And When, You Wonder, Will We Hear About The Shade Of The Moon?

If I had to guess, we'll hear whether Houghton Mifflin Harcourt wants The Shade Of The Moon (aka the fourth moon book) before I finish exercycling to Season 1 of The Facts Of Life.

I did make it through another two episodes yesterday morning (Mrs. Garrett's first and I guess only husband shows up and teaches all the girls poker, and Tootie finds out all the girls' IQs and much soul searching ensues) and they remain dreadful. Which begs the question why I'm watching Season 1. Well, I'd thought it'd be kind of interesting, since I only started watching in Season 2, which I hope will live up to my memories of same. Today I exercycled to an Edward G. Robinson movie that TCM showed last night, definitely an improvement.

Meanwhile, back to my publisher, who, as a general rule, I'm very pleased with. But I don't think it should take five weeks to decide Yes or No to a two sentence synopsis. At this point, they should know me, they should know my books, they should be able to figure out without too much trouble whether a fourth moon book will make them money (in which case Yes makes sense) or won't make them money (in which case No makes sense).

Having not heard anything by the end of last week, my agent was told the earliest we'd hear would be the end of this week. Technically speaking, that's tomorrow, but tomorrow, for those of you keeping score at home, is Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, which means in the publishing industry that the end of the week is today, only there's no way I'm going to hear anything today because the publishing industry thinks the end of the week is Friday at 11:59 PM. Or Saturday at 11:59 PM, or three weeks from Saturday at 11:59 PM, or possibly a year or two from now, give or take, but in the PM.

Or when I finish Season 1 of The Facts Of Life.

I figured out this morning that assuming HMH decides Yes, and I decide Yes, and I write The Shade Of The Moon and they publish The Shade Of The Moon, then The Shade Of The Moon will come out when (are you ready for this) I'm 65 years old. Gack, gack, and double gack. 65 is really old, although I do socialize with people who are that age or older, and my mother is 99, so in comparison 65 is as young as the girls on The Facts Of Life Season 1.

By the way, I love Charlotte Rae, but I think Mrs. Garrett wore a wig.

Where was I? Oh yeah, 65 years old, and if I get any kind of advance (and if HMH doesn't offer me any kind of advance, then my Yes will become my No so fast it'll make your head spin), then even if the advance earns out from the sale of the hardcovers (true for Life As We Knew It, The Dead And The Gone, and This World We Live In), I won't see any royalties until I'm 67 years old, otherwise known as The Golden Age Of Getting Social Security.

You know, it's possible most writers don't blog about money and when they'll earn it and The Facts Of Life Season 1. One or the other, but probably not both. Other writers have standards, silly them.

As you can probably tell, I didn't sleep too well last night, and once again it was The Shade Of The Moon that woke me up and kept me up. Not stress about whether and when I'll hear from HMH (which irritates me, but isn't particularly stressing me out). Just working on the plot. Working out a nifty little section involving body parts. The kind of thing that when I start thinking about it at 4 AM, the next thing I know it's 7 AM, and I'm starting the day out tired and cranky.

Oh well. Whether I hear from my agent or not, and whether she hears from HMH or not, it's going to be a lovely Memorial Day Weekend. Saturday I'm going to New Paltz Crafts Fair, and Sunday, just maybe, I'll start clearing out my outside storage closet, which has been on my to do list since last summer, when I guess I didn't done it.

Hey, with a style like that, maybe I can understand why HMH is delaying making a decision!