Changes And Dreams by Mariam Kobras

 

Everything changes.

Everything has changed. My life used to be so peaceful. I used to get up in the morning, make some coffee, feed the cat, look out of the window, listen to the silence for a while, and then drift towards my laptop and the writing that was patiently waiting there for me. I’d read over what my characters did the day before. I would marvel a bit at their antics and wonder where they would take me today, tweet a bit, and start to write. My time was my own until the family came home for lunch when life would pick up some speed and noise, and I might need headphones to get some writing done.

Now, I wake up to a whirlwind of action that leaves me a little breathless at times. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me there would be so much work involved in getting published? And I’m not talking about writing. That has gracefully stepped into the background for the moment.

I’ve just learned a new word: deadline.

A deadline is something someone else puts on you like a coat, and it better fit or the seams will creak, or even tear.

My deadline-coat fits rather comfortably. Since I have no comparison, I’m fine with what is coming my way.

So far, the road to getting published has been a short, smooth ride on a straight, wide road.

 

I “met” my publisher on twitter about eighteen months ago.

For quite a while, the contact was no more than small talk and the usual twitter patter, until I posted a few pages of my novel on my blog.

Only hours later I got a message asking when the book would be finished, and when they could see it.

At that point, I was still editing, and told them to give me another six weeks or so…I know; you don’t tell a publisher to wait. But what was I to do? It was in fact, not finished.

They asked a few more times, and at some point I just emailed it with my query letter that went something like this: “Here it is then.”

There was not much of a synopsis, just a few hastily glued-together sentences, and the same applied to the bio.

All of it piled together in a not very orderly email, the novel as an attachment, and off it went.

A few weeks later I got THE call.

I signed my contract, and the work began.

The schedule is tight.

The publishing date has been set, the book will be launched on January 17. Before that can happen, the editing and proofreading has to be done.

I’ve been told it should be finished by mid-July for several reasons, among them printing galleys, long lead reviews, pre-pub marketing, and other mysterious things I have not understood or been even told yet.

I’ll be going on a pre-launch book reading and signing tour of the US myself in a month, and I’m supposed to meet reviewers, book store owners, book clubs and even give a TV interview.

I’m leaving home June 26, so that is my personal deadline. Six weeks on the road will not give me much time to edit, and by the time I return it will be August.

A quarter of my second book is finished (my publisher would say, a good third, but we will discuss that when we get to it). It is a sequel to The Distant Shore, and I think I can see one or two more with these protagonists in the future.

Parallel to that, I’ll be starting work on collaboration with a mystery/thriller writer on a new series. This is something I have not done before, and I’m looking forward to starting it when I get back from the US.

 

Like I said. Everything changes.

Before, writing was a guilt-ridden pastime, always done with one eye on the waiting housework. Now it’s my job.

Gee, I like it so much better this way.