I wonder if everyone realizes how much time writers spend
waiting. Right now I’m waiting to get the edits for FAT CAT TAKES THE
CAKE. I turned in my manuscript a few
weeks ago. We usually don’t know when the edits will come to us, but it’s
always a rush to get them back.
No, it’s not that bad. There IS enough time, and I know the
editors have a lot on their desks, or desktops, or laptops. There is also the
matter of Berkley Prime Crime merging with NAL. My editor is still there, but I
have no idea what kind of chaos is happening there right now. Time will tell
what happens there.
Here’s one version, rather gloomy.
The Publishers Weekly report doesn’t sound good for mass
market paperback.
However, I know that the BPC (or whatever it will be called)
cozy books are big sellers.
But, back to the waiting thing. What am I doing in the
meantime? I’ve sketched out some ideas for books 4-6, in case I get contracted
to write more Fat Cat books. I also have some other cozy ideas up my sleeve—OK in
my computer. I’m also working on my Kaye George projects: proofing audio files
for BROKE, read by Veronica Newton (all 3 Duckworthy mysteries will have audio
versions after we publish this; writing the first draft of the second People of
the Wind tale entitled DEATH ON THE TREK; and—again—waiting for the galley
proofs (the very last stage) and the cover for REQUIEM IN RED, the second
Cressa Carraway Musical Mystery.
OK, so I’m not really sitting around waiting, there are lots
of things in my pipelines. So, instead of waiting, what I’m really trying to
say is that there are gaps in projects, but there’s no wasted time!
