Deadline Pain

The book is pretty much done. I'm just doing one final read-through to make sure it still makes sense before I send it off. And because people are asking, this is something I'm doing for Japan. I'm like the David Hasslehoff of books -- still pretty much a nobody in the US, but popular abroad. Apparently, I'm a big enough hit in Japan that they ask me to write books, instead of me having to submit proposals. I hope to find a US publisher for this book, now that it's done and I'll have a complete manuscript to shop, but it was nice writing a complete manuscript that I was already being paid for. This is kind of backward from the way it usually works. Usually, you sell the book in the US, then see if you can pick up foreign sales.

I have to send the book off tomorrow, since it's due in Japan on the 15th and there's that pesky International Date Line issue (and I'm obsessive enough about meeting deadlines that I can't let myself count it as on time just because it's the 15th for me).

Once I'm done with this read-through, I plan to take Friday and the weekend off. It's going to be rainy, and I have a stack of books to read. And I think my body needs a rest. I always seem to end up with a sore back when I'm finishing a book. Although I stand up straight, I have poor posture when I'm sitting, especially when I'm sitting in front of a computer. It gets worse when I'm spending long stretches at the computer and when I'm tense about it. The back is actually a little better after ballet last night, thanks to the movement and stretching. I think the ballet is also helping with my posture, though that may have something to do with the soreness because my old bad posture is no longer comfortable, but the muscles to support good posture aren't strong enough yet and still get sore. Meanwhile, the rest of me is more stiff after class because we did a lot of stuff that really worked the thighs. I did get praised once for having really nice form in something, so yay. It's the adult class, but we have a lot of teens who are either starting ballet or who took class as little kids and are coming back, but who haven't been serious all along like the teens in the advanced classes. That means I'm having to keep up with kids young enough to be my children. I think I'm holding my own.

One more "fun with Google alerts" thing: Enchanted, Inc. is on the American Library Association's list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. According to the web site, "The purpose of the list is to encourage young adults to read for pleasure by presenting to them lists of popular or topical titles which are widely available in paperback and which represent a broad variety of accessible themes and genres." The list is a mix of young adult titles and adult titles that are suitable for or appealing to teens. I've read eight of the books on this list. This is a very cool honor, but it's a bit of a Google Fail because this is from 2008 and it's only just now showing up in a Google alert.

Oh, and apparently there's now an Enchanted, Inc. fan site out there, which is very cool. I haven't looked at it yet, but just knowing it exists makes me feel special.

Now to do some serious proofreading and make a quick trip to the store because I can't read without tea and I can't have tea without milk (especially since I've stopped putting sugar in my tea, which means I need more milk), and I'm out of milk so this is a crisis. Too bad the milkman is an endangered species, but if I had home milk delivery, I might never leave the house.