It occurs to me to think of how long all of this has taken, so I wrote it down for everyone who asked. This is how long it took to get Greywalker--and it's not an unusual first book in the time aspect--from idea to bookstore shelf. The original ideas that became the novel began cooking while I was in college at Cal Long Beach in 1988, but didn't have any real form until I moved to Seattle in late 1993 and they got no writing up, aside from notes and fragments, until May of 2000.
May/June 2000--Start writing original draft of Greywalker.
July 2000--Finish first draft.
August/September 2000--Make a half-hearted stab at clean-up draft, get disgusted and busy with other projects.
October 2000--Become very ill and stay that way for 2 months--drop all projects.
November/December 2000--Decide I am an untalented swine, stick ms in virtual drawer and forget about it for a year.
December-March 2001--Find ms and think it' s not so bad, but needs a revision; harass friends for advice. Mostly get told it stinks. Sister and her boyfriend offer assistance. Friend at St. Martin's offers help, which doesn't pan out, in spite of best efforts.
May 2001--Revise, think it still stinks, put it back in virtual drawer.
June/July 2001--Get very busy with other projects.
September 2001-March 2004--Occasional tinkering, mostly frustration. Ms spends a lot more time in the virtual drawer as I do research on agents and publishers and send out occasional query letters which all come back with rejections attached.
April 2004--Consider giving up this writing wheeze. Go looking for a "real" job.
May 2004--Get job. Remember why I didn't want one. Get extremely serious about the agent list.
June 2004--Vow to give one last big effort to finding an agent; if unsuccessful, will put the ms online for free and go back to editing technical copy. Begin sending out flurries of agency queries in mid-June.
End of June 2004--Receive phone call from Steve Mancino at JABberwocky Literary Agency. Complete ms is requested in a hurry, since major holiday is encroaching and senior agent would like to read it before PNWA in mid-July.
First week of July 2004--Another phone call to arrange meeting with Joshua Bilmes during PNWA weekend. Receive rejections from all other agencies.
Third week of July 2004--Meet Joshua. Undertake to revise per notes from J and S as prerequisite to being taken on as a client of JABberwocky.
August 2004--Work 10-hr days with 2 hour commute at each end and revise in the evenings. Get no more than 5 hours of sleep a night, have no life. Complete revision and ship to JABberwocky.
September--I officially have an agent, but ms still needs additional revisions. A film company sniffs at the story, but passes.
October 2004--Meet with Joshua in Toronto during Bouchercon to discuss further revisions. Hide in hotel room afterward and cry.
November-December 2004--Get swamped by workload, put off new revision until end of work contract at end of the year.
January 2005--Complete new revision, ship to JABberwocky.
February 2005--Get first offer on ms. Steve thinks we can do better, but my dreams are still too big and I am disappointed by small numbers.
March 2005--Original offer is rejected.
March-April 2005--Silence ensues
May 2005--Flurry of offers, many phone calls from Steve, often multiple calls in a few hours. More phone calls with potential editors. More phone calls, phone calls, phone calls....
June 2005--A small bidding war erupts and lasts 2 passes. Both publishers make identical offers. I pick the one that wants no major changes to basic plot or characters. A handshake agreement is made on a three-book deal with Penguin Group (USA). Contract negotiations begin in earnest. A contract is drawn up. I sign my copies and return them. The contract is officially made June 18, but I don't know this until sometime in July.
July 2005--One year since the fateful phone call, I call my agent to ask where the contract is. My copies and check finally arrive (the contract request had gone astray in the wilds of Penguin). I begin final revisions for Anne Sowards, due August 1. I'm granted a one-month extension because of the late contract. Receive packet of rejection letters from Steve from all publishers who didn't bite. Laugh heartily at excuses and hope they will kick themselves for it, in future.
Late August 2005--Complete revision and ship one week early, in spite of old printer throwing fits every 20 pages.
September 2005--Attend Cascadia Con (NASFiC 2005) at SeaTac. Finally meet Steve Mancino--Get on famously. Sit on first "pro" panel. Decide my first chapter sucks. As soon as convention is over, send note to Anne and ask if I can revise Chapter 1. Granted. Revise and return new chapter mid-September. New chapter happily accepted.
October 2005-February 2006--Silence again descends. Get another work contract. Get bad news on family front.
Late February 2006--Copyedits arrive, require fast turn around. Persuade friends to help make 10,000 promotional bookmarks.
Early March 2006--Complete and return copyedits on time, in spite of snafu with incorrect zipcode. The book is listed at Amazon with a release date of October 3, 2006. Printer eats self amid cloud of toner smoke and grinding noises.
End of March 2006--End of work contract. Buy new laptop computer to replace complaining desktop machine and dead printer. Try to learn new operating system and software. Get sneak peek at cover art.
April, 2006--Begin writing Book 2, get distracted by family business, family illness, final cover art, NorwesCon. Get permission from Ken and Ana to use their names/characters in Book 2.
May 2006--Receive page proofs. Husband gets laid off. Complete and return page proofs before May 12 deadline. Continue writing Book 2. Husband gets new job. Trip to LA on family business interrupts work. My birthday interrupts work. Discover major plot flaw. Fall back to create complete outline. Outline takes longer than expected, due to horrendous stupidity of writer. Memorial Day weekend interrupts work. Complete 3/4 of outline, cry to Steve for help.
And now things get weird.
Early June 2006--Receive massive assistance from agent Steve, complete a mutually acceptable and exciting outline 13,000 words long. This plus other notes and prior outlines bring background material to over 40,000 collective words. Tweak and repair previous manuscript to match new outline. Go back to primary work, starting with 32,000 words. Rip out an additional 2,000 words, but complete one whole chapter and set precedent of a chapter-a-day. Only 18 to go! Work continues. Ms on track and approaching 40k words by Friday night, writing in a game shop while husband plays Magic: The Gathering. Ass becomes square from sitting on hard chairs. Back proposes sympathy strike with butt and knees.
June 22: Cross 61,400 words. Steve calls with Chinese Translation rights offer. We accept.
June 23: Begin to think that Book 2 will be only 90K words. Hope no one minds....
June 30: Greywalker gets first review in Settle Mystery Bookshop newsletter. Very positive. Discover that signing/publicity coordination has fallen through cracks.
July 4: All stop for national holiday, but still manage to do a half-day of writing. Fireworks very pretty, but set two marinas on fire. Not ours, luckily.
July 5: Come down with cold.
July 6: Publicity and signings back on track.
July 9: Kick cold.
July 12: Have breakfast with sailing friend. Finish first draft of Book 2 at 96,353 words. Send electronic copy out to most readers. Have dinner with brother who is visiting from LA, which kills plan to print and ship to Steve immediately.
July 13: Print and ship to Steve. New printer works flawlessly.
July 14: Request from Anne for Book 2 synopsis and info for next cover. Materials returned next day. Get advanced notice of excellent review from CrimeSpree.
July 17: Joshua hijacks manuscript from Steve and preempts reading to read it himself. Publicist reports that Kirkus will print starred review of Greywalker for Aug. 1 issue.
July 19: Receive copy of promotional "sampler" booklet, "Urban Noir," which includes Greywalker excerpt, produced by publisher for insertion into convention "goodie bags." Think mine is the second best--after Elizabeth Bear.
July 24: Collect last of feedback from readers. Discuss notes on phone with Steve. Joshua is disappointed that book is not more vampire-y, otherwise, everyone pretty happy. Minor notes. Greywalker cover finally goes up on Amazon.
July 25: Make easy corrections from notes while trying to figure out how to manage the bigger issues. Place ad with CrimeSpree magazine to coincide with Bouchercon.
July 26: Hide from work while having migrane. Find blog of Chinese agent discussing Greywalker in Chinese. Get good laugh out of bad translations from Chinese into English by Babel Fish.
July 28-30: Out of town. Miss publication of Publishers Weekly review--another star.
August 1: Kirkus review hits the web. Oh My God. Big fat star. Fall on self with disbelief in spite of advance notice from Catherine. Work very hard on corrections to Book 2 ms. Not in love with my new book....
August 5: Request for information about film rights from small-time producer. Never contacts agent. More corrections, sick and tired of reading same damned ms.
August 6: Begin plotting WorldCon trip. Final read through and tweak nearly done....
August 9: UK sales begin to look like a possibility due to reviews. Possible movement on German rights also. Stay up very late working on read and correct. Hate manuscript, temptation to speed read extraordinary.
August 10: Finish final clean-up of Book 2 manuscript. Print and box for shipping. Emerge from shell to hear of bomb plot to British airliners nipped in bud. Relieved to discover in-laws made it out of Blighty on the 8th. Receive news from Steve about possible film/TV interest from 2 large companies, but no additional movement. Sniffing only.
August 11: Ship ms to Anne. Start thinking about Book 3.
August 12: Flop. Eat dim sum. Notice cover pic on Amazon is... messed up. Request attention to image.
August 13: Cover image pulled from Amazon.
August 14: Personal day. Buy skirts for convention--weather ungodly hot in Anaheim. Discover Harriet Klausner review--also positive, but typically inaccurate synopsis. Wonder whose aunt she is.
August 15: More film/TV interest. Re-evaluate packing and travel plans for WorldCon. Worry about cost and other factors. Dream of new motorcycle and not having to return to contract work at Microsoft.
August 16: Book 2 arrives at publisher. Find Harriet Klausner review on Barnes&Noble.com.
August 17: German translation deal is offered. Penguin hires an additional publicist and moves my publicity to her. Discover I will be on a panel at Bouchercon.
August 22: Leave for WorldCon in Anaheim, CA. Have drinks with Steve--he and Joshua have spent 3 days talking to film and TV people about client-related projects for development, including Greywalker, but no commitments, yet.
August 23: Run into Charlaine Harris outside dealer's hall, discover that she has never received a copy of the book after reading the original ms for cover quote. Promise one as soon as I have any.
August 24: Meet Ginjer Buchanan. Discover that Greywalker's print run will be 16,000 (very big for a first timer). Meet Fiona Patton and her brother Alex--hilarity ensues. Attend JABberwocky agency dinner and have very weird conversations with Simon Green over Italian food. Retire to Hilton bar for drinks with Steve. Demand he remove his tie. Joshua and John appear. Joshua wants to know where Steve's tie is.
August 25: End up providing spare bed to friend of sister's in a bit of a scramble. Get harassed by Ken Scholes to send something to Writers of the Future before I'm disqualified by publication. More drinking with Steve, hubby, Pat Rothfuss, and Blake Charleton. Shoot pool even worse than Harper does.
August 26: Insane day ends in 3 hours at Disneyland while dodging the Hugo awards. Jim does not enjoy it. Return to hotel, go drinking with Steve. Commiserate with Brandon Sanderson for not winning Campbell. Meet more writers wanting to entice Steve to be their agent.
August 27: Brunch at stepmother's house. Very disquieting. Miss entire last day of con.
August 28: Flop
August 29: Return home to Seattle. Get call from Steve as deplaning--German deal is set. Green-light the offer. German translation with Heyne is set. Get home to discover the cat has anointed the entire main cabin and head with bodily fluids and solids. Clean up for an hour. Fetch ferrets home from "ferret camp." Taz is underweight and leaving green poo. Get home and fall exhausted into bed.
August 30: Wash all floors twice. Ferret still ill. Administer Pepto. Little improvement. Worry that floor is soapy. Clean floor again. Mail bookmarks to Bouchercon. Ask about books for Bouchercon.
August 31: No improvement to ferret. Book order for Bouchercon appears settled.
Sept 1: Take ferret to vet--corona virus at play! Antibiotics and high-protein food for a week.
Sept 2: Begin revising Shatter again for Writers of the Future.
Sept 8: 4-star review in Romantic Times, which I never see.
Sept 14: Discover I have to file forms with German government to avoid being taxed as a resident. Discover recent addition of a fee for the very form I need was announced by the IRS on Sept 11. Consider that the IRS is trying to hide something....
Sept 15: Discover that I need an accountant. Discover accountant nearby, make appointment.
Sept 18: Bad news about stepmother disrupts everything
Sept 19: Meeting with CPA. Most problems resolved, forms ready to go. Receive notice of great review from B&N--reviewer contacts me personally (wow!) Make arrangements to go to LA to see stepmother. Cry a lot, between bouts of disjointed giggling. Receive rejection for Harper short story after 6 month wait. Submit to Interzone via one-month-only e-mail window. Become totally disconnected from reality while pinging between happy and horrified.
Sept 20: Receive first copy of Greywalker in proper covers. Act like a gigantic fool--call friends and family and gush. Do a lot of laundry preparatory to leaving on Friday for LA and Madison.
Sept 22: Fly to LA. Go directly to hospice. Spend next 3 days in the daze of death watch.
Sept 24: Stepmother dies (damn I hate cancer!) Cry and make very irreverent comments. Feel confused and sad.
Sept 25: Help plan memorial service (not much help, really.) Write obituary. Cry.
Sept 26: Fly home to Seattle. Do laundry. Pack again.
Sept 27: Fly to Madison, WI, for Bouchercon. Hang out in bar with RAMs. Drink.
Sept 28: See book for sale for the first time at Booked for Murder table. Act like a big silly person. Discover there are only 4 copies. They sell out in 20 minutes. Call editor and hope to get more. Find 2 more copies at Larry Smith. They also sell as soon as they are discovered. Wander about feeling weird. Sign my first sold book. Meet Steve Hockensmith who is too cute to live. Meet Jeri Westerson in person. Drink at Crimespree party and meet neat people while feeling displaced and jet lagged.
Sept 29: Editor and publicist earn my undying love by overnighting 12 more copies of Greywalker to Bouchercon. Books sell out again by 4 p.m. Feel very ill, but don't let on. Attend Berkley party, introduce Jeri to Ginjer Buchanan, who introduces her to Margaret Frazer (perhaps a career is launched?). Miniature agency dinner and total exhaustion. Finally give Charlaine her copy of Greywalker.
Sept 30: Oversleep, miss great panel, have lunch with SF author, miss another panel for phone calls. Go searching for more food. End up in sports grill with Steve, Brian and cronies. Miss Anthony awards. Make time to type up eulogy contribution for stepmother's memorial. Can't work in room--roommate sleeping--end up at convention registration table, crying while typing, wireless not working properly--caught by Jeremy Lynch. Takes 20 minutes to send 10K e-mail. Slink off to bar, then bed.
Oct 1: My panel at Bouchercon, 9 a.m. Barely human, but look OK, manage not to trip over my tongue or feet or put any of said feet in mouth. Bill Crider teases me on film. Say good bye to departing friends. Have fabulous dinner with Charlaine, Kate, and Jodi. Sleep like something that died.
Oct 2: Discover that Greywalker has been "picked" by Entertainment Weekly. Freak out. Discover that there are no copies of said magazine in Madison. Call Steve and harass him to find one. Fly home. Pass out.
Oct 3: Official distribution date for Greywalker. Go to dentist. Do last minute shopping before Launch Party. Very anxious. See many lovely friends I have not seen in a while. Discover I've nearly lost my voice, but read anyway, when requested. Things go very well and I have fun. Drink very little, but still feel drunk and silly. Go home and pass out.
Oct 4: Finally find copy of Entertainment Weekly. Squeal like a schoolgirl over review. Buy 2 copies. Forget to do things. Receive revision requests on Book 2 ms. Greywalker takes off like a bottle rocket in Amazon and B&N rankings. Momentarily ace everyone for #1 spot on Fantasy and Horror lists. Feel giddy.
Oct 5: Mentally wrestle with ways to manage revisions. Do a lot of paperwork. Go to Pioneer Square to meet Underground Tour historian, take 2.5 hours worth of notes for Book 3.
Oct 6: Do 5 loads of laundry. Give bookmarks to Eharts on their way to V-Con. Finally find time to wind down.
Oct 7: First official bookstore signing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop. Friends from California show up. Sign a lot of books. Walk around downtown and sign more books at Elliot Bay and B&N (Borders is out.) Have dinner with other friends and discover yak is tasty. Fall into bed.
Oct 9: Realize I totally forgot about Writers of the Future. Oh well... too late now--I'm published.
Greywalker is on its own (my fledgling has left the nest.) Now, onto books 2 and 3....
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