I got some good news last week: a NY publisher is interested in making an offer on my first novel and a follow-up. Yay!
But, after the shouting and the toasting and the scotch (I've been keeping a bottle of 25 year old single cask in reserve for this day), a couple of things occurred to me:
1. They want another book.
2. They likely want another book set in the universe of the one they are currently interested in.
3. My current WIP is nothing remotely like point #2.
I know, I know -- everyone should have these problems, right? And trust me, I am not kvetching. But I now find myself in the position of trying to come up with a storyline and proposal for Book #2 while also wanting to finish current WIP (Hawthorn Queen), which is about 2/3 done, before having to turn away from it again. (You may or may not recall that I take a 3+ month hiatus in the summer since I am home with the kids, although I suspect that "luxury" will vanish next year what with deadlines and all). So now I am trying to pound out Hawthorn Queen in hopes of finishing the rough draft before I have to turn my full attention to the nebulous Book #2. But of course, this could change any day depending on what my editor ends up wanting.
Story-wise, my brain is going in two directions, and it is not something I am used to yet. Plus, I. Am. A. Slow. Writer. So I have no idea where I will be in one book when the other comes knocking. It's a bit un-nerving.
But really, it's a pretty nice place to be, all things considered, so I shan't complain (well, any more than I already have, I suppose).
The other thing that is hovering over me this morning is the knowledge that I need to finally get around to setting up my web site and establishing a web presence in preparation for a book coming out sometime in the nebulous future. Fortunately, I have some time to do this; but just as fortunately, Alma Alexander has some very smart things to say over at SF Novelists about the challenges facing an author when it comes to promotion and web presences and the like. So, there's your smart thing for the day.
Now, what about you? What are you up to for the day or the week? Any smart things you want to share with the rest of us?
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5 comments:
Uh, congrats, I say somewhat more quietly than I did earlier. :-)
And I think I'll follow your theme of kvetchign about problems we all wish we had. Today, I'm having trouble being motivated to do much of anything, but what I need to do is work on a proposal for the next vampire Princess of Saint Paul book as it is due at the publisher the same day as the mss. for book 1 (which, I'm happy to report, I finished a first draft of.)
And then there's this other book, RESURRECTION CODE, that's due at the publisher by December...
Yeah, three books in one year. It's a good thing, but it's a very crazy thing too.
Congratulations on your publication success!
Doug, fantastic news! Those of us over at the Death Pixies blog raise our glass to you :) Congrats!
I have no smart things today. I am just trying to figure out how the plot of my wip has gotten so completely tangled and whether there is any hope of ever fixing it or if I should stick to writing grocery lists.
Congrats again, Doug—publicly this time. And guess what? You're not going to be a slow writer anymore! ; )
Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes.
To Bill: well, I suppose I can't go much slower than the last one, so that's improvement, right? At least I know better than to try to write three books in a year. (Oh, hi Tate. ;p )
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