Works in Progress

At HomeThis morning, I managed to complete the first draft of the Cool Careers Without College for People who love to Organize. It’s running long and it’s choppy in spots but now I have two full weeks to whip it into shape before the August 15 deadline. And of course, no sooner do I finish the draft than my old college roommate finally sends me his contribution about being an Events Organizer. But at least he came through and the book will be better for it.I received the galleys for “Commander Code,” my story for Star Trek: Voyager: Distant Shores and need to proofread them over the weekend.Also this weekend I need to get back to a new project that’s awaiting my input.A media tie-in project I thought was dead came back to life this weekend but needs a rewrite since things have changed. I’m doing the research and will get right on it.Another media tie-in project needs the sample chapter finished.Meantime, I have one other proposal sitting on an editor’s desk waiting for approval. I’ve got my fingers crossed because I really want to do.And somewhere, there will time for the non-fiction proposal to be finished and getting back to the original fantasy.At WorkIt’s been a crazy couple of weeks as several major projects of mine, all high profile, all with lots of moving parts, all needed to be completed now. Fortunately, we got them done and out and I think the books will look really good. Identity Crisis is going to look great and read well in one sitting, plus the back matter from the creators will make it worth having.We also got Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths off to Hong Kong and that took a while given the second volume being created from scratch. Its 96 pages of goodness I’ll wax nostalgic about later. For those grumbling about shelling out $100 for this after spending a similar amount on the first hardcover in 1998, all I can say is times and markets change and the materials in volume two are well worth having if you’re a diehard fan.This coming week, I’ll be closing out the first two Showcase volumes and they’re going to look really spiffy. I’ve very pleased with the design work that’s gone into them. I’m also real happy that I finally came up with an editorial approach for one of my January releases that will make the book work, at least in my mind. My other January titles are well in hand so it’s feeling good now that the weight of the big projects is off my shoulders and in the hands of various printers.