Midlist Writer: Between Books

Friday, 7 March 2008

Between Books

Things are getting anxious over here in Midlist Land. For the first time since 2000, when I signed on to do my first book, the third edition of the Insiders' Guide to Phoenix, I am without a book contract. I sent in the final manuscript for Outlaw Tales of Missouri last month, and now I don't have a book to work on.

That's scary. I've had an incredible run of luck up to this point, seamlessly going from beginner to midlister by being able to get a contract for my next book while working on the current one, but now all I have is two publishers saying they are interested.

I don't need interest, I need a contract, and they've been interested for quite a long time.

Of course, there's plenty of work to be done. I have a slew of articles to write, a book proposal to fix up before sending out, another one I'm just beginning, and I need to do final edits on a novel that an editor wants to see. So I'm busy, just not a busy as I'd like to be. Or as financially stable as I'd like to be.

This was bound to happen sooner or later. All writers go through dry periods; I was just hoping to be the exception. Ah well.

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The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

The Last Hotel Room

He came to Tangier to die, but life isn’t done with him yet. Tom Miller has lost his job, his wife, and his dreams. Broke and alone, he ends up in a flophouse in Morocco, ready to end it all. But soon he finds himself tangled in a web of danger and duty as he’s pulled into scamming tourists for a crooked cop while trying to help a Syrian refugee boy survive life on the streets. Can a lifelong loser do something good for a change? A portion of my royalties will go to a charity for Syrian refugees.

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