Friday, April 27, 2012

Something is Afoot. Or Anovel, actually.

Edit, edit, edit, agree to more remodeling projects, neglect the blog AGAIN. Thank God this blog isn't a child, pet, or plant. It would have run away long ago (except the plant...the plant would have given a last, dusty gasp and given up the ghost).

Two more grant proposals to go this season; when I'm not focused on them, I am drastically revising a novel I originally wrote in 1999. Originally called The Cool Side of the Pillow, it is now Mandatory Release, now undergoing its third or fourth major overhaul. I refuse to let it die because I love it, my agent loves it, and some of my beta-readers liked it better than Driving Sideways.  Also, it has the first sex scene I'm comfortable with my mother reading.

(Though I don't think I'd integrate that into the marketing plan..."All sex scenes in this book are mother-approved!")

Anyway, I applied for a grant to expand my research and editing, and I'm even visiting an open house at a prison for correctional employee week. I'd rather go to Europe to develop a sequel to Driving Sideways, but unfortunately, the new book features characters who work in a prison, not a patisserie.

I know. What was I thinking?

Regardless, I'm having so much fun with it. I haven't cracked this one open since 2008, so it feels like reading a new book. (Did I actually make a joke about Larry King's scrotum? Why yes, there it is in chapter 28!)

If I weren't so impatient, I might adopt this strategy for all of my future novels: set them aside for several years before that final edit so they feel fresh and I can look at them with a critical eye, mercilessly gutting scenes that feel stale or pointless.

I'll be in the market for a web developer soon, so if you can make any recommendations, please let me know.  (I still have events on my website from 2009. Think of all the celebrities who were still alive back then!)

There is also the possibility that my cover art will be designed by the same person who did the covers for some of Dr. Oz's books. I'm trying really, really hard not to "Squee!!!" about that here.

I can't wait to release this one into the big, wide world.

9 comments:

  1. Is this the one you read the excerpt of awhile back, in Chicago, at that event? With the date? Please say yes! I've been waiting for that book!

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  2. KB, yes it is! :) I'm so happy you remembered.

    I'll keep you posted for sure.

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  3. That's so exciting! I think I remember you talking about this one back at RWA in San Francisco several years ago. It sounded good then, and it sounds good now.

    Have fun with your web re-design. My suggestion there would be to check out other authors' sites and see who designs the ones you like best. Should be more fun than calking a bathtub or hanging more drywall or whatever house project you have up next.

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  4. Caryn, you crack me up.

    I am definitely not looking forward to more tedious priming and painting, but I AM looking forward to mojitos on my new brick patio AND the green light to buy new furniture for the living room.

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  5. Good morning. Yesterday was full of surprises. At 6:30pm PST I was blissfully unaware of this whole Jess Riley scene. Celebrating as I was birthday #69 (no 'coupling' references please; wouldn't wish to offend anyone's Mom) under yet another cloudless Palm Springs sky.
    A call from my 'Beautiful 1' in Appleton, WI set a chain of events that ended here. For now I will pose this question: Might I be the first older white gentleman blogger to grace this blog site?

    Post Script. A coincident or a sign: Ms. Riley gives birth to a new blog on April 27th, the day of my own birth. Hm-m...

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  6. I loved Driving Sideways and have been waiting for your next book.

    I can't wait!

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  7. Cool! Can't wait to read it!

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  8. Glad to "meet you" on my blog. Found you on Twitter too. Anyway--very nice blog you have here. I like that you're tacking a WIP from 2008. I have two finished novels that are horrendous but one day I might pick them up again and see what I can do with them. Not now though! (as you know from my post.)

    See you on Twitter!

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