Contracts, and galleys, and ads -- Oh my!

Updated post Tuesday night: Here's the ad I talk about in the last paragraph of today's blog. Hope you can read the copy.

Original post Tuesday morning: I'm back at the office today -- I'm still coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose. The tip of my snoz looks like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Oh well, I'll just consider myself pre-Christmas festive.

Update on The Trouble With Demons: Even being sick I managed to get five and a half pages written yesterday on Chapter 10. I'd love to finish it up tonight. And yep, I'm still having first draftitis. I'm having to remind myself that it's on the second pass that my books come to life. On first drafts, I feel like I'm constantly doing CPR. The difference between my first drafts and final manuscript are rather jaw-dropping. Editing & rewriting -- it's a beautiful thing.

The FedEx guy came yesterday, and the dogs went into a barking and surging frenzy to the front door. That and the doorbell ringing danged near made me jump out of my skin. It was my publisher's contract for The Trouble With Demons and Bewitched & Betrayed. Yea! I've been waiting on these. A lot of time can pass between when an offer is made to buy a book to when the FedEx guy scares the crap out of you tossing your contract at the front door. The editor/publisher makes an offer, the agent counters that offer, the editor/publisher counters the counter offer. And on it goes. Needless to say, this is the nail-biting part for the author. My job was to wait, and receive email updates from my agent. If all goes well, when the dust settles, everyone is happy. And with this contract, all went well, so everyone is happy. Last night I read over the contract to see if I had any questions (I didn't). So I signed it (in triplicate), and will FedEx it back to New York.

Next week I should be getting the galleys for Armed & Magical. This is my last look at the manuscript before it is printed. It's typeset and looks just like the final book except it's not bound. I can catch most of the boo-boos at this stage because it's not Times New Roman 12 pt (which is what I write in). A different typeface makes those typos jump off the page and smack you in the face. Proofreaders at Penguin in NY are reading it at the same time, so between all of us, we hopefully will catch everything.

And I've started advertising my books in Realms of Fantasy -- the industry's top magazine for Science Fiction and Fantasy. It's super-slick and gorgeous. If you don't already subscribe, you should. My ad is in the February issue (it'll be on newstands soon). The cover article is on the upcoming movie version of The Golden Compass. My ad is on page 14 right in the middle of the cover article -- which is primo placement. I was very happy, to say the least. I'll be advertising in two issues in the spring/summer -- one right before Armed & Magical comes out, and one afterward.

I'll see if I can post the ad for you all to look at. I won't be able to get to it until later, so check back.

Lisa