I have a confession of sorts to make. I spoke to the agent who is working with me on Faust in Love, and he is going to have me sign the contract with a traditional publisher in September… In the meantime I need to set up a website of sorts for my book… but I am going to have to pay in two installments the money to set it up. There is one piece of good news, though: Simon & Schuster is still the publishing house that is slated for me. My agent assures me that at least the 1st installment (of 3 installments) of what the contract promises me will be available in September… I am only sad that the amount of money is not coming sooner… I hope that does not sound greedy.
As for The Bible According to Eve: The Women of the Torah; and (surprisingly) Poor Folk, my other agent is discussing plans for a traditional publishing house looking at them. He has mentioned HarperCollins, but he has also mentioned local bookstores. I must admit that it hurt some to have to pick between Poor Folk and Maybe the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth. Yet to have one of my 4 Bible According to Eve series plus one of my books of short stories published would be a great thing.
One thing I did not succeed at that will have to be on the back burner for a while: my 2-book-set for adolescent girls: Grace; or, in Search of the Leviathan; and The Cycle of Ahriman. None of my children or adolescent books seem to be publishable. This disappoints me a great deal… because in its way I love Grace as much as The Bible According to Eve: The Women of the Torah.
It occurs to me that yesterday I wrote a poem–for Robin Williams, of all people–when I said that “I” can never really exist in my books, that the two exceptions are Discovering Wonderland (the 1st book of the 6-book-set I hope to write) and a children’s novel Jeanie and the Gentlefolk. Annie in Discovering Wonderland is me, and her troubles with her father the echoes of the problems I had with mine. Though her fantastic adventures had nothing to do with her life, Jeanie is given my middle name (Jean) for a first name, and there is a sense in which I identify with her. I don’t know why I admit this much… Only that I hope I shall get all of these books written… and published…