I knew that Diane from Nobody Knows Anything was sending me something, though I had no clue what. And I hadn't read this entry yet, so I remained clueless when the box arrived at my front door. I was on the phone to Pooks when I opened it, and saw that it was something edible (always a good choice for gifts for me) and, even better, chocolate. (I highly emphatically encourage this kind of gift-giving!)
Then I took a bite. And ohmygod, my knees went weak and I think my eyes rolled to the back of my head. Carl is going to be so jealous. heh. These brownies are so freaking good, they should be labeled "orgasmic brownies" and sold on the black market. Wow. (I cannot follow a mix on a box without something going significantly wrong, so I am doubly impressed that she made these from scratch!)
I do have to say, the names of the kinds of books she was finding (hypothetically, of course) were cracking me up when I read that entry today. I think the first one sums up how I was feeling for a couple of days... not, mind you, because anything went badly, but because it all keeps sounding so good. I cannot possibly live up to this image the agent / editor have. I am doomed. (I'll get over it, it's just how I felt after the first conversation with the editor.)
Which (hey, look ma! segue!) went really well, which of course, freaked me the hell out. I mean, I'm used to getting notes from screenwriting people -- execs, agent, etc. -- where I am basically told, "Wow, we loved it! It's perfect! Can you completely change it now? And we're probably not going to pay you! Thanks!" Instead, this editor was almost bashful about having a couple of questions, and then when I did flesh some stuff out, just kept agreeing with me, saying, "Oh, I love that!
Wow. I never expected the world of fiction to be so much better. Can I just say right now how much I love my agent and my editor? Loooooovvvveee them.
I have the deadlines now. I have to turn this book in Nov. 30th, which means a publication date of either very late in '06 or the spring of '07. The agent / editor were finalizing some of the contract stuff today, which is something they had to do prior to making any sort of notice in the trades. If and when they do make the announcement, I'll still post it here. And probably, at that point, have to figure out what I'm going to do with this space. This blog had always been a sort of release for me for the silly things that happen, but with real world deadlines, I'm not sure what it'll be. Maybe it'll stay the same. I would like to do a separate blog specifically for the book, and I have some ideas about how I want to do that, so maybe I'll keep them separate. Dunno. Watch this (chocolately goodness!!!) space.
Thanks, Diane -- you are amazing. (As are the brownies.)