I had a nice long conversation with my editor at O’Reilly this morning. We talked about many things, but the conversation was very exciting for three reasons:
- It was the first time we’ve spoken since I signed my contracts and became an Official O’Reilly Author™.
- We talked about the upcoming release of Dancing Barefoot, and I got a firsthand taste of how excited O’Reilly & Associates is about my book. It’s one thing to hear those thoughts during contract talks . . . it’s something else entirely to hear them after they pwn you.
- I got a real, full-on, 100% official deadline for Just A Geek! This means that my deadlines are no longer self-imposed. I work very well under pressure, and I already did more today than I have in the last three weeks. Because I have a deadline, I have a pretty good idea when JAG will come out, but I don’t think I can release that information just yet.
I am truly excited about Just A Geek . . . but I’m also terrified of it. I hope that some good blogs dovetail out of the rewrite experience in the next six weeks.
I’m sure I will eat these words sooner or later, but for today at least, I feel like a real writer, and I like that quite a bit.
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Hey, first post! All I have to say is…”I’m waiting…patiently, but excitedly.”
Hurrah for the Head Monkey! I’m excited for you, Wil–and looking forward to getting a copy of “Just a Geek” autographed by the author!
Flogging Molly rocks!
No real point to this comment other than that 🙂
Have a good one Wil (and family)
Went to my not-so-local bookstore today and asked if they’d be carrying Dancing Barefoot. To my dismay, they’d never heard of you, and didn’t know if they’d be carrying it or not. With the manager on his break, I couldn’t get any usefull info out of the remaining peons.
Don’t care. Come hell or high water, I’ll find this book, and I will buy it! Oh yes, I will, I promise…
We’re just as excited as you, Wil! Rock on! You totally deserve this string of awesome luck!
Can’t wait to read JAG, I am already anticipating the pages coming alive!
I chuckled when I read your post about deadlines. When I was working on my book I sweated over them, got neurotic, and generally became very weird because of them as I struggled to complete about seven pages a day. Have fun!
Good luck with the rewrites. I know how those can be.
I’m looking forward to finally reading JAG.
So Wil, do you still think of that teacher that told you actors, including you, can’t write? That’s more than a bit ironic seeing as how you have a book deal with a major publisher, and people flock to your site to *read* your *writing* and what-not.
Hey Wil,
If you can convince ORA to use a bunch of monkeys for the cover of JAG, that would rule. Or maybe an old school mechanical typewriter? That might be nifty also.
Sincerely,
Wolf
hey wil,
its great news about O’Reilly!!! Good luck with JAG! i’m so excited about it! can’t wait to read it! YEY!
all the best
rach
Wil, welcome to the O’Reilly fold!
Good luck with the rewrites for JAG. That has always been my least favorite part because it’s usually then that I realize I want to change the whole thing. But please, do let us know how things progress.
Yeah know, sometimes flattery is just the means to get somewhere. Book publishers have plenty to dish out. Take caution.
Hopefully O’Reilly will be better than most publishers and JAG won’t languish in the catalog for 2 years before hitting the bookstores…(I would think they’re better at it, with all the tech books they have to get out for timliness, but ya never know). Some of us are chomping at the bit to get a copy…
I can relate to the deadline issue — I just went from 8 hours a day at work to 4 (by choice, so I can get my mental, emotional, and physical health back), and I find I’m MUCH more focused in those 4 hours. So my employer is now getting more bang for their buck!
Will be interested to hear how the writing process goes; I’m an aspiring writer as well (hell, who isn’t???) but dread the day when I actually have an editor tell me to rip my masterpiece to shreds…err, “do a rewrite”.
Best of luck, and make sure you make enough time for Anne and the boys while you’re finishing your magnum opus.
Will O’Reilly have you as one of their official bloggers as well? I’m sure you could post some great technical stuff.
I’m sure I will eat these words sooner or later, but for today at least, I feel like a real writer, and I like that quite a bit.
You ARE a real writer. We all come here to read your work and it makes us smile, brings tears to our eyes, and gives us wonderful insight into the man you have become.
I can’t wait for JAG to come out this year. Congratulations on having a publisher of such esteem, and best of luck with those deadlines.
I, too, thrive on deadlines. This last couple of months without hard deadlines has been difficult to keep my producivity up. I ended up making a list on my white board of things that I wanted to finish that week, and checking things off as they were finished. That helped a lot, so that I could see what still needed to be done that week.
Keep up the good work, Wil. Given how the last round went, and all the buzz on this site, the first O’Reilley printing will probably sprint off the shelves. All the best!
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.”
–Douglas Adams
rock on, wil. your blog is always an intersting read. i’m sure ‘dancing barefoot’ will be the same. i look forward to picking up a copy.
your blog lends credibility to a movement that will, ultimately, change the way people think about relating to each other and their respective world(s).
Congratulations on the upcoming book. Feels good to be “official” now doesn’t it? 😉