My copy editors like my book. A lot.

[desperance]

Okay, look, this is shameless self-promotion to the max, and I really shouldn't do it; but this herebelow came this morning and it made me feel better, and it's good to share...

When "Bridge of Dreams" came back from copy-edit, I was frankly stunned. This is the stage I hate worst in publishing - I usually end up unpicking nine-tenths of what the copy editor has done, thereby earning myself a reputation as being difficult to deal with, which I'm not, honest - but the edit on "Bridge" was clean, acute and genuinely useful. So of course I asked if the new book, "River of the World", could go to the same people...

I am here to tell you that Bob and Sara Schwager are the best copy editors in the whole world evar; and they are here to tell you this:

My wife Sara and I are your copy editors and I just finished the final read on the book. IMHO it is the finest piece of fantasy writing I have ever had the great privilege to read, much less to work on. As you will see from the paucity of queries, there is not a single question about the plot, time line, etc. That in itself is amazing for a book of this length and complexity. Frankly, the most difficult part of the copyedit was fighting against just falling into the story and the writing. This combination of storytelling and luminous writing is a rare and precious commodity. Thank you so much for requesting that we do this volume after having done Bridge of Dreams. Hope to see much more from you and will certainly be going back to get your previous fantasy pieces.

Wasn't that just the kindest thing, that they bothered to write to me? Made my day...

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Hey, those names ring a bell -- unless I'm mistaken, they're the folks who copyedit my books at Ace!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Almost certainly, I'd think. And Caitlin knows them too, she says they're great folks; and don't you just love this warm fuzzy sense of community that just snuggles up sometimes? 'Specially when a man has a cold but has written fifteen hundred words regardless, largely on the back of one kind e-mail... (Peter Wimsey has this moment, where he says he lived for three weeks on one good review of a Harriet Vane novel; that's kind of how I feel, and often how I deal with the world.)

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! All that hard work paid off. I cannot WAIT to read this!

The name 'Selling Water By The River' always makes me think of Genesis' 'Selling England By The Pound', and I always read both titles as puns. Is that intentional, or am I merely grammatically challenged?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Nope, not challenged at all (except, I hope, by my fiction...). All puns, I think, are deliberate, and should be celebrated.

My own series title actually I stole; there's a Buddhism-for-Westerners text called "Selling Water by the River", which some friends of mine were keen on twenty years ago. I've been hugging it to my soul ever since, only waiting for the chance...

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Oo, snazzy! (Probably completely the wrong word to use in re Buddhism...)

[coppervale.livejournal.com]

Geez. That's practically FRAMEABLE.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. Here I sit, the kind of person who has always sneered at that other kind of person who has framed photos of themselves and all their own certificates up on their own walls - and, yup. Ooh, the temptation...

[julesjones]

Hee. But this is the sort of thing that *deserves* framing. Praise from people who really do know what they're talking about; who did not have to write to you, but did. You've every right to be bouncy about this. :-)

[poesmother.livejournal.com]

Hey, many congrats!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Many thanks.

[devonellington.livejournal.com]

Yay, Chaz! Glad to see they're telling you such a wonderful truth!

[costumeimp.livejournal.com]

Congratulations Chaz. I'm positively chomping at the bit to get my hands on your next book. I'm glad to hear the process is going smoothly for you on this one...

Go ahead and frame your editors response! It's something you should be proud of... I know the temptation of having photographs of yourself hanging in your own home. I have a small collection of pictures myself that are shamelessly hanging in the bedroom, of those 'famous' people I've worked with and adore. I see nothing wrong with framing a moment in time that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. They tend to come in handy... (and I tell my friends who laugh at that to keep laughing. At least they will have something interesting to hang up at my memorial service someday...) :-)

Grats again!!! Keep up the good work!

[lcohen]

that's fabulous! also, now i know who you are (i've been wondering) and can look for your books!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Um, you could've looked in my user info... *g*

(Seriously, I was really dithery over this whole pseudonym thing that seems to run through LJ; was I here to make friends, or was I here to influence people? The answer, of course, is both: I was drawn by the conversations, but I do actually want people to find the books. So I went half-and-half, pseudonym up front and a genuine bio in the profile. But I still don't know...)

And oh, do look for the books. America's a big country, and they don't know many people over there...