It’s February 1st, and this is a quick update.
In early January, when it became clear to me that I would never in a gazillion years finish my revisions by January 15th, I called my lovely, long-suffering editor, Wendy, and made a new deadline: February 15th. Yeah, Happy Valentine’s Day.
So, I’ve basically been under house arrest since Christmas. No fun for me. I don’t even know what’s going on on “Heroes.” Oh, the humanity. (P.S. DON’T TELL ME! I DVR’d all new episodes. Yes, I know DVR is not a verb. It is now.)
My orphans file? The one where I stick the stuff I’ve written but realize won’t make the final cut? It is now 398 pages. Granted, a lot of that is duplicate. But I’m guessing there’s about 200 pages of cuts. The page count for the manuscript is 587 pages and climbing daily.
(Why am I telling you this? Why? Good God, it’s so freaking boring! I’ve become like those new parents who want to discuss the consistency of their kid’s projectile spit-up because that’s all they live and they have become virtual zombies. I have become a writing zombie. I am going to be that person at parties standing too close to somebody, not blinking, and speaking in a scary monotone about my book while they smile uncomfortably and look for the exits: “Oh, multiple plot lines…yeah, sounds tough…I, um, just remembered I need to have a liver transplant but it was nice talking to you…”) Even the scene that appears as a preview in the paperback of REBEL ANGELS has been cut. So, consider it a rare B-side.
In other news, I was sad to see that one of my favorite Texas women died yesterday–political columnist Molly Ivins. If you’ve never read Molly, I highly recommend that you do. My favorite is MOLLY IVINS CAN’T SAY THAT, CAN SHE? She was a dame who kicked butt and took names and she was hilarious, too.
Alright. The realms await. See everyone on the 16th.