Tiki Tom
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Done! 71,000 words.
Mike, this is positively one of the best comments I've ever gotten. (Aside from the magic words "Check Enclosed," of course.) Thanks!They are just letting you know they read it. Personally, I think that the, "the way I'd hoped." is a bit obnoxious but they probably think they are being nice, so how do you fault that? I REALLY doubt that they LITERALLY meant the "narrative voice," like whether it was first person present or not, was a problem for them. I think that it just means that the story in general didn't connect with that editor. For the record: RH is HUGE and grossly understaffed, everyone is over worked and I'm skeptical that the editor at Alibi is only working for Alibi. He or she (usually she) probably has a ton of other responsibilities elsewhere in the company as well.
In my opinion (and this is ONLY my opinion) Alibi exists so that RH can say that they are doing something to react to the digital market. They do want material that can compete with KDP one on one at the low digital price points (I believe not publishing in paper allows Alibi to charge prices in digital below what the bookstore agreements allow if you are publishing in paper ... bookstores hate to be dramatically undersold by digital) but in the end they probably still have the mentality of a big publisher; they are looking for blockbusters. Even in digital.
As you probably read sometime back I do work with (not for) RH on occasion. I virtually never try to sell them new material (except my own under very specific circumstances), that's not my area and I try stay out of it completely. Basically, I need them to trust me, so I keep my mouth shut. Except once. A friend of mine's father wrote an absolutely fantastic novel about the Vietnam War. It was called "Matterhorn" I took it to several editors at RH. I said. "I've NEVER asked you to read anything because I never want to waste your time but this is SERIOUS. This is a great book and it's going to kick a**!" No one wanted it or even took it very seriously, "Blah, blah, blah ... no one wants a book about Vietnam post 9/11. It needs work." etc. It did need work but ...
. . . Keep plugging, they are a pebble in the path of you blitzkrieg!
Okay, writers, vocabulary time.
In a recent story I lifted a phrase from, I think, Stephen King, and described someone as having a "glassy" fear in her chest. My writing group people pounced on it, squeaking, "What does that mean?" Well, I checked my unabridged dictionary. One of the meanings given is "hard, unyielding, unvarying," which is what I was going for. Sure, I can use one of those three words; but I like the look of "glassy" on the page. And it implies sharp and brittle, as well as hard.
Would you change it?
Been traveling and wound up the trip in NYC. Contracts finally seem to be finalized (except for the signatures and $$$) and the new pub date seems to be Fall '17 for Book One. That's a long way off but is a real relief. There's been a lot of nail biting involved in making this deal!
I'll have time to complete all the peripheral stuff, there's a bunch of essays that are intended to follow this project, before the first book comes out and then I'll be done with it. I'm looking forward to moving on to something less complicated, less of a weird mixture of fiction and non-fiction, less "important" in the eyes of others. A couple of pieces of light fiction, just me, no fancy deal, no other players, no freaking publisher until it's over and in the can. I'm very lucky to be able to do the other work, often as much like journalism as anything, but enough is enough for now!
I covered a murder trial last Tuesday, but my professor has yet to get back to me....
I could easily understand that. The trial I attended involved a man who allegedly strangled his wife to death in a fight. It was very solemn to sit through. We didn't get to hear the verdict as we left when the judge called recess for lunch.I hated covering murder trials. I had to sit thru a case once about a kid who beat his grandfather to death with a claw hammer to get money to buy dope, and that put me off trial journalism for life.