So the first 100 (or very very close to it) are bundled up and on their way to London with the First Reader.
I don’t know what it is with trips to London and milestones for this book, but there you have it. Anyone up for a trip to London so I can hit 150, 200, 250?
But the First Reader feedback has been considered, probably summarily dismissed, and onwards we go. Calling Mollie Glick, Doubleday, clear your calendar… it’s coming…
It is a great thing that my writerly ego is larger than the Sahara Desert, because, though I tried, valiantly, to get our local library to host myself (and the kids! I used the cuteness of the kids as an application weapon!) during their local author day, I received word yesterday* that we were not accepted as one of the presenting authors. While in my younger days I would have attempted to mobilize you, the vast internet army that has risen to our call to action in the past, I’m going to give it a pass on this one.
I’m hoping that gives you fine folks, who’ve been such great supporters, a little well deserved rest. Consider this like a doctor’s note (though I’m not a doctor) to take a little time for yourself. You’re welcome.
Because, who knows, if one of you out there has Mollie Glick’s number or ear** I may be hitting you up to put in a good word for a very nice, very humble author of a little book about butterflies, a retired hockey player, his plumber wife, and Old Sturbridge Village. Amongst other things.
Coming soon to a bookshelf near you.
* This sounds like I got a letter hand-delivered by some sweaty, grimy guy hopping off a horse, taking off his hat and wiping his brow while handing me the letter at the same time. This is not the case.
** Good God I hope not literally.
So some of you out there may be doing something for NaNoWriMo. More likely than not writing. Or avoiding writing.
Well, I’m not attempting to splurt 50,000 words into a document this year, but I wrote a tool, a long time ago now, to help you write a lot of words without fussing too much over what those words actually were. It’s called Writer.app, and it’s for the Mac.
It doesn’t let you delete — the delete key simply strikes out your text. The goal is to get you to stop using the delete button and get some words to the screen. Stop overthinking your prose and just get down to writing it.
Personally, I find the software useful in the early drafting phase, if I’m not using a pen and paper. But you’re left with your bare bones, oftentimes badly spelled, pedal to the metal text that you can pull into an app like Scrivener or Tinderbox where you can massage it in the editing phase.
In fact, with Butterfly I wrote the entire story down in notebooks, transcribed that mess into Scrivener, and then re-wrote large sections of the book in Writer.app. When I was done with a chapter I would export it to my pasteboard without all the stricken text and paste it into a new Scrivener text document. I’m deep, way deep into the editing phase now, polishing that last draft into something suitable for human consumption (but hopefully not like pink slime), so I’m far away from anything like NaNo and Writer.app, but for those of you who are in the throes of it, well, you’re welcome to it.
It works on Mavericks, as well. At any rate, if you find it useful, I’d love to hear about it.
I want to thank all of you who voted for Verano the Fish in the Goodreads Choice Awards.
Unfortunately we didn’t make the cut for the semifinals, but we did gain a few new readers along the way.
I’m busy trying to get a read-aloud version out, but our voice talent is a bit finicky pickety and have possibly been on strike these last few months, without me realizing it.
So this isn’t the last you’ve seen of Verano, but it’s certainly the last you’ve seen of Verano in the Goodreads Choice Awards.
Thank you, again, and we hope to have something new for you soon.
Listen, there’s only a few hours left, but there’s still time for you, yes, you, to go vote in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2013 for Verano the Fish for Best Picture Book.
You can even download the book, for free, from Goodreads.com! This way you’ll possibly be even more informed than on the ballot where you just pick a name because you’ve seen their name on a lot of signs on people’s lawns*.
If Verano gets enough write-in votes today it’ll be listed, alongside with those other excellent picture books, in the semifinals starting November 11th and would fulfill a lifelong dream**.
So log into Goodreads.com, create an account if you need to, and go vote for Verano the Fish! Please?
* NB. This may or may not be how I vote. I am possibly not qualified to be a citizen. But I wrote a decent story about a fish, so I have that going for me.
** In this case, lifelong consists of the last week or so, in which I was made aware of the contest.
Update: In the interest of ease-of-use, vote for Verano the Fish here: Best Picture Book category
It’s that wonderful time of year again, the Goodreads Choice Awards season!
This past year (according to the eligibility rules for the award, the year stretches from November, 2012 to November 2013 — this may be fallout from the Mayan Apocalypse) I’ve had two books… not quite published, let’s call them ‘released.’
The History of the Mayan Ball League was the first, coming shortly before the Mayan Apocalypse, which happened and did a real number on book sales, as everyone on the planet perished.
Verano the Fish came out in May, 2013 and is the lovely story of a little fish, his family, and a hapless fisherman. It’s written by me and illustrated by my family, which is good, because I couldn’t illustrate my way out of a paper bag.
Both books are a nice short length and, even better, both are *FREE*! Or at least they are on the platforms on which that sort of thing is allowed. Where I couldn’t make them free I made them as cheap as possible. I really, really wanted to make them more expensive in Belgium, because, well, they know what they did. But I didn’t.
So why am I writing you today, you ask?
Great question.
So I would like to humbly beg that, if you enjoyed either of those books, you would vote for them in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2013.
If you haven’t read them yet, I would humbly beg that you go read the books on your iPad or Kindle or nook or whathaveyou. Read them in your browser, as you can download them both, for free, from Goodreads.com and then, if you like them, go vote for them.
You can vote for Verano the Fish in the Best Picture Book category. The History of the Mayan Ball League is more of a Best Humor sort of book.
Both of these books will require a little extra work on your part, and for that I apologize, profusely. You’ll need to write in the entries. Like so:
Same goes for The History of the Mayan Ball League.
And once you’ve done it, like the voting sticker you receive at the booth, you get a nice little pat on the back, social media-style:
So please, go vote for Verano the Fish and The History of the Mayan Ball League at the Goodreads Choice Awards 2013. I have just the thing to wear on the red carpet, and some sparkling acceptance speeches to give.
Get out and vote for Verano the Fish (you’ll have to write it in) for the Goodreads Best Picture Book of 2013, please:
https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-picture-books-2013
If you’re in Boston, you’re probably already in a voting mood, from the mayoral race, so why don’t you keep on exercising that freedom to show what you really love and care about, even if it’s only the lesser of two or three evils and vote for Verano the Fish?
My kids have no idea that the Red Sox are not supposed to win the World Series every few years. My son was born a year or so after they won in 2004 and my daughter had the consideration to be born in between games of the 2007 World Series against the Rockies. And that’s not even getting into the other sports teams from my home land and their successes.
But now that the baseball season is over, and, for Red Sox fans, it’s ended in such a satisfying, shocking way, the Red Sox fan in your life may be feeling at loose ends with him or herself.
Well, no more, I have your solution! Further Fenway Fiction
I had really thought, when John Lackey was shut down in 2012, that I’d have another parallel to draw to the main character in my own “The Curious Case of Doctor Belly and Mister Itcher,” which was a story about a successful pitcher who gets hit in the head with a line drive and is never quite the same again. The original inspiration was a Matt Clement-like pitcher who showed such promise and just never seemed to pan out for the Red Sox.
But Lackey really pulled it together and man, what a finish!
So if your favorite Red Sox fan is suffering from withdrawal I would have a heart, if I were you, and go pick up a copy of Further Fenway Fiction (they’re going for less than $5 on Amazon right now!).
Tell me about your purchase, of any book, really, and I’ll send you a signed bookplate to paste in there.
* Interesting historical note: Fenway Fiction
