May 12, 2005
I'm sitting here listening to "Gravedigger" by Dave Matthews on my computer, having dug in (ooh, no pun intended)today and finished the re-write on Bad Intentions. I worked on the Journal galley proof, which I'm going to have to finish now since I got faxes from one of my associate editors and one of my contributors, but the bulk of the day has been spent on getting through the re-write. I also wanted to send Ashley brief descriptions of potential follow-ups. For some time I had an idea for one of them, but had never thought past that, so I had to sit down and cough up a title first. I went to my iTunes list and scanned down the list of song titles hoping for inspiration. You see, the first Meg Malloy title was Dirty Deeds, from Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap), by AC/DC, which by the way, is not on my iTunes list. The second, Bad Intentions, is from a Melissa Etheridge tune, Chrome-Plated Heart, "... he's got bad intentions on the soles of his shoes..." Gravedigger (or Grave Digger) seemed to resonate (so did Margaritaville, but not in the same way!).

So I then had to cough up a one paragraph plot synopsis, which is easy, as long as you realize that it may not have all that much to do with what you eventually churn out. It's mostly to show your agent and potential editors that you're thinking long-term and have some sort of idea what you might like to do in terms of turning your series character into a franchise.

Which, in keeping with the subject title, is the road to a long-term writing career as a novelist, etc, what Lawrence Block once suggested was the flogging of a dream. Pursuing some mythical state of employment in which you spend all day in a room in the company of imaginary people. The only difference between novelists and mental patients is the novelists get paid for it, right? Well, there are undoubtedly novelists who would say, "You call this being paid?" But the rubber walls now...

Back to paying work, I think.

Best,
Mark Terry