Contracts and froglets and summer holidays
After several weeks of negotiations (most of which I was glad not to be involved in at all) I went to the post office today with four signed copies of the 13-page contract for Linked, plus a tax form (how glad am I that I made the trip to London and got my ITIN earlier this year?), and posted them all off to the Simon & Schuster offices in New York.
Moment of awe and silence please. The Simon & Schuster offices in New York.
I swear to God, I still go dizzy sometimes when I remember I have an agent. An agent. For me. And now, to be signing a NY publisher's contract and posting it to their NY offices…
Well, it felt great, that's all. Posting a signed contract to the States, after all those times of all my US letters being hopeful queries and manuscripts being sent to agents and publishers, and getting various forms of rejections in return. And I've carefully kept my receipt and made a note of the cost, because from this tax year on I'm going to be claiming my business expenses back. Which is also pretty exciting!
I'm very keen to get on with editing Linked, which obviously can't happen until everyone has signed the contract. Partly because I want to get on with writing the sequel, and I don't want to start until after the Linked edits, in case something gets changed that affects the world-building. I'm also quite keen to spend some of my advance on a better computer chair, because my existing one is horrible for my back – and Lucy the cat has shredded the top of the back-rest because whenever I make her move off a kitchen worktop she attacks my chair in rage and revenge.
In family news, Abstract is still on holiday this week, so he's been doing gardening-type stuff. And cooking dinners, because I am not on holiday. And cleaning out the pond, which led to lots of displaced mini froglets deciding our sitting room was the place to be. Fortunately we love our mini froglets and didn't mind scooping them up and putting them out again.
Sparkler is currently spending a few days with my friend who owns a cake-baking business, doing what sounds like super fun, albeit extremely busy, work experience. Gloworm has had her ears pierced, and had what sounded like a really nice day today meeting up for shopping with a friend. She's come back with some fabulous pink and black trousers!
Next weekend the girls are staying with The Model Auntie and Dr T-shirt for a couple of nights, and Abstract and I are visiting our old stomping grounds in London, where we met/dated/married/lived until Sparkler was a year old.
And that's all for now!
