Editing, Crosses, and State College!

I have just finished the first round of edits for Kate Kennedy at Random House, and boy am I glad to have that out of the way. They weren't nearly as painful as I thought they'd be, but still. I am always in a great hurry to make my novel better. I finished the edits in four days (and nights) and now I will be waiting for the line-edit round, which my editor assures me will be pretty painless. It's getting exciting, though, because we're beginning to talk about the design of the book, which makes the whole process feel more real to me.

Also, I will definitely be doing a reading for Penn State next, next spring! I got my offer from them yesterday and it was very generous. I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to go back to State College and stomp around a bit. I miss those hills! Below is what it looks like approaching St. Louis, where I live now...(yes, that's a cross!)

The wonder of pies: again.

I'm obsessed with pies! Help, somebody! I keep making them no matter the cost of the fresh filling. Tonight's was cherry. I'm crust crazy. I love making dough more than I love a lot of things I should love more than making dough.

Bird Sisters Contract!

Hi everyone,

This is just to give you all an idea of how long the publishing process takes. In August, I accepted the offer for the publication of my novel The Bird Sisters, and today (October 9th!) I just received a pdf of the contract. For anyone out there who is a bit antsy as a person, I say good luck in the book business. For the past month and a half, I have been biting my fingernails and had even begun to doubt the reality of my situation.

My book is being published? I'd think. Yeah, right; you had a wonderful dream, that's all.

Well, it is in fact being published. I have signed the document and sent it back to my agent this afternoon. But I don't think I will ever fully believe the manuscript I slaved over in private for so long is ever really going to being turned into a book, even when it is a book. Or maybe I know it will be a book, but it won't be just mine anymore. It will be belong to a combination of wonderful people: my agent, my editor, my publisher, my readers (crossing my fingers here), my family and friends, the people I love and the people I've stopped loving...

You get the point.

It will no longer be that secret thing of mine that I worked on in coffee shops and academic hallways, sleep and wakefulness, day and night. Its life, its longevity, won't be up to me anymore. I don't think my bird sisters, Milly and Twiss, will ever leave me completely, but they'll leave me a little, which will be both happy and sad, limiting and freeing.

Thank you, I'll say to them when they do. Be well, my dears.

I don't know what they'll say to me.

Pies and Pumpkins= lovely Sunday

Pumpkin we drew...
Pumpkins we bought...
Brandy Apple Pie we made.