Another step...

Since Kira brought it up…

No, Kira didn’t really mention much about what went on between The Call and the issue of Whispers in the Dark (aside from the really important stuff—title, release date, cover). No discussion on the blog about edits or galleys or art fact sheets. Don’t feel bad or left out, Honorary Playfriends, she barely mentioned any of that to us! I often wondered if Kira was trying to be sensitive—not rubbing our un-published noses in the “Nyah-nyah, I have a book contract! Isn’t it cool what I’m doing and you’re not!”

I imagine many of the Honorary Playfriends wanted to hear all that minutiae between sale and store—after all, many of you are aspiring authors too, and I know I found all of that to be terribly fascinating when she did talk about it (still do, by the way.). At the same time, it can be rather depressing to have a good friend do what you’re wanting to do—even if you do get to live vicariously through her. It’s a double-edged sword. Of course, then there’s also the fact that a lot of our Honorary Playfriends aren’t writers, and it’s hard to guess how much or how little information readers want to know about the behind the scenes stuff.

I, however, am the Problem Child and, therefore, won’t worry about any of that. :-)

I got my galleys last week!

I’d heard of galleys before—the last chance to look over the book for typos and such before they become immortalized in a book for folks to email you about. I was eagerly awaiting mine, and I must say, they arrived long before I expected them. (And, yes, I’m still in Rejected-far-too-many-times Mode and cringed when a big envelope arrived from Harlequin. Never mind that I had to sign for them and no one sends rejection letters by courier service. Old habits die hard, people.)

I held my breath as I opened the package. These are Galleys-with-a-capital-G! They are Important! They are Special!

I don’t know what I was expecting—thicker, fancier paper, maybe? Some kind of binding—even just a 3-ring notebook? Bells? Sparkles? Fireworks that went off when I opened the package?

I was sorta disappointed.

They look remarkably like any other manuscript on my office floor.

Really. Just unbound paper with a rubber band around it. Courier New 12-point font, double-spaced with one-inch margins on 8 ½ x 11 paper. Pretty much exactly what I sent in, only this time the header is different and the lines are numbered. I was afraid to put it in my office in fear I wouldn’t be able to tell it from the other manuscripts in there. (Okay, so that’s a slight exaggeration. It has a title page with important-looking numbers on it and a cover letter telling me when I have to have them back to my editor. Important distinction from all that other junk in my office.)

And, trust me, going through this book with a sharp eye on every comma and preposition (because, after all, I don’t want folks emailing me to point out mistakes in the book) isn’t half as glamorous as it sounded either.

But it’s still pretty freakin’ neat. It puts me one step closer to that really cool picture Kira posted of books with her name on them.

Hmm, I wonder if they put the fireworks and sparkles and stuff in that box? (Maybe Kira just didn’t mention it…)


PC