Best Writing Day EVER!
Tuesday was a great day for writing. I found a secluded spot, and the fickle goddess of focus graced me with a double portion. I was deep into writing and nothing could pull me out. I LOVE that feeling.
I revisited an essay I thought was done and made some final changes. I now proclaim "Just To Sit and Cry and Not Be Bothered" to be finished.
"Hard Preaching" turned into "Call Me Israel and I Will Proclaim the Day of the Lord." I got very close to being finished in only one sitting. Unusual for me.
My agent called to say that they are still working out a couple of things in the contract, but it's all language stuff and no need to worry. And I got a big form from the Eerdmans publicity department that I have to fill out. It looks like a royal pain in the ass, but it has to be done.
What continues to surprise me is how little I know about what is going on. Here is all I know: I wrote some stuff and an editor liked it. He has put together a proposed group of these essays to appear in a book. An agent I've never met is negotiating a contract I've never seen. There is a deadline of some kind, but it's like no deadline I've ever known. We were going to be done by January 15th, but that turned to the end of January and I don't really know when anything is going to happen. I think the manuscript will need to be in the printing process in the Spring and will be in the stores...sometime.
I just keep writing essays and sending them to Grand Rapids like a good little boy. Thank God I trust my agent and my editor. They seem to be managing the details.
I contacted Chuck (editor) and asked if there was any way I could fly to Grand Rapids for a couple of days to work on this with him. I think we would accomplish a lot with a few days of focused work. And I think it would help me feel like I had a better sense of what is going on. I'd like Eerdmans to pay for the ticket since I'm not exactly bursting at the seams with extra cash. I don't know if they will. I don't know if Chuck even has the time. I don't know anything. I don't even know what a person should ask or shouldn't ask. So I ask everything.
I know there will be a lot of other things to do. Presumably there are intros to write and people to contact about writing a blurb or whatever. I don't know when I'm supposed to do whatever I'm supposed to do.
Get the feeling I'm a bit confused?
I'm not the least bit discouraged, though. This is about the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. And it actually feels kind of nice just to work on my essays and wait for people to tell me what to do. I don't get that luxury in any other part of my life. I have to be "Mr. Initiative" all the time. This is a nice change.

rlp