Thursday, October 30, 2008

Change of Plans

Yesterday was a busy day, with the plumber, the electrician, and the foam insulation guys all working in the new house at the same time, plus new appliances being delivered. Livia and I were kept hopping, making decisions and running to Lowe’s and Home Depot to pick stuff up.

In the midst of all that, I was emailing back and forth with one of my editors concerning a new series I’m going to be writing. I was under the impression that the three books would be written next year, but as it turns out, the publisher needs the first two ASAP, with the third one to follow fairly quickly after that. I’m about a fourth of the way through another book, luckily for the same editor, so he asked me to put that one aside, write the first two books in the new series, and then finish the one I was working on now, followed by the third book in the new series and then the next book in yet another series. Me being me, I said sure, no problem.

And it really shouldn’t be. I have a pretty good outline on the current book, and I’m at a point in the story where it should be easy to suspend things and then pick it up again in a few months. All this really does is tighten up the lead time between manuscript delivery and publication date for several of these books, and that’s more of a problem on the publisher’s end than on mine. Still, there’s not much leeway for anybody involved in these projects, so we’re all going to have to be pretty efficient, starting with me. I think I’m up to it (he said hopefully).

5 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

And this is why you're a professional and so many of us aren't.

mybillcrider said...

I don't doubt for a second that you can do it. Maybe even finish early.

David Cranmer said...

Ditto Charles's comment. I became winded at the mere thought of all that you have on your plate.

Ray said...

I have nothing but respect for writers who are able to juggle so many projects at one time.

Anonymous said...

Ray's comment reminds me of the story told about Erle Stanley Gardner - a fiction factory if there ever was one. Supposedly Gardner was in a room with three secretaries. He would dictate a scene for one story to the first lady, then turn to the second secretary, dictate a scene to a second story and then dictate a third story to the last secretary. Then go back to the first secretary and continue the story. I don't see how he could have kept all three stories separate, then again maybe he didn't. Pulp mags were pretty forgiving about a lot of stuff because it was to hard to get good material.