Finished the novel revision. Hear that? It’s the sound of me NOT TYPING. Um. Except now you hear the sound of me typing ME NOT TYPING.
::is stuck in loop, blog explodes::
This afternoon I shall attempt to catch up on email.
And after that, I might attempt something truly ambitious and (gasp) read a book. Oh, other people’s words, how I’ve missed you.
What I’ve got on deck, since a few of you have asked:
• Middle-grade novel called NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH, forthcoming from McElderry in Fall 2012.
• Early reader called FOX AND CROW ARE NOT FRIENDS, coming from Random House in, guess what, Fall 2012!
• (Project I can’t announce quite yet, book #1 currently scheduled to pub in—you guessed it—Fall 2012.)
• YA novel in progress, under contract with Knopf & scheduled for…Spring 2013. Gotcha!
And the answer to: why the long hiatus since your last book? Easy. As long-time Bonny Glen readers know, Scott went back to a fulltime office job as a comic-book editor in the summer of 2006. Took me nearly four years of Saturdays to write my next book. (The aforementioned middle-grade.) I’ve always said the only reason I was able to write so many books during my Little House years was because Scott was also a work-at-home writer back then.
When DC Comics shuttered WildStorm last December, Scott took the severance and came back home to freelance. And zing, I’m working everyday again. It’s lovely. We miss the affordable healthcare, of course, but other than that it’s heaven having him home. He’s got a stunning number of books in the works with Disney and other publishers, he’s writing cool music stuff for AARP, and he does all the laundry, cooking, and shopping. Sweet deal for me, eh? I get to play with the kids all day and then closet myself away in the evenings and write write write. Most afternoons, I work from 3-9, with a dinner break. To eat the dinner someone else has made for me.
In his WildStorm days, he had long office hours and a long commute and didn’t get home until 7—on a good night. And after a full day of mom-duty with five or six kids, 7pm was just too late for my brain to be at all thinky. Ergo: whirlwind Saturday writing marathons and a much longer percolating time for NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH.
The freelance life may have its downsides—well, downside singular, since all I can think of is the healthcare situation, but that’s a doozie; would you believe we’re currently paying almost $2000/month for health insurance? And with our family medical history, we’re unlikely to bring that number down, though heaven knows I’m looking. So, well, the one major downside is that our cost of living is monstrously higher. But money, as we all know, isn’t everything. This is a great way to live. Long morning walks; days full of books, music, games, and art; no traffic, no meetings, no boss; fulfilling work to do and the freedom to do it; and the love of your life never more than a few rooms away.
…then you know that it was inevitable that this day should wind up here.
The doll formerly (and briefly) known as Susie K. has now been rechristened “Jennifer.”
I know blogging has been light here lately. I’m revising a novel—the middle-grade that’s coming out from McElderry next year—and still working on the YA for Knopf, and now, joy of joys, bits and pieces of art are starting to come in for certain other projects (I can’t wait until I’m allowed to share peeks at stuff, but it won’t be for a while yet), and in short this is just a busy busy busy time.
But VERY SOON the novel will go back to my editor, and I will breathe a huge, liberated breath, and I might even start reading books again.*
I can’t read novels when I’m deep in a revision. Can’t get anyone else’s story mixed up in my brain. Which means it was TERRIBLY FOOLISH of me to read a third of the way into Connie Willis’s Blackout right before my manuscript was due to arrive with my editor’s notes. That is not a book to leave lingering for weeks on end.**
*That was a joke. I’m on a Cybils panel—of COURSE I’ll be reading books. Graphic novels. Delicious. I’m salivating already, and compiling my list…
**Which means Blackout will be back-burnered even longer. WHAT WAS I THINKING??
That’s at least a thousand words right there, I’d say. Yes?
Yikes! The days, they fly by!
Had a few links I meant to share last week:
• My latest GeekMom post, in which I gush about a new MMO my kids and I are enjoying the heck out of.
• It’s Cybils time again! Go nominate your favorite children’s & YA books of 2011 (published between Oct. 16, 2010 and Oct 15, 2011, to be specific). And kids’ book apps—a new category this year. I’m serving on the Graphic Novels first-round panel this time around, a fact which has my whole family excited. We’re somewhat enthusiastic about the category, as you may have noticed.