At Last

I got word today that my agents have the publishing contract I've been waiting for and are dickering with the publisher for better terms.

It's been a long time coming; my editor and I worked out the deal last February. There will be a good advance.

I'll be on fresh ground. I'm doing a large historical novel that will follow an early vaudeville troupe through the early mining towns in the west in the 1880s. I've been doing a lot of research. Those troupes were warmly welcomed by entertainment-starved miners. The gold and silver and copper towns built elaborate opera houses to draw performers. It wasn't until railroads began to connect the towns that theatrical companies could do the "circuit" as it was called. But some entertainers, I'm thinking of Eddy Foy, were working the camps even before the railroads arrived.

I'm going to have fun with this one. It's good to be back at work, after a hiatus. Maybe this will be my last novel; I don't know for sure.