Hey. Let’s take a break from obsessing about the current WIP and talk about the book that’s actually getting published. (Poor little CREEP. I didn’t mean to neglect you, but the new baby needed lots of attention.)
I finally received my editorial notes last week. Mind you, I’m not sure if you can even call it that. I’ve been reading about authors receiving giant, complicated editorial letters that took them weeks to get through, but my manuscript came back with only 15 or so tiny little things to fix. A repeated phrase here and there, a few things that needed more emphasis, that type of thing. I was genuinely surprised! It only took me about 90 minutes to make sure everything was perfect (and it probably would have taken no more than an hour had I not been so anal), and then I emailed the manuscript back to my editor. I’m told this fulfills the “delivery and acceptance” part of my contract, so I can expect my second check from S&S fairly soon. Woo hoo!
Then a couple of days ago I wrote my Dedication and Acknowledgments pages. Holy moly, was this ever hard! It’s not easy to think up different ways to thank people without sounding totally repetitive. Took me a whole afternoon to write a few really short paragraphs and get the wording just right.
I also got confirmation that the book will be available in Canada. I was kinda worried about this – you just never know how it’s going to be marketed, and what a bummer it would have been if my family and long-time friends weren’t able to head over to the local bookstore and get a copy. But that’s not going to be the case! This news made me really happy.
My editor also mentioned the possibility of there being a reading guide at the back of my book. I don’t know if this is going to happen for sure, but HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE! My book could be a book club book! Imagine that! She said the book has a lot of interesting issues (like sex addiction) that could make for some thoughtful discussions.
Not sure what’s next in the process, but I’ll bet it’ll be just as exciting – and fun! – as everything else has been up to this point. Honestly, I think it has a lot to do with my editor and agent. They’re both really supportive and really positive.
Everyone should be so lucky.