Wow! FINDING EMILIE has been out only three days and already more than ten reviews–all of them extremely positive!–have gone up on historical fiction websites and elsewhere. Everyone seems to love Lili (my fictional daughter) and her mother Emilie, as well as Lili’s own fictional creation, Meadowlark. Eventually I’ll post these as live links on a reviews page, but if you are interested in taking a peek now, just paste the link. Very very rewarding. I guess I can relax now!
The official publication date for FINDING EMILIE is tomorrow, although the book has already been released by Amazon and people are starting to receive their copies. This morning I got my first review from one of the big historical fiction blogs, The Burton Review. “Finding Emilie goes easily on my favorites of 2011 list,” the review says. Here it is in its entirety:
I’ve been busy preparing guest posts for some of the many historical fiction blogs, and the first two are already posted:
“Emilie and Voltaire” on Passages to the Past (this one has a book giveaway, so sign up soon!
In my last post I told you what I was doing, and in this one I’ll try to tell you how I’m feeling as the publication date for FINDING EMILIE approaches.
It’s scary.
The process of writing a novel is so involved and lengthy that I swing through the spectrum of emotions over and over. Then, in the many months between finishing the final round of revisions and waiting for publication, I put FINDING EMILIE out of mind. I was making many appearances for PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER, finishing up novel number four (THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD), and doing some preliminary work on novel number five–plus teaching full time and doing some other projects, including serving as managing co-editor of two anthologies. FINDING EMILIE was, bluntly, the last thing on my mind.
About a month before a book comes out authors receive a box of finished copies, and when that carton arrived a few weeks back, the emotional roller coaster began for me again. I can’t describe the feeling of pulling back the flaps and seeing rows of one’s own book staring back. The cover is not a surprise–by then I’ve seen it often–but the bulk of the whole thing (I don’t know how else to say it) is a most pleasant reality check. I took a few out of the box and photographed them for–what else?–Facebook before curling up on the couch to leaf through a copy. Here it is, I said to myself. It’s finally, well, alive.
Then you wait. The time a book sits in warehouses and storerooms waiting for the publication date is pretty tough. I want the book out in the world now, but I’m also worried about what will happen when it is. What if people don’t like it? What if they write mean spirited or silly reviews on Amazon? What if they secretly (or not so secretly) decide that it’s okay, but not as good as my other novels? What if this? What if that?
I’m not sure what this worry is about, really. A number of people read the book in galley–a few reviewers, a few friends, a few fellow authors. Everyone has been very positive, talking about how reluctant they were to say goodbye to my characters and how vividly I’ve portrayed the world of Enlightenment France. “You like it?” I say, doing a Sally Field second Oscar speech imitation. “You really like it?” They smile, nod, or if they are at a distance, write reassuring e-mails that I read again and again.
Just today I found out that FINDING EMILIE is an Editor’s Pick in the next issue of Historical Novels Review–the biggie in my field. They like it–they really like it! I feel the weight coming off my shoulders. Maybe I can stop worrying now, since ALL the feedback is good–very very good.
This particular wait came to a strange, truncated end when I discovered the book went on sale on Amazon a few days ago–a week ahead of the pub date. All the countdown, all the talk of going out next Tuesday to celebrate seems suddenly moot. I’ve survived again, and now, the wait for blogger reviews begins. It’s like the time between leaping off the high dive and hitting the water, but I’m at this point more curious than scared.
I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a note when you’ve read the book, and better still, post a review on Amazon, B&N or someplace else. Writers are nothing without readers, and if you were here right now I’d thank you sincerely and deeply for all your support, except I’m chewing my nails and can’t talk at the moment.
Two weeks until pub date for FINDING EMILIE! No, I’m not going crazy counting the hours. I am much too busy for that.
Here’s what has already happened: I received two boxes of author’s copies of the book about ten days ago, and it is always a thrill to see finished copies staring up in multiple as I lift the flaps. I’m busy giving copies away to people who can help place the book in libraries and independent bookstores, or get it in the hands of people who run conferences, book fairs, book-related philanthropic events, and the like. If you fall into any of those categories, let me know!
I’ve been busy in the last month or so setting up a “blog tour,” which has taken the place of actual touring for all but the most famous authors. Publishers don’t support real tours much any more–there isn’t a lot of bang for the buck in it–and that’s fine with me, because I’d rather sleep at home and put my energy into writing. I have more than a dozen guest blog posts written already, waiting to be published after the book is out.
My publicist has gotten FINDING EMILIE in the hands of a number of bloggers who will be doing reviews and giveaways. She’s also looking for possible author appearances and speaking gigs.
As for such appearances, I have a whirlwind of them, which I won’t list here, because all the information can be found in the calendar on the home page. In addition, I have about a dozen book clubs and private events between now and Memorial Day, some of which are for EMILIE, but others are for my other books. People seem to be still discovering THE FOUR SEASONS and UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH, and of course PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER has only been out since October 2010 and is still a “new” book.
I’m also busy with my full load of classes at San Diego City College, as well as a four-part lecture series on the Convivencia, the centuries of coexistence of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Iberia during the medieval era. I offered this course once already at SDSU extension, and am repeating it at San Diego CIty College. Check the calendar page for more information if you are interested. The course is the result of my sabbatical research in Fall 2010.
And then there’s the launch of FINDING EMILIE, which looks to be a lot of fun. Rather than doing a separate launch party for friends, family, and supporters, I am bringing bubbly and treats to my first two bookstore appearances, at Warwick’s in La Jolla, and Bay Books in Coronado. Also on the calendar page. Come on down and share a toast to the fabulous Emilie du Châtelet!
Oops! Just looked at the clock! I have a job to get to. What a fortunate person I am to have so many wonderful things to do!
It doesn’t happen very often in life, even for the most prolific writers, to find a box of one’s new book waiting on the doorstep. Yesterday I had one of those “blessed events,” the arrival of finished copies of FINDING EMILIE.
Just when I’ve managed to catch my breath from the release of PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER last October, here I am a month away from the publication date for FINDING EMILIE, my third historical novel and fourth book since 2008!
I started writing books for mainstream audiences in 2004, with my first draft of UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH. I recently sent off novel number four to my agent for marketing, so doing the math, that’s seven years I’ve been writing, with five books to show for it. I don’t know why I have been so prolific, other than that I really, truly love to write, and once I get an idea burning in me, I am a goner. I’d rather work on my novel-in-progress than just about anything else, and the challenge becomes not the writing but fitting in everything else, whether business or pleasure.
Lest you think the six months between pub dates means it took me six months to write FINDING EMILIE, decidedly not so. PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER was a little slow from finishing the manuscript, to sale, to publication, and EMILIE had a quick sale and took the usual year-and-change from that point to bookstore shelves.
I have a lot of appearances set for FINDING EMILIE, and if you look in the scrolling calendar in the left column of the home page of this website, you can see them all, or go to the Events page for the same information. I love book clubs too, so please bear any of my books in mind as your group makes future choices. I can talk by phone or Skype if you aren’t in the San Diego area
Look for FINDING EMILIE on the front tables of Barnes and Noble stores for a few weeks after publication, and of course it will be available at most chains and many indie bookstores, and online. Right now it’s deeply discounted at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online–a little over half the cover price!
For more information on the book, and on the inspirational Emilie du Chatelet, look under the books tab on this site. I hope you like “finding” Emilie as much as I did.
In New York for the Christopher Awards, visiting my agent, Meg Ruley
I’ve written before about how endless finishing a novel is. We breath a sigh of relief when we finish the first draft, but experienced authors know the work is far from done. I call this the 60 Percent Rule, because probably not half, but close to it, of the total amount of time a book requires to make it into the reader’s hands lies ahead.
With my current novel, THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD, I must have called it finished a dozen times, only to go back through and discover more to be done before it winged through cyberspace to my agent’s desktop. That’s a biggie, because that’s when I truly have declared it done to the best of my ability.
Wrong. Here’s sort of how the conversation went:
Meg Ruley (Agent): I read this in bits and pieces, some on my Nook and some in hard copy, so I couldn’t tell the word count but it seemed to read a bit long. How many words is it?
Me: 199,000.
Meg: Did your grandmother ever use the expression “drop your drawers?” because that’s what I just did.
Oh Lordy, Lordy, here I am telling this amazing story in the full way I want, and I’m creating an unmarketable monster. Mind you, Meg says this is one of the most compelling novels she’s ever read, but the problem is no editor will read it. She can’t even ask at that length. The longer the book, the higher the production cost, and the greater the risk of not making money. Even if an editor thought it was the novel of the decade, it would be an almost impossible pitch to make to the editorial board.
It’s my fault for not checking in with Meg when I saw THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD sprawling way past the length of my other novels, but I told myself that multigenerational stories in epic times are special cases, and there are readers who made Michener and others household words because they like long reads. But a great story, compelling characters, strong writing, and an interesting historical era are not enough in these chaotic times. Publishers don’t seem to know what to do with any book they acquire in an era rendered triply difficult by falling sales, changing demographics, and the rising popularity of e-books. They simply weren’t going to take a chance on mine.
Idea One: Maybe it could just be an e-book for a while, see how it does. It doesn’t matter how long an e-book is, really, in terms of cost. Then, once it’s clear there’s an audience, it’s put out in hard or soft cover.
Bad plan. Books need to be on tables in bookstores. They need to be passed from hand to hand. They need to be signed at appearances. Even though e-books have an expanding share of the market and are obviously going to continue to grow, for authors they are a side show, not the main event.
Idea Two: How about two parts, each a very manageable (and quite trim) 100,000 pages?
Bad Plan. First, it would require substantial rewriting, because each book would have to stand on its own. Writers talk about the arc of the story a lot, how the action is paced and conflicts arise and are resolved. I would have to go back in and make a second set of arcs, keeping the big one, but changing enough to make each part satisfying on its own. Quite frankly, I couldn’t see how.
Idea Three (barely considered): Stick the manuscript on the shelf and mourn that such a great story won’t ever see the light of day.
No, non, nyet, lo, nein. This book is the product of my heart, a story I burned to tell. It’s about the last generations of Jewish presence in Iberia before the expulsion by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. People must know more about the Sephardic Jews and their fate, and I appointed myself to the task. It’s bigger than me. Throwing up my hands and grousing about publishing realities abandons people (both historical and fictional) that I am not prepared to write off. Plus, I’ve gotten a lot of help on this book, and I want the people who contributed their time and effort to see a result.
Meg: I think what we have here is a rose garden in serious need of pruning.
Me: How much? 10 percent? That would bring it down to 180,000.
Meg: I think we’re talking more like 160,000 max, and even that’s going to be tough to pitch.
Twenty percent! Horror, panic, pain. That’s 60 words a page, 120 pages total out of the book. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I can’t do it.
Meg: This book needs a crash diet, basically.
Me (drawing on everything I possess): Well, I guess I have to try.
Fortunately I was born with the happy gene. I am the eternal optimist. I am “can-do” on steroids. I spent a day or two thinking about how to proceed. First I eliminated several sections of the story I thought were historically interesting but not really pulling their weight plot-wise. Then I dug into a first revision, discovering some endemic wordiness in my writing style that I am really grateful to have noticed. I’m afraid to go back to my first three novels now for fear I’ll see the same things there. I eliminated what Susan Vreeland calls “research dumps,” interesting historical tidbits that aren’t well integrated into the narrative. Historical novelists just have to accept that we know many things we can’t tell the reader.
I pared it down to the targeted 160,000 words and told Meg I was going to go back one more time to make sure I hadn’t introduced any choppiness into the manuscript. Wow! Not only did the book read just as well or better than before, but I kept finding more things I didn’t really need, paring an adjective here, a conversation tag there, a bit of dialogue here, a scene there. Kind of like the second pass on a closet cleaning, when you’ve really got the “throw it away if you don’t use it” mentality going on. I’m on target now to give Meg a version next week that is only a little longer than FINDING EMILIE, with a word count somewhere around 145,000–still a little high but no longer a jaw dropper.
I’m amazed I can sound so nonchalant about deleting 25 percent of my book, but business is business. I don’t think about the hours–actually months–of time I spent on work that is now gone with the press of the delete key. Writers have to accept such losses if they want to be published.
I learned from my first book, UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH (which also need a massive pruning for different reasons) how to let writing go if it doesn’t serve the goal of sharing my work with the reading public. Even writing we really love, writing we are proud of. Even some of our best. We let our emotions have their moment, we mourn, and then we go on to write some more.
If you are in the San Diego area, please join me and eight other area authors at the launch of our new endeavor, SAN DIEGO WRITING WOMEN, on February 19, from 6-9PM at Hair Drezzers on Fire, 3463 Adams Ave. in San Diego.
Here’s how we describe ourselves: “We are nine authors who are passionate about what we do. Some of us write for a living, yet all of us scramble to find the time to finish our books — between research trips to Borneo, Greece and death row, stand-up comedy shows or reproductive surgery on horses. A few months ago we started blogging here about the writing life. Now, we want to celebrate the written word with you in person, read from our latest books and launch our mission of sharing our combined knowledge and experience with readers, writers, and aspiring writers everywhere.”
The event will be a lot of fun, with wine and hors d’oeuvres, live music, and short presentations by the authors. So far close to 200 people have responded to the invitation posted on our blog. If you would like more information or an invitation to the event please RSVP to crother@flash.net. The event is open to the public, but for planning purposes, we appreciate your contacting us for an invitation.
Here are the other members of San Diego Writing Women who will be introduced at the Feb. 19 reading:
• Caitlin Rother: After 19 years in the news business, Rother left her job at The San Diego Union-Tribune in 2006 to make a living as a full-time author. She teaches writing at UCSD Extension and is working on book No. 8, about the John Gardner case. Caitlin will read from her new crime book, “Dead Reckoning,” the story of how a former child actor turned con man and hermaphrodite wannabe tied a nice married couple to the anchor of their yacht and threw them overboard — alive.
• Jennifer Coburn: Coburn is the USA Today best-selling author of four “chick-lit” novels and contributor to four literary anthologies. Her first novel, “The Wife of Reilly,” is in development for a feature film. “Tales from the Crib” is in development for TV. Coburn has written for newspapers across the country and is the recipient of journalism awards from the Press Club and Society for Professional Journalists.
• Divina Infusino: Infusino is the author of “Day Trips from Orange County:Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler,” the writer of “Rock Gods,” a rock ‘n’ roll photography collection, and co-author on “The Love Response,” a mind-body wellness book.
• Sharon Vanderlip: Vanderlip will read from her new book, “Hedgehogs.” A veterinarian, she has provied veterinary care to domestic, wild and exotic animals for more than 30 years. She served many years as veterinarian for the UCSD School of Medicine and later as chief of veterinary services for NASA. Vanderlip has written more than 20 books on animals and pet care.
• Kathi Diamant: Television celebrity Diamant left a career in broadcasting to follow her dream to tell the story of Kafka’s last love, resulting in her award-winning book “Kafka’s Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant.”
• Kathy Jones: Jones taught Women’s Studies for 24 years at San Diego State University and published books on feminism and the politics of the women’s movement. After writing “Living Between Danger and Love,” a memoir about the murder of one of her students, she left the university to pursue a writing career.
• Georgeanne Irvine: Associate Director of Development Communications for the San Diego Zoo, Irvine also is the author of more than 20 children’s books plus numerous magazine, newspaper, and Web articles. Her most recent work is the coffee table book, “The Katrina Dolphins: One-Way Ticket to Paradise,” the true story of eight dolphins from an oceanarium that were washed out to sea during Hurricane Katrina and dramatically rescued.
• Judith Liu: The author spent 30 years conducting personal interviews and hunting through dusty archives to research her book, “Foreign Exchange.” The narrative revolves around two women — one the author’s mother who attended an American Episcopalian missionary school in central China, St. Hilda’s School for Girls, and the other, an American woman who went there as a short-term teacher in the 1930s. Their lives intersected at the school during the brief time of peace in China. Set within the context of the school’s history, their tales provide a snapshot of China and its educational system before the founding of the People’s Republic.
In Lagos, Portugal, researching Henry the NavigatorI just took a look at the overall annual statistics for this website, which went live at the beginning of 2009 and has now been up for two years. I’m very pleased at the 50% growth in both unique visitors and overall visits this year. There were 30,316 visits this year (up from 20,691 in 2009). Since each month starts again with zero unique visitors, a visitor who checked in once a month would count twelve times, making it impossible to know how many of the 15,793 unique visitors (up from 10,392) were indeed unique. Still, it’s interesting to note that most people must have visited multiple times, and that the typical day sees more than 100 visits with an average of 3 pages a visit. In my best month (November) 1544 unique visitors made 3596 visits.
Not exactly superstar numbers, but very encouraging to an author still trying to build a base of support. If you are one of those returning visitors, thanks for your interest and encouragement. If this is your first visit, welcome! Check out the photos of my research trips for starters, as well as the section about my third novel, FINDING EMILIE (April 2011) and my newly completed but not yet marketed fourth novel, THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD. You also might be interested in my first trade book, UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH, which can be found under the non-fiction tab.
If you are interested in more frequent updates about my writing, please “like” my Laurel Corona, Author Facebook page. I post something every day or two about my thoughts, worries, and progress on my writing. Since I am still in the early planning stages for novel number 5, you can follow the whole process start to finish, or scroll back to see how THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD evolved. If you aren’t a writer yourself, this will give you an idea of what the life of a working author is like.
Again, THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for being behind me and my work. You are the best!
My friend Christy Englishrecently posted on Facebook to tell friends that she was finishing up her review of the proofs for her new novel, To Be Queen, out in April 2011. “These proofs will never end,” she says. Of course, I don’t want them to, I guess. I love seeing my books in print, but I love that time when it is just me and my characters. Am I nuts or what?”
For those of you unfamiliar with the lingo, the proof pages are photocopies of the book the way it will appear in the galleys. These are bound preview copies that usually come out 5-6 months before the pub date and are used for advance publicity and marketing. There are usually still some minor errors to correct in the proof pages, and authors are pretty anal about going through them, because we will have to live with any remaining typos or other problems.
In a follow-up post Christy added, “I’ve definitely got the crazy portion of the program covered.” This made me laugh, although I realize now I probably misunderstood her meaning. She was answering her rhetorical question about whether she was nuts, but I took it another way, that correcting proofs is the crazy-making thing she was now getting covered.
It’s all crazy making, really, every last bit of imagining, planning, writing, revising, editing, and reediting that goes into a historical novel. I’ll use myself as a case in point. In the last few months I have been most negligent about posting to this diary, but here’s my excuse:
THE FOUR SEASONS: Not much work anymore on my first novel, out since fall 2008, except to wrap up a couple of commitments made earlier. A book club won a silent auction item that was an autographed copy and a personal visit to their book club, and it just hadn’t gotten scheduled until this fall. Very strange to go back and revisit a book I hadn’t given much thought to for quite a while.
PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER: Published about 10 weeks ago. Huge amounts of effort are part of the picture for authors in my category, who don’t get big publicity budgets from their publishers. I guest blogged more places than I can remember, and made more than a dozen appearances here and there in less than two months.
FINDING EMILIE: Huge amounts of work for my next novel, coming out in April, right around the same time as Christy’s, so our lives are running parallel right now. Some glitches in the process of copyediting the manuscript created a disaster in which huge numbers of errors were introduced into the book at that late date. It took herculean effort by the editor and me to get it back on track, and even the proof pages had way more problems that normal. Presumably it is all fixed, but I will receive another set of proofs to check, so I’ll have crazy time again soon. I have a short break at that point before I will need to start the blitz of effort required to have a strong launch at publication time.
THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD: This is the working title of my latest novel. I started work on it last December and I have just finished it. When I am writing a novel I have essentially a second 40-hour-a-week job, and in the summer, the novel is a job and a half on its own. I’ve already written here about how I monitored my time to keep “the crazies” at bay this time, but a novel is such intense work, it is difficult to let it go, and then difficult to recover emotionally (and even physically) when you finally say, “I’m done.”
I’m done. The photo here is of my last appearance, a great time with a friend’s writing group. Now there will be a hiatus on everything. I have a few things lined up early next year, but my calendar is pretty clear. There will be nothing to do on THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD except incorporate a few revisions from early readers with specific expertise in various aspects of the book. It won’t even be marketed until later this spring, so the book can sit tight without needing care and feeding. Eventually, around March, I will start preparing guest blogs and lining up appearances for FINDING EMILIE, but there’s nothing to do now. PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER and THE FOUR SEASONS have left home and are managing on their own.
And, for the first time, I don’t have a clue about who or what I will write my next novel about. I’ve researched at least a dozen ideas and have decided that none of them are the one that’s going to pick me up by the scruff of the neck and sit me down at the computer. It’s a good thing, for I have never not been writing for about seven years now, and I have five books to show for it. A break is a good (although weird) thing for me.
No, you’re not nuts, Christy. You are just blessed with the passion for writing. Me too. Lucky thing, because the crazy portion is part of the bargain.
Last June, when I filed my grades, I had the astonishing prospect of eight months of unstructured time ahead. First, there would be the usual three months of summer, followed by a sabbatical semester, and then the winter break, so I wouldn’t be going back to my routine until the end of January.
Though I was thrilled by the opportunity to take the semester off, and I was excited by my sabbatical project, I admit I had a few misgivings. I think most people benefit from structure in their lives, and I had just lost mine. I knew I would need to create a routine that would enable me to remain productive, healthy, and satisfied.
I blogged about this back in July, in a post called “‘Healthy Author’ is Not an Oxymoron.” Here’s what I said:
“This summer I am telling myself that writing is only one of several good uses of my time, and it is inappropriate to be writing when I should be doing something else. I have a sign near my computer that has a list of 5 things:
Writing
Book Promotion
Exercise
Life Maintenance
R&R
Every one of those things is a valid and necessary part of my day. I plan every day around ensuring that I put in at least an hour on each. Then I fill up the rest of my time with a mix of all of them, in whatever way works that day.
I’m not talking about the 8-hour standard workday, but the whole 12 hours from the time I get up (around 6AM) to the time I call a halt to everything but an evening with my sweetheart (around 6PM). On most days the majority of my time overall is taken up with writing, but as I get more invested in the other things on the list, I often spend more than the minimum on them, and I still have a lot of time to write.
I ask myself a couple of times each day whether I’m doing a good mix of the 5 types of things, and if I’m not, I tell myself “it’s not writing time now.”
Haven’t exercised? Do it! Haven’t taken a shower or gone to the store? Do it. Haven’t stopped just to do something fun? Do it!
I’m having a great summer, and interestingly, I don’t think my writing productivity has dropped overall. I’m still on track to finish novel #4 this fall, and I think I could have finished it only a few weeks earlier at most if I had done nothing else. And I feel great–not at all like that stringy-haired, unwashed, antisocial creature with a backache I vaguely remember from summers past.
So here’s the report from the still washed and sociable creature who wrote those words four months ago: IT’S WORKING! I have gotten more exercise than I have in years. I have missed only two days since I started this plan, and both times I made it up the following day. I can run an hour with ease, do more crunches and lift more weight than I thought possible at my age. I’m feeling great, and best yet, despite all the time I am parked at my computer, I am still not straining to button my jeans.
I have blogged daily at Xanthe’s World since mid-August (part of book promotion) and done a pretty substantial number of real and virtual appearances since the release of PENELOPE’S DAUGHTER in October. I finished novel number four, THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD, and am well into the re-re-revision. I taught a mini-course at SDSU (that’s me in the photo) and gave several lectures other places. I’m getting out to lunch from time to time with friends, something I never seem to find time to do the rest of the time.
Oh, and that sabbatical project? The product of my sabbatical is four lectures (with accompanying slide show). I just finished the fourth slide show last week, two months ahead of schedule. For the remaining two months, I will go back through the books and other material I have amassed to see if I’ve missed anything I want to include, but basically, I’m done.
There’s a lot of time in a day. It seems the more I diversify what I do, the more time there is. I know many people have many more demands on their time than I do, but I still think that making a promise to oneself to put some time every day into ALL the things that are important instead of being swamped by one or two will cause a surprising increase in productivity and energy. When I go back to school, I’ll have a sixth category of time, and a slightly different promise to make to myself, but I’m doing it. I am really on to something and I’m sticking with it.
Two weeks until pub date for FINDING EMILIE! No, I’m not going crazy counting the hours. I am much too busy for that.
