God. I've said this before and I'll probably have to repeat it in the future: Fictional characters are pesky creatures, all coy and difficult to please. I have a deadline tomorrow, and when does my annoying main character decide to reveal his secrets? An hour before I have to go to bed unless I'm going to be useless tomorrow. So, useless it is. I have to go, he demands to be written...

Or should I say behind the pages (it doesn't really work that well, though...)? Huh.
There. That's a sentence you wouldn't see in one of my books. Because I would have written first part, my editor would have written the parenthesis and I would have thought the last part before deleting all of it. Which brings me to my point: A book isn't all that good when it's just finished. There're typos (even if you read over the stuff over and over), you repeat yourself and then there's the rare case where the author's so deep into the story that the author doesn't care to explain who's speaking (happens very rarely. Only about once every paragraph. Okay, who am I kidding: Once every sentence).
Then the editor steps in and do her or his magic. And it shows. My god, does it show. It's the difference between okay and "hey, I want to read this." That's why authors love their editors so much.

As a matter of fact, I've got several - release dates, that is. I'm going to share my fictional friends with you in only a few months: "Himiko" will be published on February 9, 2011, and "Alphabet Soup" on April 27 along with the print edition of "A Russian Bear". I can't wait to have them out.
Editing, on the other hand, is something I try not to think about at the moment. It's not even that I don't like it; I'm nerdy enough that I actually think it's kind of fun. I've just been all written out these last couple of weeks. Well, I guess that was to be expected after the pace I've been keeping, so I'm just taking a break right now, reading for fun and reconnecting with my couch. Who said an author's life isn't exciting?

It's been a good couple of weeks: Three contracts signed! One of them is for the print edition of "A Russian Bear", and then there's my slightly sci-fiish what-if novel, "Himiko". And then, this week, Torquere decided to publish my story about Andy, too. So far, it's called "Alphabet Soup", and while it's still BDSM, it's quite different from "A Russian Bear." Both novels will be published in print as well as e-book editions.
Now I think I need a little break from writing - I might go and check my "new books" folder on my computer...

We're in the middle of peak season in the book market; every self-respecting publisher wants to have most of their books out now, ready for Christmas shopping. That means lots and lots of hopeful debuts and brainy zeitgeist novels and the compulsory "how hard can it be to write a thriller" thrillers. All sent to the poor book critic (me) three days before the publishers hope for a glowing review (by the way, if you're one of those publishers: Rethink that strategy. Really rethink it).
I'm not complaining, it's a good job; it keeps your reading skills where they need to be, and you know what happens in the industry. But: There's just hardly any time for comfort reads. Especially not if you want to write something of your own stuff, too. That's why I sometimes reach Christmas with a desperate need for less paper books and more comfort reads (those are always e-books for me). And, above everything else, time to write.
I guess it's all part of the rhythm of the year: I write in the summer, read in the fall and edit during the winter months. Springtime I use for collapsing with stress...