Regarding "The Novel"

I just finished reading James A. Michener's "The Novel," a multi-layered book about publishing, rural life, diverse characters, and writing.

While the novel has its shortcomings—it's a slow read—it provides insights into the book-publishing industry, even though it was released in 1991, before the digital age and the advent of ebooks. 

Michener, a prolific author of more than 40 books (including a Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for "Tales of the South Pacific"), writes about what happens after a manuscript is sent to a publisher. And unless the author is a Stephen King, Danielle Steel,  or John Grisham (you get the idea), the book goes through several steps (slush pile, editing, rewriting, marketing, and promotion) before it sees the light of day. 

James A. Michener

Michener approached this 400-plus page novel with four points of view (author, editor, critic, and reader), with each confronting their own personal and professional challenges. He even throws in a murder near the end that takes the story off track. 


For those who want to understand the publishing process, "The Novel" fills that need. The book was recommended to me by an avid reader who found the publishing aspect fascinating. And as a published author, I found it interesting as well. 

Another aspect about Michener that caught my attention was that he was 84 when "The Novel" was published, and he went on to write four more books before he died in 1997 ("Matecumbe" was published posthumously in 2007).

Until the next time . . . 

New Horizons Published on May 1

I was glancing at my posts and realized that while I gave progress reports on "New Horizons" the past few months, I never announced that it had been published. 

Well (drum roll, please), family, friends, readers, and other interested folks, "New Horizons" was published May 1 by Wings ePress. 

I suppose it slipped my mind because I was traveling across Greece from April 21 to May 3. And then it took a few days to recover from the trip including getting my body adjusted from the seven-hour time difference.

But as I said, it's out there, in print and e-book format. It's available at the Wings website as well as reliable Amazon.

The novel, the third book in the "John Ross Boomer Lit Series," is about John and Sally Ross's 10-day guided tour to historic Budapest. It's a wild and wacky trip as they meet a variety of traveling companions to make for a memorable journey.

And they also have to deal with what is going on back in the States as best they can. Nothing is ever easy for John and Sally. 

You can read an excerpt here.

Until the next time . . . 

WIP Update: Seventh Rewrite

I've completed six rewrites on my work in progress; now it's on to a seventh.

As mentioned in my last post, I thought the manuscript would be ready to send to my editor after six rewrites. I also noted that if I wasn't completely satisfied, I go back over the third installment in the John Ross Boomer Lit series.

And that's what I'll be doing over the next few days. There are still several tweaks to make before letting it leave my hands. It's now more than 64k words, up from 37k after the first draft.

Writing the first draft is probably the easiest part of the process, at least for me. I simply sit at the keyboard and the words generally flow from my fingers. 

And I know beforehand that it's not only a first draft, but a rough draft that will have to be polished through rewrites and revisions. For me, that's when the real work comes in—making all the pieces fit, tying loose ends together, and making sense of it all. 

It's my hope that this will be the final rewrite. After a while, I get a little tired of reading and rereading passages. That's when my editor and proofreader go to work on the manuscript.

Until the next time . . .