Don’t ask. Just know I deserve it.

I’m finding this process of my first rewrite very valuable.  I use that word because I’m learning things about writing as I go.  It’s never over, folks. 

 

 

Third Review

This is the most important one before publication. It’s in a magazine called Publisher’s Weekly. The other day, on another site, people were saying things like they’d never read a book that had a quote from PW and other negative stuff about the magazine. I don’t know if they were joking or not, but I hope they were because a good review from PW is used by librarians, bookstores, and very often gone over by the movie people.

I got a starred review. This makes it special. It was one of the best reviews I’ve ever gotten, if not the best. It’s made me very happy. It’s made my agent very happy. And it’s made my publisher ecstatic. This is good.

When I saw the fax I couldn’t believe it. I walked around the house. Then I ate a piece of candy. It was hard to go back to work but I did.

So waiting for the pre pub stuff is over. And I nailed two out of three. Not bad.

The Booklist review for This Dame For Hire is posted at Amazon. I imagine the PW one will be there eventually. Feast your eyes.

Terrible Noise on my Roof

Fortunately, the people who are putting a new roof on my house warned me that there was no way I’d be able to think while they did this. 

Today I’m beginning to put changes and make more changes back into the computer. I like this part of the process a great deal.  What I don’t like is having to do this somewhere else.  I’m lucky I have a laptop.

First I booked the Study Room in my library for today and tomorrow.  But it didn’t feel right at all.  So I called a friend who works at a normal job and I’m going to be able to work at his house.  It doesn’t feel great but it’s better than the library.

The roof people have started and I’m so glad I’m leaving.  No way could I think with all this banging and blue sheets wrapped around my study so I can’t have air and feel totally claustrophobic.

If this post is a mess it’s because I really can’t think.

Leaving.