It’s often said that to writers, the words “The End” are the most beautiful in the language. I would add to that: Send!
The final draft of the 8th draft of what is (right now) IN THE SERVICE OF THE SHADOW QUEEN just went out to my editor at Doubleday U.S. and my agent, who is preparing her client offerings for the annual book fair at Frankfurt.
And so now my To Do List has lightened considerably, although it’s still far too long (and heavy: taxes to finish!).
I leave you now with a photo from years past of our sweet Arabian palomino Bailey, looking in my (then) office window, watching me at work. (I think she’s saying: Ahem! I need my forelock combed!)
I bought a wonderful scanner this year (a ScanSnap S1300), and in addition to being able to scan research documents, I’ve enjoyed making digital copies of our treasures.
A brief follow-up: I’ve received the documentary IN SEARCH OF JOSEPHINE, but I’ve not had the gumption to watch it yet. You will be happy to know that the mistake in the trailer has been corrected.
Here is my Sept. newsletter, in case you missed it: http://bit.ly/Sept2012News
Sandra Gulland INK sales are coming along nicely. If you know a reader outside Canada and the U.S. who might like them, let them know! (At some point I’m bound to come to my senses and raise the prices.)
Last summer I was flown to Paris to be interviewed for a documentary on Josephine. Needless-to-say, this was an honour, as well as a wonderful experience.
And now: here it is, the English edition of the documentary! It’s being sent to me, so I haven’t have the (I admit, nerve-wracking) experience of watching it.
“Digging in at the Archive” is a wonderful Grub Street blog post by Boston writer Cam Terwilliger. On finding in archives writing by the character he’d been researching and writing about:
“Instantly, the period I’d struggled to understand became so much more immediate. The people I was writing about no longer seemed like figments of my imagination. They felt real.”
Scroll down the blog for Terwilliger’s research tips, which I found excellent. In a nutshell:
1) When you begin your research, be open.
2) When you begin to write, be selective: that is, don’t include everything.
Terwilliger ends his post with a worthy quote from the ever-quotable Hemingway:
“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. And the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.”
Some quote the passage above with the line: “The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.”
{On the image above: I felt that same thrill of “actuality” when I happened upon these Josephine and Napoleon signatures on a wedding contract in a library in Berkeley, California. Not only was it concrete evidence of their existence, but it told me so much about them: the energy and impatience of Napoleon, Josephine’s graceful acceptance.}
