Letter #8: Stormy weather, travels, deadline swarms (with bonus gorgeousness)
Sorry, oh so sorry, that I missed last week's letter! I was away at the annual Bat Cave Retreat/Workshop, which started in Bat Cave (hence the name) but has since migrated here and there and was down at the Outer Banks this year. One afternoon a fearsome storm crept in over the course of the afternoon. It was impressive to watch.
Watching it felt like seeing an impressive special effects designer at work. Like a storm at the edge of the world. We were dead the whole time.
Etc.
It was the fifth year since author extraordinaire Alan Gratz invited us to the first one, and it's the only annual event I haven't skipped even once in that time. This isn't the kind of retreat where one retreats. It's the kind where we work pretty much non-stop on each other's projects, trying to be helpful in cracking stories open, offering advice or commiseration or celebration about major developments in each other's writing lives or live lives. And the food; Alan's wife Wendi is a marvelous cook, and she plies us with delicious and even often healthful food (plus, afternoon cookies). The days are segmented into critique group rounds and meetings, and I went in planning to do all this extra work on my deadlines during the downtime and--spoiler--did not. So it's been a busy return.
It took the usual several days of catch-up to be able to get back to real writing cave work. And, oh boy, is there a lot of work to get back to. I also signed a contract for a book (one of the things I'm working on) and hope I can tell you the news soon. Speaking of which, I had a response from a lovely teen reader to the last tinyletter about where author deadlines come from, who gives them to us, aren't we are our own bosses? And it seemed worth answering here! (Feel free to skip if you know all this already.)
So, the thing about making books or comics or really any kind of writing when you work with a publisher is that you don't--can't--do it alone. My favorite part of the publication process, for instance, is working with editors. A good editor has so much to offer in terms of making your book the best it can be and being your advocate with allllllll the other people at the publisher who also work on the project and fill invaluable roles--those might include the copyeditor or the production manager or the cover artist or the art designer or the designer designer, the proofreaders, the people who upload information onto websites, who put together PR materials and try to get your book noticed, the ones who do marketing plans. There are a LOT of hands and minds involved in getting every single book onto the shelf. The author's work comes first, sure, and much of that does take place on the solo with you and your keyboard. But we are not in this alone. So, one reason deadlines exist is so all those people can do their jobs--they have to know when to expect an edited manuscript, etc. etc. Almost no one generates a publication-ready manuscript on their own, without need of editing, that can go straight into production (and maybe, honestly, no one). Thus, everyone has deadlines.
The other reason is that, frequently enough, we're paid in advance of writing a book or of finishing one to the point where it can be published, anyway. (Hence, the term advance!) I often think if writers weren't frequently paid in advance we'd be even worse about getting in our own ways. There's something to be said for knowing that you already took the money and unless you want to give it back, you have to deliver the work you promised. And for paying the bills to buy the cat and dog food and keep the lights on and the computer running.
So...deadlines! Deadlines also mean you've already sold things and thus can make plans to keep the lights on for the future. That said, there are some projects that might not be sold yet--I have a new book I'm working on that I took the first 50 pages of to Bat Cave, which is currently not sold or promised to anyone (and which I wish I could drop everything and write right now, but see aforementioned deadlines!)--and so my time to work on it depends on when I have that time to fit in between other Must Be Done things. We all only have so much brain, so keeping these different stories going isn't exactly like punching a clock. Some people can happily switch between projects at the same time. My approach tends to be more immersive--concentrate, clear that deck, open the next box, rinse, mix metaphors, repeat.
I hope that answered your question, lovely asker.
I was going to talk about tarot and watching the amazing Courtney Stevens do readings at Bat Cave and how I was inspired to buy the deck she was using (designed and created by Maggie Stiefvater, available online and from stores) and test out some plot spreads. But next time.
News this week?
Look what exists!
Girl in the Shadows author copies came! Yay! My magician girl has a whole book of her own. I hope you guys like it!
And how about I give you a sneak peek of the variant cover for issue one of Girl Over Paris by Brittney Williams (eep! I feel so fancy to have a variant cover!) and the cover for the second issue of Girl Over Paris by Ming Doyle? I am just continually even more excited for everyone to read this.
Ahhh, the gorgeousness. You can find order links to all the Cirque American stuff here. I also had some new interviews about Double Down and various things this week: at Fantasy Lit, Germ Magazine, and with Kendall Ashley at Distracted Blogger.
Have a lovely long weekend everyone!