Left Isis
Right Isis
             

January 11th, 2006

A couple of days ago, I got word from my editor that Hornswoggled is a go. “Great rewrite,” she said. Had she named me Queen of All Literature I couldn’t have been more uplifted. I’ll pick up the manuscript next week and make any spelling or punctuation edits there may be. I’ll also add the dedication and acknowledgments, and I believe that with this book I’m going to include a “Family Tree” cast of characters. Alafair’s family just keeps getting bigger, and in this book I range further afield into the extended Tucker family. I think that a “cheat sheet” at the beginning of the book will make it easy for the reader to remember who is who. When that is done I’ll send the final product to the publisher, and the book will be put into production. At this point, my understanding is that Hornswoggled will be out in August or September.

I think I may have mentioned before that I was nervous about the book. I like it myself, of course, but then all writers write books that interest them. But you worry that what interests you may not be so compelling to anyone else. I’m beginning to see that there’s a syndrome authors suffer from that makes them wonder if they’ll ever be able to produce anything good ever again.

And, by the way, you well may ask, Dear Reader, how I keep track of the gigantic Tucker family myself. Which kid is older, and whose in-law is that, and who is Sophronia again? The answer is that before I was well into The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, I could see that things were going to get out of hand pretty quickly. I forever had to keep going back and re-reading what I had already written because I couldn’t remember who I had made dark haired, or blue eyed, or short. So I created a “bible” for myself. I have a page for each character, with birthdate and physical description, personality traits, and any foibles, likes and/or dislikes. I add to each character’s vita as she grows or as his life changes.

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