by the Night Writer

I’ve been a bit disconnected from the blogosphere the last couple of weeks and haven’t posted much here. Anyone who cares or was paying attention might assume I’ve been working hard on my book and on editing Tiger Lilly’s book. That would be a wonderful excuse if it were true but the fact is my Day Writer job has been a whirlwind lately. It’s been crazy (and will be so through the end of the year and beyond) but it’s a good and rather satisfying crazy having to do with the sale of the Division I work for.

This is really good news for us and something we’ve been working for since last spring. We’ve always been a profitable and capital-efficient business but our current parent decided we were outside their “core” business (which I thought was to make money) and they put us on the market. To our great satisfaction we were spotted and acquired by a company that views our business as core to their own and sees us as a turn-key operation to get them in to a new market. As such they’re leaving us where we are, with staff in place, and told us to keep doing what we’re doing — except now we’ve got some capital to work with. It’s really the best of all possible outcomes for us so everyone is pretty stoked.

In my position, however, I was involved in developing the internal and external communication plans for making the announcement which was made even more interesting by the fact this was supposed to remain a secret with as few people as possible being involved (I don’t know who successful we ultimately were, but there weren’t any leaks on my part). As much fun, and as much work, as that was the real fun and work are really just beginning as we start to transition our business to the new owner. Branding, media relations, advertising and marketing communications, website and reams of internal communications are all on the plate of me and my crack staff of … one other person. Nevertheless, I’m happy and excited because given the way things are in the economy right now I could be trying to craft messages that aren’t so pleasant!

Anyway, with all of these things going on I’ve been feeling pretty tapped out mentally and physically by the time I sit down at my late evening computer so it’s been hard to do much web browsing or commenting or Facebooking. I’ve managed to add a few things to the outline of my book and stuff some notes and extended thoughts into the appropriate buckets but most of my free time is going into Tiger Lilly’s book right now. My objective is to get this one finished in the next week or so because TL’s already pawing and snorting at her keyboard in preparation for the beginning of another National Novel Writing Month contest (Nanowrimo) beginning this Sunday. She’s been squirreling away chocolate and other mind-altering and spirit-lifting consumables around the house and in her “studio” in preparation for her next 50,000+ words in 30-days challenge.

The first book, meanwhile, is a delight to work with. It’s savage, endearing and funny all in turns with some great characters and situations and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. My editing function is to read it with an eye toward continuity and verisimilitude and anywhere I’ve pointed out a scene that needs bolstering or more exposition she’s plunged back in with alacrity and enthusiasm and a re-write. You’ll want to stay tuned for the finished product — coming soon, I hope!

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