A New York-based publisher (nameless for now) has offered me a contract for my novel, Wait a Lonely Lifetime. This news is now 48 hours old. Where have I been? What have I been doing? How am I taking this so much in my stride?
This is a life-long dream come true and it feels so inevitable. So cool? So it hasn’t sunk in? So life goes on and I still have to get up and go to work?
You bet. Bills and laundry don’t wait just because you get a publishing contract. Letters, cards, emails, comments on my FB page, clever responses to cryptic notices on LinkedIn, a few more friends and connections.
Where does it all end? And how do I get back to writing the next book?
4 Comments
1. You deserve it
2. it will take at least another 48 hrs before you can start writing again
3. The next book will be even better because now you know that ‘the gatekeepers’ love your work. You’ve been validated!
4. I’m kelly green with envy.
As long as it isn’t pea green! Hi, Jeff. That’s the word I was using in my head: validated. Ain’t it a pity though that we seek validation/approval for something we know we have to do? Self-validation just isn’t enough.
I’m thinking about writing all the time – got the next scene ready in my head but I can’t get to the page! So, if I’m not on the job by Saturday PM, what then?
Thanks, Jeff.
Ha. Okay … if you’re not on the ‘intended’ next book by Sat. p.m., then pull out a brand new ‘canvas’ and start writing the replacement book.
Either it will be the right one to write … or it will limber up your creative muscles to get back to the one you (presently) think is the next one.
You might not get back to the ‘next’ one until you’ve written 5 or 6 other new ones. And that’s okay.
Start afresh, a new project eh? This book (the one to be published) was just that! Something different in another genre because I was stuck.
Now, just look what that got me!
Good advice, Jeff. Thanks.