Ooh, that sounds really good.

OK, I am now officially laughing my arse off.

Toni Plummer pinged me back to say it needed to have a blurb, a series summation about what makes the series different and unique, at the end, and that was standard for catalogue copy. OK, sez me, but I used the catalogue copy from the first two books as a model, and neither has one. So, no visual reference. Can you send me a sample?

She does:

"With its wildcatting spirit, The Rogues' Game is a high stakes novel and an exquisite quest for revenge."

and

"A sophisticated contemporary novel written in the classic tradition of Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, The Young Widow is the debut of a fresh new voice on the mystery scene."

and

"With vivid details and quirky but down-to-earth characters, Christine Poulson evokes the rich academic life of Cambridge, England with masterful strokes."

So, I write back, hmmmm, tricky, this being book number three, and neither of the first two having had one of those blurbs. Would something like this work?

"The Murder, Music and Ghosts series, with its clean, evocative writing and engaging characters, melds everyday modern life with the echoes of history, and the acts - and consequences - of days now gone."

Says Toni: That's WONDERFUL!

Boy, are these folks easy to please.

What cracked me up in another direction was that, at the instant I was writing all this - catalogue copy at my publisher's request, for Matty Groves - I get an email from my agent, answering a query I'd sent about how much she wanted on Cruel Sister before we pitched to Ruth. Says Jenn, well, not sure what the protocol is for pitching before the last option book is officially accepted. I haven't heard anything back from Ruth in Matty Groves yet, have you?

Other than having just been asked the write the catalogue copy for fall 2005 for that very book? Nope.

Publishing is weird.

Serial, but I need to say WHOOOOOOOOOOT!

From Toni Plummer to my agent:

Matty Groves is currently scheduled to come out in Fall '05 (which we are just launching next week). I believe Ruth has accepted the ms. as is, but I will check with her on Monday.

No edits. As is. No changes, it would appear, other than the occasional dropped comma, misspelled word, line edit from the future pass pages, and whatever changes I might choose to make myself, otherwise.

Bounce. Bouncebounce. Bouncebouncebouncebounce.

And now I can finish up another two chapters on Cruel Sister and pitch it. Yes!

Go deb! You deserve to see '04 out with triumph.

Woo hoo!

That's wonderful.

No edits. As is.

Spectacular.

Go Deb!

Whee! Yay, Deb!!

Yay Deb!

t Shakes pompoms. Realizes that she doesn't know any "editor accepted your book" cheers.

Realizes that she doesn't know any "editor accepted your book" cheers.

"Gimme a three! Gimme a B...!"

I just am floored and amused by this stuff. There are writers out there - Anne Rice and Thomas Harris come to mind - who live in the headspace of "no editors shall sully my perfect masterpiece with their greasy fingers! Back! Down! Die! Go!" And here's me, the opposite, perfectly willing to hand a chapter of WIP to some guy cleaning elephant poo at the circus, and beg him to tell me what he thinks will make it better.

Life is very weird.