It's Baaaack!

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Hmm. Several blog posts ago, I said I finished the copy edited version of BEFORE THE STORM and that would be the last work I’d have to do on it. How did I forget about the “printout?” Yesterday, the Fed-Ex guy brought the big box to my door. I looked up from my laptop where I was working on AFTER THE STORM and groaned as I realized what he had for me: the printout, all 515 pages of it, ready for my final scrutiny. The scrutinizing must be completed by February 11. AFTER THE STORM is due March 1. Oh dear.
ms page.jpgFortunately, I was nearly finished with MJ Rose’s THE REINCARNATIONIST, which has been my nighttime reading material for the last week. (I highly recommend it to those of you who enjoyed THE DaVINCI CODE. Great escape reading). I finished that last night, and tonight I’ll start reading BEFORE THE STORM once again, trying to catch those final errors. Daytime hours, though, are reserved for AFTER THE STORM. Hope I don’t get them mixed up! 
 

12 Comments

  1. Ann on January 25, 2008 at 11:12 pm

    Wow! I am so excited that this book is really on its way to publication. I know it is due out in May but seeing this picture is great. I know you have a lot to do now but you are almost at the finish line!! I can’t wait to get my copy. I will pre-order at my local bookstore as soon as they make it possible.

  2. brenda on January 26, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    I can’t wait!!!!

  3. brenda on January 26, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    Enjoy your reading.
    I am grading papers…doing mundane chores…some shopping…trying to get through a novel that I really like but two things bother me: Small print and huge, long paragraphs…those are not easy to read anymore…I didn’t mind when it was Hawthorne or Poe, but modern writers need to write for the masses…
    Just finished a sad book by the mother whose daughter disappeared in Aruba…I could not help but weep.

  4. Diane Chamberlain on January 26, 2008 at 3:13 pm

    Ann, I’m glad you’re looking forward to Before the Storm. I made it through 80 pages last night.
    Brenda, what’s the title of the Aruba book. . . not that I need another to add to my stack at the moment. On my new Nano, I’m listening to Adriana Trigiani’s Rococo. Read by Mario Cantone, it’s a treat. I read the reader reviews on Amazon, though, and many of Trigiani’s fans disliked this book. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed reading it as much as I am listening to it, with Cantone’s ear for accents and his comicedic timing. Also, since I grew up Catholic, half Italian-American, and in New Jersey, there’s much I can relate to. . . although my family was the quietest, calmest, most watered down group of Italians imaginable. I loved Trigiani’s Lucia Lucia, and I’ll definitely try another of her books soon.

  5. brenda on January 26, 2008 at 5:14 pm

    Loving Natalie, A Mother’s Hope and faith-something like that by Beth Holloway…it was tragic…then reading Barbara Delinsky’s new book about mother/daughter…whew

  6. Julie on January 27, 2008 at 1:53 am

    Cool….Thanks for once again giving us a peek at the writer’s life that we’d otherwise never see! Not any time soon anyway. 🙂
    Good luck with the deadlines.

  7. Diane Chamberlain on January 27, 2008 at 8:03 am

    Julie, your day will come!

  8. brenda on January 27, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Julie
    Working two jobs, I have little time to read BLOGS–I read this one faithfully…I check in on B. Delinsky once a week, and I check in on yours…YOu have a gift of writing…I wish I had it. Although I have written a column for 9 years…am just ready to give it up–so will do that for awhile-concentrate on my NY resolution, family, work…etc…reading others’ writing.
    I agree with you about the rest room and the library…when I am at the college library reading students’ papers…I have to drag everything to the restroom…no chances…
    I don’t know how Diane does it at her coffee shop…restroom breaks.
    Julie=-keep writing…

  9. brenda on January 27, 2008 at 11:05 am

    Julie-I love Arlington, Tx…you lucky girl. My son attended TCU in Ft. Worth…I think we stayed in Arlington when we went to the graduation…He worked and lived in Dallas…then law school in Austin…then worked in Houston before settling in this part of the country–the south…about two days from me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Texas…

  10. Diane Chamberlain on January 27, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    Brenda, there’s always someone around willing to keep an eye on my computer during my “breaks.” No problem. . . at least not so far.

  11. Julie on January 28, 2008 at 12:58 am

    Brenda and Diane–thanks for the encouragement. 🙂
    You know, I’ve lived in Texas now for hmm…20 years! Came here for college and other than a few minor detours, have been here since. It’s a good place to raise kids, judging by the way mine have turned out SO far. Heh. Sometimes it seems a little humdrum, and I wish for older architecture or a little more cultural variety, but it’s home by now.
    I do see more folks I know or at least recognize at the coffee shop than the library, but sometimes after four or five hours the smells and noises become overwhelming. Guess they both have their good and bad points. There’s certainly more imbibing of liquids at the coffee shop, and thus, more “breaks,” although our library allows drinks now! Yay! And…short cell phone conversations, which, while I don’t appreciate hearing anyone’s loud, long conversation, it certainly helps to be available if the kids get sick at school or something.

  12. brenda on January 28, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    Julie, you are welcome.
    Ladies, if you have not read the short stories in Gotham Writers’ Workshop=fiction-I think it is worthwhile-although some are quite risque…
    Also, I am working through the Gotham Writers’ Workship Writing Fiction…even though most of it is what I TEACH, I am having fun doing the exercises and reading…we’ll see what happens.

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