So, yesterday I got a…

So, yesterday I got a call from Bob. And after much confused burbling the gist of it was that yes, HarperCollins wanted to make a two-book offer, and yes, it was for a nice little piece of money (not as much as he'd asked for, but quite a bit more than I'd expected), and did we want to say yes back?!?!?! And after much freaking out at the crazy man who appeared to think that there was even a chance I might say no, I think I managed to convince him that yes yes yes !!! was in fact the correct response.

I sold my dissertation novel! And, eep, I appear to have sold the unwritten threesome novel as well. If I understand right, it'll be a combination hardcover/trade paperback deal for them both. The dissertation novel is scheduled for Spring 2005, and the threesome book for Spring 2006. I think. It's really all still a blur. Bob was saying all kinds of things about the details and most of them slid right by me. He says he'll be sending me a deal memo. That sounds nice. A deal memo. It has a good ring to it.

What happens next? Well, I giggle my way through WisCon, that's what happens next. I spent most of yesterday alternately hugely excited and somewhat sick to my stomach. Actually, it was mostly both at the same time, not alternately at all. It was already going to be a good convention -- I've already had good conversations with a bunch of old friends, including Kristin Livdahl, Alan Deniro, Chris Barzak, Ben Rosenbaum, Ted Chiang, Gavin Grant, Kelly Link, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, and of course Jed and Susan and Karen and Par and Jeremiah -- but now I expect to be pretty much blissed-out for the next four days.

Once I get home, Bob finalizes the details of the contract (it'll apparently be a month or so before I see the first piece of the money -- my mother says she won't really believe it until she sees the check, which is fair enough :-). Then I work with the editor (I don't know her name yet, sorry) through June/July to get Bodies in Motion to where they'd like it to be. They want some changes, but nothing too substantive. I think they'll be fine.

And then I send it off to them, and they give me another piece of my money (it's all divided up, on signing, on acceptance, on acceptance of the other book, etc.), and I spend the next year writing the threesome novel. So I can toss out those letters I was getting about local adjunct composition gigs, at least for the next academic year. I was all set to apply to a bunch of them, too...

I believed we'd sell this, but not nearly this fast -- this was the second editor he showed it to. And I really did think they'd give me something like $5K a book, so I was totally planning on a composition job next year. Now -- it isn't oodles of money, but it's enough to pay off the credit card bills, and buy a new computer (thank god, because this one appears to have a broken fan and is starting to have hard drive issues again), and pay for a little research trip to Sri Lanka. And maybe even a new chair for our tv room, so I can get rid of the IKEA chair I hate. A dissertation novel chair -- won't that be cool? :-)