Darin Bradley

About ten months ago, I sold my first novel, Amaranth to Juliet Ulman at Bantam/Spectra. I've mentioned the thing off and on since then, in the occasional blog-post, but really, things have been understandably quiet as I waited out the process. About four months ago, I handed in a second draft of the story, based on a conversation Juliet and I had up in the Governor's Club Bar in the Madison Concourse Hotel. It was very auspicious, sitting up that high, watching a massive thunderstorm roll in through the massive windows.

And then, as a first-timer, the fretting began. Would the revision be good enough? Would I have to kill off all of my "darlings"? Am I not a Special Snowflake^TM?

Last week, David Pomerico over-nighted me his and Juliet's edits on the manuscript (much to my surprise—I was expecting regular snail-mail). Nothing wakes you up on a Saturday morning like finding your long-awaited story hulking outside your front door. And after an exciting afternoon of looking over the comments, that's when I realized what a complete dolt I'd been, fretting like that. Editors are not your enemies—at least, David and Juliet were not my enemies. When I'd finished the second draft, back in Oct./Nov., naturally I figured I was a genius. Writing could not possibly get better than what I'd sent.

Of course, not so, but isn't it pretty to think so?

Anyway, with their help, this third (fourth?) draft is way bitchin'. The myth of the solitary writer, hammering brilliance out of his or her fingertips, is crap. It's usually a collaboration. I took about five days to incorporate their changes and re-arrange some chapters that were, shall we say, not quite cutting it. It was a bit of an editing binge, but since I work as a visiting assistant professor, I've got nice big gaps between "work days" in my week. Today I finally finished the last polish, let Rima (my first, best critic—when I can make her teary-eyed (via writing!), then I'm usually doing something right) give it the once-over, and then vacuum-tubed it back to H.Q. In a few weeks, we'll see how well I did. I'm betting there will be another draft or two, probably with fewer Big changes, so in the end, my wart-of-a-first-draft should be a stylin' beauty mark.

So, some action shots:



(Revision Central, before the manuscript ended up in about five different piles, as a result of some franken-chaptering)



(A little revision help, cat-style. Usually, every time I left the study, she camped herself on the manuscript.)

So, that was exciting. One of these days, it's going to have a cover, and book design, and a barcode. Won't that be a trip?

Originally published at Darin Bradley.

For those few who have read Amaranth, if the general trends in our real-world on-going economic collapse haven't already creeped you out (blah, blah, fiction-reality, blah, blah), then the recent trend of civil-unrest-instructions graffiti definitely should.

(Thanks to Rima for the link!)

Originally published at Darin Bradley.

R. sends along "Shares Swoon on Dim Earnings Forecast":

A report from Automatic Data Processing, a payroll processing company, raised new concerns about unemployment, showing that private employers had cut 693,000 jobs as the recession deepened in December, far more than economists expectations of 495,000 job losses. The report stoked fears that unemployment numbers for December, scheduled to be released on Friday, could be far worse than economists were expecting.

The United States lost a total of 1.9 million jobs for last year through November as the crises in financial and credit markets helped send the weakening economy into a sharp decline. Unemployment rose to 6.7 percent in November, and economists said it could reach 7 percent in December.

Not to worry: R. also sends along "Food Foraging Lessons for the Recession".

As I've told some others, my best guess (based largely on research I did (didn't-stop-doing) for Amaranth) is that the bubble is going to pop sometime between early summer and early fall of '09, and these days, I'm seeing more and more people echo that forecast. If you want to read something a bit sensational about the mid-'09 collapse, to get your day rolling with a bit of anxiety, have a look at this.

But what do I know? I'm a trained literary scholar, not an economist. Everything may work out just fine. But what if it doesn't?

What would you do?

Originally published at Darin Bradley.

Apocalypse-buddy L. sends this link:

Amaranth @ 544

If what happens to the high school in Amaranth is any measure, I do not want to go inside this place.

Maybe they eat Amaranth Flakes.

Originally published at Darin Bradley.

Yesterday I received a call from Agent Kris, wherein he delivered the news every writer breathes, eats, and blinks for.

My first novel* Amaranth is now forthcoming from Bantam/Spectra, courtesy of Juliet Ulman.

I am the stunned. The speechless. The pleased.

There were three highlights of the experience: 1) Calling Scotch Mentor, Thomas R. Preston, who told me, amidst stammers and tears, that he wanted to pour scotch all over my head 2) Telling my father, who has always been my greatest and truest adventuring buddy 3) Two solid days of excitement shared with roxana, Lizzie the Wonderbeagle, and Alli the Adventure Kitty.



*I join the ranks of those whose second novel sells before their first