After over four weeks of travel research with only a carry-on suitcase, we’ve landed in our winter home in lovely San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. (I’m leaving my suitcase out: in exactly two weeks we’ll be going to California for U.S. Thanksgiving with my soon-to-be 95-year-old dad and the rest of my family there.)
Today I’ll tackle getting my office set up so that I can Get To Work. It’s urgent! I’ve “the last revision” to make on The Next Novel for my wonderful editor Melissa Danaczko at Doubleday before it goes into copy and line editing. Deadline: early January, but best before if I can manage it, well knowing how little gets done over the holidays.
And also knowing that I have two Young Adult novels about Josephine’s daughter Hortense to get to work on!
We had a wonderful trip to England, France and Switzerland. One of the highlights was going to Arenenberg, Switzerland, to see Hortense’s last home and the Napoleonic museum there.
{Arenenberg, Hortense’s last home overlooking beautiful Lake Constance in Switzerland, now a wonderful museum.}
I got an enthusiastic welcome! Everyone had read the Trilogy and loved it. They sell quite a few of the German edition in their gift shop and I signed many, many copies for them.
The museum was astonishing. I got a wonderful tour from Christina Egli, Deputy to Dominik Gügel, the Director. I will have details to report on my research blog, but for now I’ll just leave you with a photo of the lovely statue of Hortense that’s in the chapel there:
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.)
When people sign up for the newsletter—(here: do it!)—I have no idea what part of the world they are from. Now, because the newsletter mailing service I use provides stats, I know I have readers everywhere:
The newsletter was read by many readers in Canada, US, UK, Mexico and France—of course—but also by readers in Australia, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Thailand, Malta, Norway, Ireland, Israel, India, New Guinea and Russia!
It’s wonderful—wonderful!—to see.
I also get to see which of the links in the newsletter were the most popular. On the first day, it was—surprisingly!—my blog post on 17th-century breast pumps. Perhaps it was the warning that the reader would be grossed out. How can one resist?
The second favourite was a blog post on the revision process with the ominous title “The Slough of Despond (the swampy middle)“—which indicates to me that there are a lot of writers on my mailing list. Nobody but a writer would really resonate with the words: Slough of Despond.
Not one person has responded so far to the announcement of the (likely) (so far) title of The Next Novel:
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.
Sorry to have been summer silent. I’ve been revising The Next Novel (last draft!), and launching Sandra Gulland Ink (so exciting), plus all the usual end-of-August fun.
We’ve moved back from the lake into our log house, and I’ve confronted my piled-up desk. Found this:
The newsletter was read by many readers in Canada, US, UK, Mexico and France—of course—but also by readers in Australia, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Thailand, Malta, Norway, Ireland, Israel, India, New Guinea and Russia!
