WHICH New Book??
“How’s the new book coming?” a good friend wanted to know at a party the other day.
“Oh, it’s going well,” I sighed, in a happy-but-tired way. “I just turned in the edits last week, and I feel solid. There’s more to go through, but it’s in good shape.”
“Oh, no,” she corrected, frowning a little. “I meant the one that just came out. How’s that one?”
It took me more than a moment, but eventually I figured out which book she was referring to. And, after that epiphany, I got to talk about it excitedly. Very excitedly. The whole scenario made me aware though of how there are several different possibilities for what people are referring to as “the new book.”
Of course, the book that has just gotten released is the one that most people will think of as your new title. For me, excitedly, that’s BEING FRIENDS WITH BOYS. May 1st meant that the whole world could finally purchase a book that I absolutely love and adore. One I’m REALLY excited about and REALLY want people to read.
Admittedly though, BEING FRIENDS WITH BOYS wasn’t “new” in my mind. I’d turned that manuscript in to my editor back in September of 2011. By the time BEING FRIENDS WITH BOYS was brand-new to the world, we’d already gone over it again and again, and I’d already been drafting *another* book, one that will come out in May 2013. Way before BEING FRIENDS WITH BOYS was new to the world, I already had something “new” to my brain.
But that’s not all. Now that the revisions for CRIMINAL have been turned in (last month), it too is less than new in my mind. Though we don’t even have a cover for it yet, I’ll admit that my brain is already working on an outline for another “new” book that will, I hope, come out in 2014. It’s so new I can’t even talk about it, because not even I’m sure what it’s going to look like. Still, I’m excited, and still my brain is occupied. So for me, the newest “new” book is one that no one –not even my editor or publisher– has even seen yet.
None of that takes into consideration the amazing paperback release –a “new” version of a book that’s been out for awhile– of THE SUMMER OF FIRSTS AND LASTS, which happened in April of this year. So, that’s a new book to be excited about too!
All of which is to say, part of what makes being a writer such an interesting endeavor, is that there’s always a new project. There’s always some new character, or setting, or story, that you’re interested in exploring, and there’s always some new situation you haven’t yet been in. And even better, the stories you’ve already written –the ones you’ve spent months and months perfecting– they get to be “new” all over again too, once they’re released. There’s always a new group of people with whom you get to share your work, new responses, new thoughts, new reviews.
So, what’s new? A lot. There’s so much new, I’m not sure where exactly where to start. But I hope you’ll stay tuned with all of it, and will share your new (and old) thoughts about it all with me!