In a Glass Darkly

May 8th 2015

I talked to my agent this week. He was on the New York subway, but it's always nice to cross that bridge and feel there's someone else in this picture apart from me madly scribbling my way into oblivion. He told me the jury is still out at the publisher on the second book in my time travel series.   A few years ago a writer friend of mine signed on with Amazon Publishing right when it was getting going and because like me she had a backlog of books, they published one of hers every six months. To date she has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. But the policy at the big six publishers, of which S&S is one, is more one of wait and see. So I am waiting. Eventually I will also see.

But the main reason for the talk with my agent was to discuss my current book, which has nothing to do with time travel, Hazel and The Chessmen. He has just finished reading it, and he loves it. Yeah! He loves it, but...Isn't that the way it always goes? He worries my American protagonist is not American enough. That's because I am not American enough. So we agreed then that this book which harps on about Scottish independence somewhat might be more suited to a Scottish audience.  And that's where he's going to take it. Yeah!
He says, even though he already loves it, I could amp up the tension - it's pretty clear, after all, that my American heroine is going to fall in love with my Scottish hero, even though that isn't the main point of the story, and even though she has a boyfriend back home in America.
Okay, I said. I will try and fix that. I will start right away on a rewrite, and then I will write Book Three of my time travel series, even though I don't even know yet if they want Book Two. I will fling myself into the abyss, because that's what writing entails

You can't argue with Nietzsche. He knew all.
Post Script: You can't mess with Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party, either.  Congratulations to the SNP on last night's sweep of Scotland in the general election. It's like Newton said: For every action there is an opposite but equal reaction. We didn't get independence last September, but this is sweet retribution on our way to peaceful revolution.



Alba gu brath!