News

What did I do on election day since Jon and I had already voted? This was the first time, I think ever, that we did no signing for the kick off date of a book. SWALLOWING DARKNESS hit the shelves, but I did not have to hit the road. Jon is still unable to travel with me because of the knee surgery, and it would just be weird to travel without him. But another reason that I begged off on the touring, besides the fact that all anyone wants to interview about is the election, was what else I did today.
What did I do? I did twenty-seven pages over three work sessions. Almost thirty pages on SKIN TRADE. If I’d been gearing up for a signing for SWALLOWING DARKNESS, that would not have happened. If I’d been on a plane tomorrow, there would be no follow up. The book moving eager and ready in my head, would be reduced to notes on the plane rides. When a book is going well, and I have to leave it even for a few days, it’s like having to re-dig a mountain one shovel full at a time, when if you’d been able to stay with it, you could have used high explosives. Now multiply that by being on the road for weeks. The record was 26 cities in 28 days. By the time all that happens, the book I’m currently working on is ice cold when I get back home. There is no way, that I’ve found, to prevent that. So every body’s book takes longer when I’m touring for the other book. But tomorrow I get up, and I get to work at my own desk, in my own office, and I know exactly what I’m doing tomorrow. What scene is up, and what new characters are on stage, and what old characters are finally hitting the stage. The book is eager and alive in my head and hands. As much as I love seeing everybody at events, as much as I love going out and talking to people about book A; SWALLOWING DARKNESS, I am just as glad that I get to stay home this time and work on book B; SKIN TRADE.
The thing I’ll miss most is getting to finally talk about DARKNESS with people who have read it, but honestly in the first week there are so many people who haven’t read it all the way through that we all have to behave ourselves, and not let the pixie out of the sack, to the point where we can’t talk freely. Then there are those of you, who have already read the book, and will already be asking me, where’s the next book. The next book is in your hands. The book after that is still in my head.