Monday 20 October 2008

Hello

Hel-l0000!

Is there anyone there? Is everybody working very, very hard?

12 comments:

Frances Garrood said...

I'm here!

mattfwcurran.com Web Admin said...

Hi, Eliza

I'm also here but I've been concentrating on my my blog for a bit as I've had some family news (it kinda impacts on my writing, but it isn't a MNWer related thing hence why I've kept it on my own blog). It's also the reason why I haven't posted anything on October's MNW book. Will try to put something on this week!

Tim Stretton said...

I'm here, but writing about US TV shows on my own blog (rather than writing my novel...)

Doug Worgul said...

Present.

Will tells me that he's shipping me a batch of bound review copies of my book this week. Very exciting.

I also just had a change in jobs. The magazine I was editing went bankrupt, which probably means that my career as a professional journalist is done (long story). I'm not happy about that. But I've landed safely as a public relation officer at a local hospital system. It pays well and is a good fit with my skills and background.

The job change/stress slowed my already slow writing progress on the second book. But at this point in the process most of the real work happens in my head and not on the page, and that hasn't slowed.

109 days and counting.

drw

no said...

I'm contemplating my novel.

Ellie said...

Ooh, lots of stuff going on. Congrats to both of you, Matt.

Doug--sorry to hear about the publication folding.

Ann Weisgarber said...

Elisa, thank you for snapping me out of a post-Hurricane Ike funk. The storm whipped through five weeks ago, and our house had some damage. Now my days are spent begging the insurance adjuster to take a peek at the sagging roof and the flooded floors that are rotting. So far, he hasn't made an appearance; it seems there are a millon people ahead of us. In the meantime, our little beach house in Galveston that was just ten miles from the eye of the storm, came through with only minor damage. Other houses nearby collapsed and washed into our yard.

There must be a story here somewhere.

It sounds like everyone is having a challenging October. On a positive note, this is all good material for the next book.

Good luck everyone. And Elisa, are you having fun as Restitution flies off the bookshop shelves?

Ellie said...

Ann! How dreadful about the damage to your house. So sorry. I should think the least you should expect from this is some good novel material.

(This is Eliza, btw, not 'Ellie'. I am seemingly stuck in the persona of my ten-year old today. Could be fun...)

I think the credit crunch isn't exactly helping book sales. It feels slow--slower than things did with PWTM. But I don't live near any bookshops so my only information comes from Amazon.

Alis said...

Aaargh! Working very very hard and then going on holiday and proceeding to blog every other day! Sorry not to have been leaving much of a trail here - but you're right, must try harder!

Ann Weisgarber said...

Elisa, I appreciate your sympathy. I'm doing much better now. I've just closed off that part of the house and am pretending to not notice the odd smell.

No doubt the lousy economy is slowing down book sales. Take heart, though. You've written another outstanding book and it will be recognized. In the meantime, it seems that suffering is part of the process.

Doesn't it drive you crazy to keep checking the numbers on Amazon? I had told myself I wasn't going to fall into that trap, and yet, I do it anyway. It's an addiction only writers can understand.

mattfwcurran.com Web Admin said...

Hi, Ann

Unfortunately I have been bitten by that bug – I am a slave to the ranking system. And that’s not all, I even Google myself on occasions. Most authors like some indication of how they are doing, and unless you're fortunate enough to be a bestseller writer, you'll never have an inkling - apart from Amazon, which is really the most nonsensical ranking system in the world and indicator of little (but I guess you have to be quite delusional to be a writer anyway!).

Having said that, there’s some truth in the whole credit-crunch/book-sales thing. Historically book sales aren’t affected that much by recession, but hardback sales are. If money is tight and you have the choice between paying £7.99 for a paperback from someone you’ve heard of, or £14.99 from someone you haven’t, then more people will opt for the first choice, regardless of reviews. However, as most of the MNW releases are also going into paperback you’ll should see a nice return on your work eventually, credit-crunch or not.

How has Playing with the Moon done in paperback, Eliza? That will be the yard-stick, I think…

Frances Garrood said...

I'm now totally confused about the Eliza/Ellie thing - are you the same person, or are there two of you?