Tuesday, October 30, 2012

An Author's Life: Beginning Again Again*

This post has been on my list of Posts to Write for a while, but before hunkering down tonight, I had to do one more thing. I reread all previous ones tagged "author" to get a sense of my own twisted history. Sentimental journey, for sure.

Four years ago, I invoked the pregnancy metaphor to write about book dedications and the ridiculousness (read: stupidity) of writing one book after another.

Such a great metaphor, here it is again: Having recently endured two book miscarriages, I needed to wait a few months before announcing that I'm expecting a new book to be out this Spring. It will be my ninth.

I wanted to wait until a mutually-acceptable contract was signed (done!), until I'd connected with my new editor (done!), and until I'd gotten far enough into writing to fall in love with this new manuscript, even when it's giving me heartburn and sleepless nights. Manuscript due: January 1, 2013. Publisher: Liturgical Press. Working title: Building Church and Faith With Social Media: Embracing a Future That's Already Here.

So there you have it, news about this author's life as well as an explanation for skimpy posting on this blog.

Had to laugh (at myself) as I read through my previous posts about my writing rituals. Yes, my nails are once again clipped down to power-typing length and our refrigerator is stocked with salami. For this book I've switched from Diet Cream to Diet Orange soda; from Cheez Doodles to corn chips. This change in protocol seems to be working so far.



*I've stopped numbering these posts for two reasons: 1) I've lost count; and 2) I stink at Roman numerals.