On the Phone with Sam

The first thing Sam said was "Welcome to the Agency." Wow, did that feel good. We talked for over an hour about his notes on the book. His ideas were spot on. I can tell this will be a good collaboration. He's familiar with the Bay Area and Julia Morgan but hadn't heard of the Chapel of the Chimes. We discussed roughly a half dozen scenes and issues that needed more work. He'll read over the manuscript again and give me another set of more refined edits within the next two weeks. Wonderful!

What a difference a week makes. I was all set to spend the rest of the year adapting "Botticelli Girl" into a novel. Now I can hold off on that project and focus all my energy on the Milan family. Once the revisions are done, I'll continue outlining the second and third book.

Sam represents Deborah Harkness, who came out with "A Discovery of Witches" back in February. I asked him how her novel was able to reach No. 2 on the Times Bestseller List when she was a debut author. He said Deb was an engaging speaker, a popular blogger, and savvy with social media. Viking put together a press function for her and it was very well received. Advanced sales on Amazon are calculated the first week the book is out, and because it was a slow week and buzz for "Witches" was high, she hit the list and stayed there. It suggests the game begins well before the book launch. I have so much to do and we haven't even submitted to editors yet.

I play my league match with Tyrone Thursday night. I haven't played any racquetball in almost a week. I'm hitting the gym hard today.