Dot Dead Diary

Pregnant Father

My wife and I have four children, and we sent out birth announcements for each one after they entered the world. But we did not send out pregnancy announcements before the blessed event. It seemed like bad luck – tempting the Evil Eye.

The analogy between the world of children and of books is pretty close. There’s the labor, the waiting, the flurry of activity with the birth, but when it comes to announcements it fails. So I am ready to announce that Midnight Ink is publishing my new book, Smasher. Its due date is October 9, 2009. Kaynahora. Spit. Spit. Spit.

It’s been exciting to hear the enthusiasm for the pending arrival from Bill Krause, publisher of MI, Steven Pomije, the PR manager, Courtney Kish, my PR rep, and Connie Hill, my editor-to-be.

Now comes the planning. I don’t have to paint the nursery walls pink, but I will have to give my website a new coat. And then there are visits to plan so friends and relatives can inspect the newcomer (e.g., at bookstores and conferences). I’ll keep you in the loop.

This was cross-posted on the InkSpot blog here.

Input and Output

I keep track of my output on an Excel spreadsheet.  What do you expect from a Silicon Valley nerd?  (I've shared the template with my old friend Larry and he credits it with propelling him to finish an 80,000 word opus in less than three months.) 

My weeks run from Wednesday to Tuesday.  From book to book, Fridays tend my most productive (verbose?) days even though Friday night is the Sabbath so I knock off early.  Saturday then is my least productive. 

In the week I finished yesterday I wrote 10,132 words.  A 10K week.  I think that's a record for me.  Going into yesterday I was pretty confident about hitting 10K, but next to me in the cafe where I write were three women interviewing candidates for their dating service.  Like any novelist, I'm an eavesdropper and listening to the ups and downs (mostly downs) of a couple dozen women's dating histories was better than any TV reality show. 

Okay then back to the subject.  I measure output, but what about input?  Where does the inspiration come from?  Can that be measured and managed?  I don't think so.  Ideas just come from...  well I don't knw from where.  Often I'm as surprised as anyone with what happens.  If a reader compliments me for a plot twist in something I've written (yes, it has happened), I say thank you, but have the sense that I am taking undeserved credit.  I don't know where the ideas come from, so why should I get credit for them?  My friend Karen MacInerney posted this video featuring writer Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame.  Her ideas about apportioning credit have some appeal.  Take a look.