Not Much But The Waiting

It's no wonder I don't get a whole lot of visitors to this site. I have a hard enough time updating the dumb thing, it's a wonder anyone stops by here at all.

So, for lack of anything better to write about, let me tell you what I've been up to since my book became 'official.'

• I've gotten the contract, scanned it into my computer (you know, for posterity) signed it and sent it back. I just got my own copy (with the editor's signature) on it for my records. Now I just have to wait until September 2007 to see the sucker in print.
• I've been working on my next book, the project I've been sort of secret about (I guess like all my stuff). It's coming along nicely. I sort of feel guilty in that it's been so easy to write that I sort of feel like it should suck or be kind of a piece of garbage. But, the response I've gotten (from the rough draft, no less) has been EXTREMELY encouraging.
• Just for kicks, I'm trying to write 4 more little short books like the one that's getting published. I was given the go-ahead from the editor to send her anything new that I've got. There's no guarantee that they'll publish them, of course, but I'd like to see her try and turn them down. Moo-ha-ha-ha...
• Eventually (I swear!) I'm going to get back into writing Book 3 of my series. It's strange. I sort of feel like the book has become the older sibling in a house with a new baby. No one is talking to him, and he's just standing in the corner, brooding. It's terrible. I hate to think that the thing has been languishing for coming close to 2 YEARS! That's insane. It took me a little over a year for Book 1, four months to write Book 2 and over 2 Years to get Book 3 done? Sheesh...
• I'm thinking of participating in the NaNo thing. It's where you try to write a complete novel in the space of 1 month. Since I love deadlines (and a challenge) I think I could come up with something pretty cool. Heck, I might even stray from the children's literature world and see if I've still got my regular fiction chops still. Should be fun...and hopefully productive.
• I do want to get to my young-adult idea. I've pitched it to some people who I thought would think it was pretty sweet and I've had them ask me about it quite a few times since. That's good, right? A story that doesn't even exist yet has planted itself in their head-space, so that must mean I'm on to something. Right? Right???!??
• I'm waiting to hear back from an agent at Scribe Agency. I've got a friend I work with who is a friend of one of the literary agents that runs the joint, but so far...nothing. Hmm...

That's all I've got for now. I guess my absence can only mean one thing. I'm writing other stuff...you know, other than this blog.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Officially Official

Well, I got the news yesterday. My book is DEFINITELY getting published. The contract is in the mail and payment will follow shortly after. The tenative publishing date is Fall 2007.

Here's the e-mail I got (in case anyone's interested):

Good morning, Kingsley,

I have some good news for you! ABC PUBLISHING has accepted your manuscript APTLY TITLED STORY for publication as a 24-page Read-it! Reader. The tentative publication date is Fall 2007. Compensation for your manuscript includes a one-time payment of $$$$ (no
royalties) and 10 copies of the finished book.

Before I submit the contract request, I'll need two things from you:

1) mailing address (this the address we'll use to send the contract and your author copies upon publication)

2) how you'd like your name to appear as the author; please choose carefully, as we cannot change your name once paperwork has been sent to the Library of Congress

As soon as I receive this info from you, I'll finish up the contract request, and the contract will be sent to you for your signature. I'm honestly not sure how long the contract/payment process takes.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to drop me a note. Oh, and I'm attaching the final edited version of the story so you can see how it turned out.

Congratulations, Kingsley! Thank you for the good work and for submitting APTLY TITLED STORY to ABC PUBLISHERS! Have a great rest o' the week ...

Best,
EDITOR LADY

(BOLDED portions are made-up names to protect the innocent, etc...)

So, that's it! I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing. Granted, this isn't my BIG book that's getting published, but it's a start and I'm guessing they'll look at future stuff I put together. I got a pretty solid idea for one on the way home from the health club with my little guy. I'm planning on scratching out the rough draft tonight. A couple more of these and I'll be bona fide.

Well, maybe not.

But again, I'll be able to reference them in query letters and hopefully attract the attention of an agent.

Now, the hard part will be waiting for fall of next year to have the finished book in my hands. Then again, this gives me lots of time to work on my other projects. Dang. It's a never-ending cycle...but then again, if given the opportunity, I'd like to do this for the rest of my life.

Well, and continue to fight fires. I couldn't give that up.

All right. So, here's the thing. Do I change the title of my blog, since it's happened? I've never been in love with the name of my blog anyway. Or do I keep it until my BIG book is published? Somehow I have a feeling a couple of my other works might see print before my baby does.

Hmmm....

There It Goes...

So, I sent the revised version of my little kids book to the publisher the other day. I literally tweaked and re-tweaked that sucker until I was sure it made the most amount of sense in the least amount of words. It got to the point where I couldn't look at it anymore. Not objectively anyway.

I sent it via e-mail tot he editor, thinking I wasn't going to hear back for a while. The time between e-mails averaged about a month and a half. Not this time.

In five minutes I got a short response that said:

Hey, Kingsley,
Thanks for the revision. I have a busy few days ahead, so I probably won't get to this till the end of the week, but I wanted to let you know I received it.

Thanks,
Editor Lady

So that's encouraging, right?

Anyway, I'm totally excited about it, even if the piece isn't one of my favorites. I mean, as it stands, it's a cute, decent-enough story, but it's not something I'm going completely ga-ga over. It's not like I'm going to say 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!'

Sure, it's a published book...not just an article in a magazine or a newsletter, but an actual BOOK. Crazy. And yeah, I'm proud as all get-out to have this opportunity, but I still think my longer work is a bigger reflection of me as an author. Maybe this is the start to getting my more 'important' work in the right hands. I don't know.

So, once I've got the absolute finalized details, I'll put them up here. You can even order it (or look at it on Amazon) and say: That thing got published?

And I'll say: 'Yep.'

Hey. You gotta start somewhere...