News on the new book front. The waiting is over! Ahem. We have met with our editor.
Erin the Good has read thru our first draft and zoomed into a discussion of it. I call her ‘Good’ because of her editorial chops - she liked out work - and also because she comes across as a real good person.
Not that Anne isn’t a good person, but along with Autumn Bird she was juggling a bunch of other projects, and the first word that came to my mind when thinking of her was ‘hardworking.’ (Btw, she has left Scholastic for harder-working pastures, and in fact is brooding over another project of mine right now.)
Back to my news. Erin chatted positively, and for a goodly time (sigh. Really, Richard?) with me and Mel about Camp Fundament. There are a few things she wants us to change. (Did wardrobe-malfunction-predictable-teen-male-reaction enter the discussion? Why yes it did.) But overall Erin feels the book has a useful shape. We made plans to rewrite a shared digital manuscript (not the way we did it last time. Interesting!) Revised copy is due in June or a bit later. One of those months when you aren’t supposed to eat oysters.
We will know more, and begin the work, when we get Erin’s actual written notes on the first draft. Which we have not yet.
So it’s back to waiting. As has been said by me and others, writing is very much like war -- a long night where brief flashes of horror and excitement are surrounded by periods of waiting and worrying in the dark.