Anniversary flowers

Kate Flora: Today feels like it’s going to be an oops day. They happen sometimes. Yesterday was our 48th anniversary and so writing a blog post for today totally slipped my mind in the midst of musing about how I could possibly have been married for so many years? I make good choices, I guess. So far today, instead of writing this post, I’ve watered the garden, deadheaded the flowers, done the laundry, and made a lemon-blueberry cake because weekends in Maine always mean company.

Leading up to the anniversaral celebrations, I’ve been up to my ears in the masses of paperwork that accompany the process of publishing a book. We authors may think that it’s enough to write, rewrite, get beta reader’s feedback, rewrite, get an editor’s feedback, and rewrite at least one more time. Shouldn’t that be enough? Don’t we already feel farther and farther from the creative process?

Very distracting Harpswell sunset

But then comes the paperwork. Write a synopsis of the book. Write what would be a one or two line headline if the story were in the paper. Craft a 500-800 word excerpt that will draw readers into the book. Write the back cover copy. Provide a set of key words that best describe the book so readers can find it. Identify other authors whose work is similar, so that their readers might like your book, too. Furnish a number of other author’s book covers that can serve as a template for the cover designer. Tweak your author’s bio and furnish, or have taken, an up-to-date author photo.

My first published book

The list goes on and on. It reminds me of back when I’d just sold my first book, book one in the Thea Kozak series, Chosen for Death. The senior editor called up and interviewed me on the phone. I came away from that conversation hoping that he’d determined that yes, I, an attorney, could stand in front of a group of people and speak. I also felt as though, instead of striving to write the best book I could, I should have been resume building. Maybe been a skydiver or spent my time on archeological digs or something else that would pad out my resume and make me sound fascinating. There had been no mention of the story or plot or my characters. Or writing at all.

Over the years, it has led me to tell my students who are dying to get published that they need to separate the writing side from the rest of it. (And that a writer needs to have the hide of an alligator. The publishing world is that rough.) When my first book was sold, that husband now of forty-eight years said, “Congratulations. Now you have two jobs.” And boy was he right!

So when I should be basking the thought that my new, dark, police procedural series will be published, or thinking about what the next book will be, I’m doing paperwork. As the husband says, I have two jobs now.

At the Brunswick second friday art walk

It’s probably three, because there’s always the marketing job. I’m lucky that this summer I’ve had the chance to meet with two book groups, both of whom had read Finding Amy. Great interest. Great questions. And great lobster rolls. Libraries, book fairs, and reading  groups are a delightful extension of the writing process, because I get to talk about what I love and learn what readers think. (If only I had an assistant to carry the books, books stands, table covers, and marketing materials.)