Popping Back In--At Last!

You would think, having finally met both my deadlines, I would have been back in here, trumpets blaring with the announcement. And I meant to be, truly. But I posted over on Shrinking Violets (for the first time in months) and got busy being carried by my momentary euphoria at having finished.

The crash came the next day. I suppose it is inevitable, but it always surprises me, that absolute emptiness that follows finishing a book. It makes sense, as my life has usually been consumed with the book. It—or they, in this case—have loomed large in my life for months now. Then suddenly they’re gone. The odd thing is, my emotional wet-rag state is always accompanied by a cleaning frenzy, as if scrubbing traces of the book from my life is part of my re-entry into reality. I need to reacquaint myself with the real world and remember how to live in it.

Plus there were always a hundred things I let go of as I neared the deadline. I simply had to get to those before they became emergencies. Galleys had to be reviewed and returned to my editor, I had a pile of bills on my desk, taxes to get started on, a child who graduated from college and deserves much celebrating, etc.

But now I’m back, more or less. The Best Editor Ever already has revisions back to me on Nathaniel Fludd Four, so I will dive into that starting Monday. Best news? The revisions are minimal, which shocks me to know end. (I never have even a drop of perspective on a book once I’ve finished it. Not one lousy drop.) I was afraid she’d say, Um, could you start over, from scratch, please?

But she didn’t, which is just one of the things that makes her The Best Editor Ever.

I also have some appearances coming up that I’ll be posting about in more detail, but for now I wanted to let people know I’ll be attending TLA and speaking on a panel with Grace Lin and Suzanne Selfours. I’ll also be doing some school visits in the Austin area the day before.

Then in May I’ll be coming to the east coast! I’ll do signings in Washington DC, New York, and Boston. The rough dates are DC the 17 and 18, New York the 19, and Boston the 20th, but I’ll have to confirm those as plans firm up.

I’ll also be doing a signing at Chaucer’s in Santa Barbara, again, date to be announced. So lots of lovely opportunities to get out and see people after being sequestered in my writing cave for so long!