This is my last day in New York. I had hoped to get up to Boston to see Todd and Debby, but it turns out that they'll be gone for the next week to visit Debby's folks in Maryland. Oh well. I'm going to go straight on to CT, for a full week, and just hope that I don't kill any family members. Wish me luck. I don't think I've spent this long a stretch of time at my parents in many years. Hopefully we're all mature enough to survive it. We'll see.
It's been lovely staying at Alex's. Long days with few commitments while he's at work -- though I did have a nice long lunch with Duncan yesterday, and then stopped by the Melcher offices afterwards and said hi to the folks there. They're all fairly pumped by the success of Aqua Erotica, which means they're happy with me. We spent a while talking about whether AE II is going to happen or not; still up in the air, due to various and sundry financial negotiations. Crown is still interested, but the question is -- how much? And will it be enough that Melcher can maintain its profit margins? The publishing world is a complex and interesting place. I'm learning lots, just being on the fringes like this. I sort of wish I had the time to go spend a year as an assistant editor, just to get a better sense of what that side of the business is like -- oh well. Another life, I suppose.
I spent a little while talking with both Bob and Duncan about another book idea; y'all tell me what you think, okay? I was thinking about this journal hitting its anniversary, and the compulsion I feel to read my journals every morning, and the on-line journalling pheonomenon, and some of the truly great entries that are out there -- sadly, not mine. Mine aren't really focused enough, which might explain why I've never been nominated for one of those award-thingies. And it seems that there's a book in there somewhere. A book about the phenomena, maybe taking twenty-five journallers and getting their best entries -- or instead of the best, enough good ones in sequence that a new reader could get a sense of the journaller. Then adding short essays from the journallers on why they do this. Or maybe on what the impact has been on their lives. Photos of the journallers, perhaps? I'm not sure what else would go in there -- which is an important question, because if there isn't some original content, then what's the point of having a book? Why not just read the journals? And it raises the question as well of whether anyone would actually want such a book -- a book with entries by Kymm and Pamie and such...in print. I would really appreciate any thoughts you have on this subject. Would you read such a book? What would you like to see in it? If there seems enough interest, maybe I'll do a book proposal and send it to Crown. There's certainly a nice large built-in market, which is one of the things book publishers really like to see. If all the journallers urged all their readers to buy the book, how many copies would that sell? How many readers does Kymm actually have, anyway?
Anyway -- I have a train at 3:30 (I love Amtrak!) and some things to get done before then, so I'd best go make my tea and get going on that. I'll talk you to later, dears. And hey -- go read Strange Horizons. I forgot to remind you earlier this week, and we have a great story about fallen angels in the streets of New Orleans, by journaller Tim Pratt, and an article on Octavia Butler, by journaller Heather Shaw. It's just a journal week all around. :-)