Speculation, Fact and Fiction

It's so very nice when an editor's comments on your draft are encapsulated in six red-pen bullet points on the title page. Amounting to a couple of minor tweaks, something to discuss which is really six of one versus half a dozen of the other and an interesting new bit of stuff which he feels is necessary - and I agree - which is ancillary to the main text as it stands.

Hurrah. Big gold star for me.

So once we'd dealt with that, I quizzed him on his reactions to Straws - some were as I hoped, some pleasantly un-anticipated. Then we talked about what/where/who/how things might pan out in the next book which I'll be starting on in a little while.

And the rest of the time we talked about other books and authors - in a professional non-gossipy sense, obviously. Mostly. And what conventions we'll be doing, respectively and collectively over this year and next and pencilled in some preliminary thoughts on marketing and all that kindathing. And since we were meeting in Oxford, we checked out the SF&F sections of Borders, Waterstones and Blackwell's. And had lunch and talked about oh, films and families and stuff.

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy my job? Today, it's a winner, it really is.

Now I shall go and make pancakes for tea and then go and throw the chaps at aikido around for a couple of hours.