Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

I'm back from New York. I finished my book before I left, with literally minutes to spare (printed last page at 8:20 p.m., car arriving to take me to airport at 8:30). I happily related this tale to my editor, who I think went a wee bit pale. I probably should have explained it was the sixth draft of the book. And most of the hard work was not in the last chapter. Not to say the book might not need more work. I expect it will. But at this point, I really need "fresh eyes" to point out things I hadn't seen in six drafts, so likely wouldn't see in six hundred.

Unfortunately, by the time I left for New York, I was already exhausted. I don't sleep well in hotels, so I had a serious case of what's known in the world of The Amazing Race fans as "killer fatigue." That meant by the time I'd had all my meetings, I was about as lively as a limp rag. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open during the second half of The Odd Couple. Which was pretty good -- Nathan Lane was a very good Oscar-- but dated? Oh, my.

I also saw The Three Penny Opera (which was weird) and the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, which was a lot of fun (and by then, I'd had more than four hours sleep the night before, hotel notwithstanding).

I've been recovering since returning, catching up on sleep and various other things, although my office remains a mess, and the garden...well, we won't discuss that.

On another note: Can The Da Vinci Code please open and be over with? Geez, I'm sick of the PR/hype. Which once again has me wondering, Why is it that something that's already "big" and famous gets so much publicity? Shouldn't that money/effort go to something that's not so well known? This is one reason I really don't understand marketing and PR, because I totally don't see the rationale here.

And now, off to work on the synopsis/outline for the next book while I wait to hear from my editor about MY LORD'S DESIRE. I've had a week off...time to get back to work!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand that part of marketing either. They're remaking The Omen (another religious movie about the birth of the antichrist) now too. It's like they're trying to keep up the hype. Dan Brown controls a third of the world's opinion. One of the other thirds are religions that don't believe in that kind of stuff, and the last one third just don't care. I follow in the last one. Someone's opinion should not count that much.

Cheryl St.John said...

My office is always a disaster after I finish a book, too! It's a wonder I can ever find anything during the entire writing process, but it's organized clutter. I know where everything is, it's just not put away or thrown away. LOL Hope you're well rested and ready to write again!

Margaret Moore said...

I'm just so sick of the hype -- and it's everywhere! Sheesh!

Re organized clutter: I read somewhere once that if your desk is messy, you mind is organized, and if your desk must be kept neat, you likely have a disorganized mind. Works for me! :-)