Book update
Long conversation with my editor yesterday on how to shape the enormous, far too long, and far too wide-ranging pile of material I handed her in the form of a first draft. I had done my own read-through in the days leading up to our talk, and could tell parts of it weren't working (the first two chapters in particular, which means people would flip through the early pages of the book, fall asleep instantly, and have to be kicked out of the bookstore at closing time without being given the opportunity to purchase said volume).

She suggested not trying to think of it as a whole work just yet, but to take the very best bits and develop those, and then we'd structure the book around the strongest points. "I'm your editor, I'm supposed to help you figure this out." It's true! I'm used to working 100% by myself, but I'm also used to working on very short pieces, not on whole entire books. So breaking it up into distinct chunks is more in line with how I structure things anyway.

I almost started working feverishly right then, but I was awfully wound up and felt like it would be better to sleep on it, let the suggestions percolate, and adjust my idea of how the whole thing is going to look.

The good news is, she seemed very confident about the material I'd gathered and was quite certain there was a good book in there, it just needs to be properly carved. First we, uh, select the porterhouse cut? I guess? And then garnish with ... appropriate vegetables? Or something? Sorry, vegetarian fails at extending meat analogy!

In other news, my old pal eyeteeth has started up a website of her stix comix, and you should read them because they're funny. Especially if you find dysthymia and lobotomies to be funny! And who doesn't?

Small Peculiar