Tuesday, October 31, 2006

I Forgot It's Halloween

Not exactly.

Random Thought #1: I've been trying to write this post for an hour. Every time I type a word, somebody rings the bell. I took Middle Child out trick or treating. He secured a large haul and decided it was time to come home. Have I mentioned that he's very intelligent?

Daughter was a Princess. Let me rephrase: Daughter is always a Princess. But today she had a Princess costume.

Random Thought #2: In other news, we have the revolving door into the germ factory.

See if you can follow this:
  1. After Columbus Day, Daughter got strep throat.
  2. As Daughter got well, the Saint caught it.
  3. The Saint got a really, really, really, really bad case. You've seen the last couple of posts about the... fortnight (first time I've ever used fortnight in conversation, written or oral)... the Saint and I've endured... The past fortnight has been rough because the Saint has been ill. The strep moved in and wouldn't leave. Three (count 'em: One, two, three) different rounds of antibiotics. And now we're on a fourth, but she's feeling better.
  4. Just in time, Daughter has strep again.
Random Thought #3: I'm rapidly approaching 50,000 words on the new novel. I've written 5,000 words this week. I got a little sidetracked because one of my friends from high school is an accomplished novelist. She's also a book reviewer, and every time Nelson DeMille releases another, she gets a review copy, and then I get a review copy... And I can't put down DeMille's latest.

My new novel is fun. When I wrote my first, which is still on submission, I had no idea how to write a book. I just sat down and typed. I cranked out more than a quarter of a million words, then cut that to just over a hundred thousand.

With this one, my agents "suggested" an outline. Much easier. And I'm projecting a rough draft of about 115,000 words, so I can cut it to 100,000. But I wrote the first one faster. I blasted it out in huge chunks of 4-and-5,000 words at a pop. These days, I'm laboring to crank out a thousand. Is it that I have a third child? That I'm no longer running my own consulting business?

Not sure. Probably both. What I can say is that the writing is better, tighter, more focused. The story is more natural. And my agents love it. So I've learned something.

Random Thought #4: Joe Konrath is often blogging about the publishing business. I found a great article about the music business at Backstreets. It's from a magazine in Pittsburgh, and it's about Bruce, Inc. If you want to learn more about this business, read the article about how Bruce runs his business. It's an eye opener.

Random Thought #5: I need a Cooperstown/Fly Creek fix. And some venison jerky. And a large bourbon. And a conversation and a few beers with Lt. Ed Novak. And a conversation and a few beers with the great Jim Atwell.

Adam

Labels: , , , , ,

2 Comments:

Blogger Mindy Tarquini said...

Re: the strep.

Buy lots of extra toothbrushes. And a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Poor the hydrogen peroxide over the bristles after you brush your teeth. Don't bother rinsing it. Replace everybody's toothbrush every few days. Do this until people stop getting sick. Toothbrushes are horrible vectors for reinfecting oneself after a bout of strep.

Good on you for the novel. We went to a friend's for Halloween. Which was great. I got to sit around and drink and somebody else worried about getting the door and trucking all our various children about the neighborhood.

10:45 AM, November 01, 2006  
Blogger Mindy Tarquini said...

sorry. POUR the hydrogen peroxide...yada yada

10:45 AM, November 01, 2006  

Post a Comment

<< Home