Revisionary Revisions

Just spent an hour on the phone with my editor, talking about Revisionary [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy]. For the next two weeks, I’ll be setting Project Bob aside in order to address several pages worth of notes.

The good news is that she liked the book, and I don’t have to rip the whole thing up and start again from scratch. (I’ve never actually had to do that, but the irrational fear is always there…)

I’m feeling pretty good about our conversation. Almost all of her comments and feedback felt less like “you suck!” and more like “hey, here’s a way to make this better/more clear/more interesting,” which is how it’s supposed to work, but writer-brain sometimes gets stuck on the “you suck!” piece.

So assuming no unexpected crises, in two weeks or so I should be done with this book (with the exception of page proofs). There’s a good chance this will be the last Magic ex Libris book, at least for a while. It’s also my last book written as a full-time state employee. It’s a bit of a turning point in more ways than one.

And that raises a Very Important Question – if this does end up being the last Magic ex Libris book, how the heck am I going to bring Smudge into whatever I start working on next?