I have permission from my editor to post the first couple of pages of my proofs online. For those out there who have never seen them (like me before last Thursday) click on the link below, if you’re curious.
Assuming the cut works. (eta: it works!)
harvest of fire
Uncomfortable conversations at work, plus America enters the present
StandardHere’s a conversation I had at work this week:
Kindly co-worker: “So, when does your book come out?”
“September,” I say. “They had to push it back from May.”
“That’s a long time.” She is looking at me cautiously and I can’t figure out why.
“Yeah, but it’s for the best. Otherwise it would have competed with other books coming out at the same time. I’m told they’re going to be giving it a marketing push.”
“Okay. Um.” She looks around the room awkwardly, then turns back to me. “And, have you already paid them?”
Ah. She was worried about me. She thought I was being ripped off.
You guys know about Writer Beware, don’t you? And Yog’s Law?
I didn’t want to explain Yog’s Law to my very nice co-worker, because I didn’t want to talk about Yog Sothoth, but I did explain that the publisher was paying me for the book, because the book has value. She twigged to the truth of it very quickly.
And if you’re reading this on my LiveJournal (as most people are, I think) you can find a LJ feed of the Writer Beware blog on my profile page. Even if you don’t think you need to follow it yourself, it’s good to spread the word.
Also: IOWA! Maybe this is burying the lede, but Iowa is leading the other states into a future of fairness, family and love. I couldn’t be happier. Now I’m glaring at my own state government, tapping my foot impatiently.
Page Proofs
StandardThe page proofs for Child of Fire arrived last night, and I was (quite stupidly) surprised by how much they looked like little book pages. I mean, duh. Also: Yay!
I asked permission to post scans of a couple pages, in case anyone is curious what page proofs look like.
I also finished reading Those Who Went Remain There Still this morning. it’s a terrific book and practically a clinic on voice. Very nicely done. It’s a short novel, and I can’t say I cared much for the interior illustrations. While Ms. Priest was still describing the creature in the book in vague, mysterious ways, I turned the page and saw a full-page drawing of it. And it was less than impressive. (Discussing it with a woman at the blood donation center, she said “I like it! It’s like a Nancy Drew book!” which… yeah.)
Still, it’s a good book. Check it out.
“… All perfect light and promises.”
StandardI’ve been having a good couple of days on the writing-front. Starting on Saturday, Man Bites World has been coming together in a way that really makes me happy. The characters, the plot, all of it suddenly broke into a sprint. Even the long, talky conversation was working for me.[1]
But of course I knew yet another set of notes were coming for Everyone Loves Blue Dog, and I knew that the better things were going for book 3, the more likely book 2 would interrupt.
Well, things must have been doing even better than I thought, because the secret writing gremlins have not only arranged for the next round of revisions to hit today[2], but I’m also told I’ll be getting the page proofs for Child of Fire later this week.
Momentum is for breaking, I guess.
Still, the last couple days have been so good that I’m expecting to hit my weekly goal early. If so, I can take Saturday morning off (and sleep in!). Blessed, blessed sleep.
[1] My editor was curious how I was going to portray one of the antagonists, a guy who is planning wholesale destruction but still considers the protagonist his good friend. I’m hoping “Just because I plan to euthanize the world doesn’t mean I want to be a dick about it” covers that ground pretty well.
[2]The revision recommendations on ELBD do not include cutting my dark(ish) ending. Plenty of other work to do, though. We’ll see how the next draft is received.
Links and Galleys
StandardFirst the links:
Writers, Do not call a publisher, even if you’re “calling on behalf of an agent”. ::Rolls eyes::
And, here’s a list you didn’t know you absolutely had to read: Twenty Ridiculous Complaints Made By Tourists. The first one, about the aroused elephant, is priceless.
From Failblog.org: Child safety: You’re doing it wrong.
From Failblog.org part 2: Is this really a bag of Doritos?
I love the serene look on the yellow guy’s face. Crotch-stomp=bliss.
And now, galleys: I’m told that Del Rey will be printing over 500 bound galleys for Child of Fire, and 300 of them will be given away at San Diego Comic Con. They’ll also be the only fiction advance reader edition they’ll be giving away at the event. Pretty cool, thinks me.
Three things:
StandardFirst: I made Jim Butcher sick to his stomach. (Actually, it’s a very nice comment from him.)
Second: Everyone Loves Blue Dog? Still not done.
Third: Today? Done. And I’m still sick.
Thank you. Also: links
StandardThank you to everyone who commented on the cover art in my previous post. I’m very happy with it. The only decision I have left is whether to make my default LiveJournal icon out of the entire cover, as Anton Strout does, or just a blow-up of the head the way Tim Pratt does. What do you think?
or
?
Your input would be appreciated.
Also, I have been somewhat foolish in that I have not been providing links to the actual book at actual websites where you could actually purchase it if you actually wanted to. So! If you’d like to buy the book, now you can at any of these fine online retailers: Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble online or Mysterious Galaxy.
And now I go back to my regular life. FYI: the boy is off school this whole week, so I expect to fall behind on reading my f-list and not catch up for quite a while.
Enjoy your day!
Well! What have we here?!?!
StandardSo, I surfed over to Amazon.com to look into setting up a (new) associates account for myself, and what should I notice in “Your Recent History” section but cover art! For my book!
Who knew??
Here it is:
::ahem::
I likes it!
Quote of the Year!
StandardI just got a great blurb from Jim Butcher for Child of Fire. Check it out:
“[CHILD OF FIRE] is excellent reading and has a lot of things I love in a book: a truly dark and sinister world, delicious tension and suspense, violence so gritty you’ll get something in your eye just reading it, and a gorgeously flawed protagonist. Take this one to the checkout counter. Seriously.”
Holy crap! Happy!
A couple things, quickly
StandardAnd it has to be quick because I’m sick and sleep-deprived. I slept 9 hours last night and I’m already fading.
I felt like the crap yesterday, but we still went out. I had to cut less from Man Bites World than I expected, and instead spent most of my time filling in paragraphs that had been too sketchy. I must remember to write when I’m writing.
After that, we all went out to the REI flagship store for various things. I could not buy a Wenger backpack (they had none, which surprised me) but I did get a nice one out of the clearance bin for under $20 bucks. We also picked up new shoes for the boy, he did an ascent on the climbing… thingee (and did I remember the camera? I did not. Shame shame). And we went out to dinner.
Now, I was feeling extremely run down, but we ate a Racha Noodles on Queen Anne, which is nice without being too too nice. I had the Duck Curry, which was spicy and fantastic. I left there feeling better than I’d felt all day.
Then the sleeping, which I already mentioned. Today I did the cleaning we didn’t get to yesterday, and I fixed the vacuum cleaner. With fire.
That’s right. There aren’t many problems in the modern world that you can fix with an open flame, and even fewer you can write about in your blog without terrible consequences, but long hairs jamming up the roller brush is one of them.
Now: two links. The first is for Affinity8: The the impotence of proofreading, which is pretty funny.
The second is about a guy who used Google AdWords to test market his book’s title to good effect. (Quick disclaimer: I haven’t watched the video on that site because it’s an hour long). Considering how much trouble I had picking a title for Child of Fire, and since Everyone Loves Blue Dog looks like it might have the same problems, I just might let the reading public decide for me.
OMG. To bed. I’ll try to be more interesting tomorrow.