Monday, March 31, 2014

Almost There

It's time to blog again for three reasons:

1) I haven't in a while, and it's about time.

2) It's 1:38 AM and I can't sleep.

3) Most importantly, I AM DRUMS is almost there.

By "almost there" I mean that an offer to buy the book has been put on the table. My agent has made it clear that there is some negotiating to be done, but it's good to know that if I really wanted to, I could reach my hand out this second and cross something off my bucket list.

Little by little the news that I may become a published author next year is leaking out amongst friends and coworkers. And it's better, really, that it's out there. I need to get used to feeling comfortable talking about this as a real thing, and stop thinking that I'll jinx it the second I open my mouth.

My next blog will hopefully be the official news that a book deal has been set in stone. I''ll be looking forward to writing it (and continuing to miss out on sleep) until that happens.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Editorial Phone Calls and the 50 Book Pledge

It's been three months since I've posted anything. Not my best time for blogging.

The good side of this is I've been productive in nearly every capacity. The new book is slowly coming along, and I had an excellent phone call with an editor about I AM DRUMS. The editor was definitely interested in the book, but her editorial team needs a few more revisions before they can jump on the bandwagon. Very reasonable revisions, thankfully, and my agent confirmed that they seemed very sensible (he added that he's seen editors ask for pretty weird things). If I was to give advice to other writers about this part of the process, it would be the importance of listening.

I took a few days to stew over the phone conversation and got right to work. Within two to three weeks I had a revised manuscript that I was pretty sure covered everything the editor asked for. Now it's back to the waiting game!

On another separate note, I felt my reading habits slipping in late 2013, mostly due to the stress of work. That's unacceptable no matter the reason, so I joined the 50 Book Pledge for 2014, if only to keep myself on pace and/or catch myself if I'm letting life get in the way of reading regularly. For those of you who've never heard of it, the 50 Book Pledge is an oath to read AT LEAST 50 books by the end of the year. I'm hoping for more.

I've read ten books so far this year (almost finished my eleventh), which has me on pace for 53 books. I'd really like to be on pace for 60, but maybe I have to chill out about that for now.