I suck at blogging, but the book has a name and a date

I was shocked to see nine days had passed since my last blog. Not really an encouraging sign. But there's a bit of news. Henry (my editor) emailed today to confirm the publisher and editor have agreed to my second title I was considering. They like and want to go with Oh Don't You Cry for Me.

For those who have read or heard any of my stories that will appear in this book, you'll notice that most of the characters I find myself drawn to write about are irreparably flawed, scarred by the jagged edge of daily events that surround most of us who pass through life with dysfunctional families, the raw flesh of self doubt, and the too-frequent sacrifice of pride or money or ego required to move on into another day--yet none of these characters wants your sympathy. Each finds a way to deal with his or her predicament and goes about life without much of a proverbial chip on their individual shoulders.

Since my last blog a week and a half ago, I have worked daily on the new story. I passed 8500 words this week, and am happy to finally begin to see where things may be headed. I'm guessing the first draft should go to 11,000 or more words. That should give me a good 9500 word story after one pass at editing.

Henry also said we have a firm date for publication: April 1, 2008 for official release and story stocking. Books should ship March 1.

Armed with that information, I'm now opening discussing specific opportunities to talk, read, sign, sell, or generally find an audience.

Oh, I did get to spend last weekend writing at Dauphin Island. The wind kicked the seas up to five feet, so fishing was out. Instead, my great friend Charles Woods (Bubba outside work) and I piddled around a little with the boat while our wives walked the beach. Mostly, we shucked raw oysters raked up earlier that day by Mr. Johnson who sells from a little, green cinder-block building without even a sign (just pull up and one of the grandkids will yell for pawpaw that somebody wants oysters) and fried a few shrimp fresh off the Skinner's boat. I was busily at this computer by 5 a.m. both days to get in a couple of hours before the house woke up.

Until we meet again, happy writing, or reading, as the case may be for you......

Balancing writing with marketing

Since my last post I have continued with a new story that's reached 4850 words as of 7 a.m. this morning, traveled to Biloxi to work, then Birmingham for a charity golf tournament for the Kidney foundation, and back to Jackson to work on the back yard so I can sell my house.

Also learned from a trusted friend that one of the other stories might need a fresh look. So I gave it one. Boy was she right. I got her suggestions, along with an overview from my editor of the story, which (fortunately) he liked but agreed could use a little work here and there. I've re-read the story to think about how to fix a few of the obvious problems, but will hold the rewrite until after a couple of drafts of the new story are complete.

I've also been working the phones and email to begin trying to arrange appearances on panels or whatever I can find in the way of conferences next spring. Have made contact with a couple of people well-known in literary circles, who are helping me find the right committees to talk with. Also have begun talking with writers I respect to ask them to consider reading the MS and writing a blurb for it.

Balancing the needs of the book with 9-10 hour work days is quite fun. I hope the adrenalin doesn't wear off soon and the coffee pot stays full. Did I mention I'm building a new house and trying to get the old one ready to sell. Yikes, what was I thinking? Well, duty calls me to answer a few emails for work before tomorrow.....

Meeting the Publisher and Editor

Much has happened since my last post at the start of a vacation week. Importantly, I finished a story that week titled The Trust Jesus Society about the underground religious group that spray paints all the Trust Jesus graffiti on the interstate highway signs. My new editor is now looking at the story. I was also lucky enough to harvest a trophy-sized turkey on my vacation, with a 12 1/4" beard.

Two days after getting back from my cabin in Paint Rock Valley in North Alabama, I had a two-hour meeting with Jefferson Press publisher David Magee, who happened to be in Jackson on a book tour for his new book The South is Round. A very funny read www.david-magee.com. His editor Henry Oehmig was also there for the meeting, at which we agreed on next steps. We set a tentative schedule for an official April 1, 2008, release date, but will shoot for having finished books in our hands in mid-February in case I have an opportunity to appear at any conferences next spring.

My next duty is to finish another story or perhaps two. Last weekend during the long Easter weekend I travelled to Dauphin Island to write and finished 3,000 words of a new story that may go 6,000 words. More on that later.

The contract is about finalized and should be signed in two weeks or so. And a final schedule will be confirmed. Then the edits must be completed, cover art finished and materials prepared for the catalog. Work calls....I'll be back later for another post....thanks for reading.

Hens, gobblers and short fiction

This will be my last blog for a week unless I get a moment tomorrow night, as I'm starting a writing-hunting vacation after work tomorrow. My goal for next week is two finished stories and at least one gobbler. In these pics are a couple of gobblers from previous successful hunts. And a pic of turkeys in the front field. I need one last story for the collection, to present to the publisher April 3. With the clock ticking on the manuscript, my annual spring holiday is timely. I'll be at the Blue Moon Lodge, which my wife and I built ten years ago above a waterfall at the north end of the Paint Rock River Valley. From the cabin, there's not one electric light in sight in any direction, no television, no phones, no Blackberry signal, and only one radio signal--though we do have neighbors at the foot of the mountain. John and Marsha Langlois are my friends from high school that visited our place one weekend and loved it so much they bought the adjoining property and moved there from Atlanta. To see how it looks visit John's Web site: www.foggybottomfarms.com. The waterfall you see on his site is John's half of the fall. Mine's hidden by the trees above what you see in the photo. The cabin is about a hundred yards from the top of the waterfall. For now...I'm off to see if I can meet a deadline writing fiction the same way I meet a deadline writing some kind of corporate communications.....

Seeing Sonny Brewer

Driving home from the airport late yesterday my wife said, Hey, there's Sonny Brewer.

The author-editor-bookseller was standing on the sidewalk near Julip's restaurant talking on a cell phone, so I wheeled into the parking lot to say hello. Sonny lives in Fairhope, so I don't often see him in Jackson except during August for the release of the latest Stories from the Blue Moon. Sonny was the first editor to send a short story back to me and say, If you'll work with me, work hard on editing and rewriting, I'll publish this story. So I give Sonny a lot of credit for starting me out in the fiction publishing world. I know how many magazines claim that they are looking for the great young writer, the great new author, but the reality is that many of the editorial boards are overwhelmed and often staffed by students. Giving the unpublished writer the time it takes to read an extra few pages does happen, but if the pile is high it happens less frequently. The editors are forced to find some way to work through the piles of manuscripts and seeing publication credits on a cover letter is one way that helps. I've been there. I've seen it in action when I was on the editorial staff of The Black Warrior Review and as editor/publisher of Baltic Avenue Poetry Journal. AFter circulating stories for a couple of years with no success, I added to my cover letter that I had a story coming out in Sonny's anthology. Perhaps it was only coincidence that the next two stories I sent out were accepted. I can't say. Or perhaps working with Sonny made my writing that much better. Who knows? But I do know that thirty or forty rejection slips followed by three acceptances in a row is quite a coincidence.

So back to Sonny...we talked and hugged when I told him of the collection of stories I'd had accepted for publication, one of which is The Turkey Hunt that Sonny selected for Stories from the Blue Moon Cafe IV. Sonny was in town meeting with Johnny Evans at Lemuria (www.lemuriabooks.com), which some say is the best damn bookstore in the nation.

If you haven't read Sonny's work, you should. Go to www.overthetransom.com to read about his novels and other work....and you might enjoy seeing how Lemuria is supporting the literary world so check out their site and look at the writers who sign and read there....

Another story

This morning I chose to run instead of write. That's a struggle these days as I have limited time to write. Busy at the office and it's spilling over into the weekend. Crawled out of bed at 6 and decided to exercise first and write if I had time. The past few days I've searched through about 20 short story false starts, stalled stories and story outlines to select a couple of ideas for stories that could fit To Love and Die in Dixie. My goal is two additional stories for the publisher to consider for the book. I have half an hour this morning before heading to the airport for a quick flight to the Biloxi-Gulfport airport on my company's Beechcraft Baron. Nice little six-seater. Well, I think I better go knock out a paragraph or two...

Good news, bad news

It's been a week since I received the good news/bad news email from David Magee, publisher at Jefferson Press. First, the bad news: I didn't win the Jefferson Prize for a novel or short story collection. Big surprise, right? After 30 or 40 "not right for me" form letters from agents and many dozens of magazine rejections slips, I know the odds. I edited two literary magazines and for several years ran a small literary press, reading hundreds of good manuscripts that didn't get published. I never expected to win the prize, but we all take our shots.

Then lightning struck. David wrote that he and his editor liked my short story collection and had selected it for a 2008 release, after it made "the top 15" from the outside panel of readers.

I can't pretend it was just another day. I was certainly distracted at the office, spending too much time staring out my downtown eighth floor window at nothing in particular. That night I got up at 1:30 and sat in the dark thinking of titles. For now, I'm using To Love and Die in Dixie as the working title. Originally the title proposed was Charisma after one of the stories I like best, but a review of Library of Congress titles shows several books with that title.

So why the blog? During years of writers conferences, I learned I wasn't alone in wondering how it would feel to get a book published. Not a chapbook. Not a story in a magazine or anthology, but a hardbound book. My book. With bookstore distribution. Reviews. Appearances. Signings and readings.

Then the endless questions started piling up in my head. How does it all work? Who edits the ms? How do you get the cover designed? What about the contract--how does that work? I'd told myself that when the day arrived that one of my manuscripts found a home with a publisher, I'd record and share the entire experience. So here goes.

Just in case you're wondering: Yes, I immediately emailed back the next morning to seek confirmation (three or four times!) that I didn't misunderstand the offer. This was for real? A done deal? You really want the manuscript? And the answer came back yes, we'd definitely see a book in Spring 2008 and would sit down in April to discuss the deal and the schedule. I'll use this blog to record the journey of publication, from notification through launch. Come along if you like.