I haven’t written much here lately because, quite frankly, there hasn’t been much to write. I didn’t figure that folks would be particularly interested in my naval gazing or wool gathering. For instance, my car odometer just rolled over 80,000 a couple of hours ago. Interesting, no? If I haven’t mentioned it here before, I’m a little fixated on numbers, so this is a significant event in the life of my 11-year-old car.
Other than that, what’s going on? My agent reported that another foreign publisher made an offer to acquire The Road to the Dark Tower for translation. The offer was comparable to what I’d received from the Italian and Dutch publishers, so I said go ahead. I’ll post more details later, once the contract is signed.
The Centipede Press edition of ‘Salem’s Lot just started shipping–I’m really looking forward to seeing this much-talked-about volume. I interviewed the publisher for my column in Cemetery Dance #51, and that interview will also appear in an upcoming issue of Cemetery Dance’s weekly newsletter, so if you want to hear all about the book’s production, check out one or t’other.
I’m working on an essay for Lighthouse magazine #4, an interview with the powerhouse behind Gotham Cafe for CD #52, revisions of a short story for an upcoming anthology, and just about at the halfway point of the current revision pass on Missing Persons. I’m going on the road next week, traveling back to eastern Canada to visit my mother over the US Thanksgiving holiday, so I hope to make big dents in these projects so that I can tackle something new in December. Exactly what, I’m not quite sure of yet, though. I did have an intriguing idea the other night, and it seemed like a really interesting and novel concept. I don’t know if it’s been done before, but if it hasn’t it’s one of those ideas I don’t want to jeopardize by giving it away too soon! How do you go about asking (as a random example plucked from rec.arts.mystery) if there’s ever been a murder mystery done where the investigating cop is the killer without A) giving the idea to other people and B) spoiling the ending to the book you haven’t written yet? Ah, well, time to do some digging around. I still think it’s a good concept, even if someone has done something like it before, because, well, it would be my story, and not theirs!
Wow, 80,00 miles seems really high to me. Probably because I just hit 4,700 miles in my own car. (It’s a 2004 PT Cruiser that I’ve had since last February. I don’t drive that much, obviously.)
I’m averaging about 7000 miles a year, or 600 miles a month. That’s pretty good, I think. I put gas in no more than twice a month on average and most months only once. My commute to work is about 2 miles each way.
…..Sounds much more like “The Envoy” to me.