Editorial Letter Received!

I opened the long-awaited email with understandably mixed emotions: excitement, fear, curiosity. This was it, the letter I'd been waiting on since selling Dissident last fall, editor Adam Wilson's initial round of instructions.

I was anxious to make this the best book I could possibly write, but a part of me feared a crap-ton of work might lie within this letter -- big stuff, structural stuff -- which would be okay, pretty much... as long as I believed in the changes.

Like I said: excitement, fear, curiosity.

And more fear.

As it turns out, I needn't have been afraid.

Adam Wilson is such a cool, smart guy. Funny, too. My ideal combination for an editor.

His suggestions are awesome. He has me adding scenes, rethinking the delivery of information, and sharpening everything from menace to mystery to motivation. And here's the kicker: I agree with everything (well, there is one spot, where he asks me what I think, and I'm leaning in a different direction than he seems to be leaning, but hey, that's not bad!).

I couldn't be happier.

There's a lot of work to do, and I'm happily doing it. That's a theme with me, I'm coming to recognize. I like work -- love it, in fact -- as long as it's good work. I hate wasting time and loathe busy work, but if I believe in something, whether it's lugging stone or teaching combinations to a would-be fighter or overhauling the way in which I unveil the central mystery of Dissident, I'm over-friggin-joyed to have my nose to the grindstone.

Speaking of which, it's time to get (happily) back to the book.

Hope you're all plugging away contentedly, too. What's everyone doing?