Expert Excerpts, Expert Excerpts, Expert Excerpts

To recap: Last Friday, our editor at New World Library set us straight that, in order to be the precious little gift book we all intend, 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s requires a total word count of 50,000, not the 100,000 cited in our contract. Oops! Wish that boilerplate detail hadn't slipped through a crack. Meanwhile, here Peg and I were, trying for months to figure out how to make all our fabulous material fit into a mere 2,000 words per chapter.

Now that push comes to shove and our new target is smaller by half, clearly we need to narrow our focus. We had done a lot of writing, of course, but thankfully not the bulk of it. The major loss comes in terms of time spent doing tons of research for the many "nuggets" that lie now on the cutting-room floor.

(heavy sigh...) Life happens. What'cha gonna do?

Onward! Upward!

We do still want your stories! But obviously, the name of the game will be "Expert Excerpts." (Say that fast three times!) We'll zero in on the strongest material, the most compelling experiences, the liveliest quotes. Don't just tell us what happened with you in the "leaving your 40s" passage. Tell us how the experience changed you. And pass on your best advice for others facing similar situations. Our book aims to be upbeat and humorous, even as it conveys some of life's heavier lessons, so don't be afraid to crack wise!

DEADLINE: September 30, 2006. Email sheilakey@newmexico.com. Include your real name, your real age, and the first name (real or not) you'd like us to use for publication.

Thanks.

But first, a few photos!

Can you believe Peg and I showed up at our second book-writing retreat wearing the same dress?! We didn't even know we owned the same dress. Bonus: Since my kids really, really wanted to see the room and jump on the beds (Retreat Central was just three miles from home) -- and since I was happy for their help, along with Dad's, to shlepp the last of my gear up to the room -- Peg and I had a willing photographer on hand for a moment, to document the coincidence. (Thank you, Maya Sweetie!)

And when I say we shlepped in the stuff, I mean
We shlepped in the stuff!

Call us urban campers. I snapped this photo at the end, as we awaited Sean the Bellman to help pack us out. A photo of the incoming load (if it existed) would show lots more groceries. We ate well! Though the room lacked cooking facilities, the elevator stood ready to whisk us down to the doorstep of McGrath's, Hyatt's downtown-Albuquerque restaurant, where the kitchen staff stood just as ready to please, if only to bake Peg's gourmet pizza in their oven or pop my bag of corn in their microwave. We never did actually dine at McGrath's, but we recommend it to any restaurant-goer in the neighborhood, purely on principle.

Lugging in the cappucino maker and accoutrement definitely paid off. Saved us considerable dollars and minutes (OK, half-hours) not spent running down to Starbuck's in the lobby.
Nope, we ate in, drank in... Just hunkered in the bunker and wrote.

Peg brought along her brand-spanking new copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, our publisher's stylebook of choice.
Oh, and she struck on a possible solution to midlife changes in visual accuity, to say nothing of cutting-edge fashion.

The weather was kind enough to be cloudy all weekend while we hunkered indoors. Not just dull gray, though. We enjoyed our 9th-floor view of blanket after blanket of clouds spilling over the Sandia Mountains. Photos through the window never do justice to such beautiful scenery.

...And we even made it to the hot tub! Only once, but still. While we were there, we "collected" a little story for the book, from a couple passing through on their way from San Francisco (their home of 30 years) to their new home in Amarillo, Texas, a town they had yet to set foot in. Now that's a midlife adventure!

WHICH reminds me: I owe you an update about our story needs for the book, now that our template is much condensed. It's coming. Stay tuned.

"Did we say 100,000 words?"

Peg and I are just back from retreat. We holed up at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Albuquerque, our hometown. Didn't set foot out of the place from check-in on Thursday to check-out on Tuesday. In-room cappucino maker (lugged from home) prevented us from frequenting Starbuck's downstairs. Well, almost. We gave in to the scone urge one morning. But hey, "once" is not "frequenting," so I guess I was right the first time.

Oh, but look: I've buried the lead.

Our retreat began with a long-awaited confab with our editor, and boy-oh-boy, are we wishing we hadn't waited so long. The upshot is this: Although our contract with New World Library calls for a first-draft manuscript of "approximately 100,000 words," what NWL really meant to ask of us (had they caught the boo-boo) was "approximately 50,000 words." The 100K figure is boilerplate for the typical 9" x 6", 300-page book. But ours is not the typical 9 x 6 same-old, same-old.

50/40 is a gift book. It'll have a gifty shape (we spoke of 6" square) and a "precious" look and feel. As such, it cannot accommodate 100,000 words. Good lord! We had hoped to find out we had some "wiggle room" above the 100K. We came away with a firm "half that." Yikes!

But we've gotta laugh. How many thousand words do they want, after all, for this book about "leaving your 40s"? Why, FIFTY, of course!

In fairness, our editor gave us the choice of going the "standard 9 X 6" route. But we agreed with her that 50/40 is, first and foremost, a gift book. So, with her help, we pared the template to the bone and got to work.

Where does this leave us, vis-a-vis stories from contributors? Good question! And it deserves its own stand-alone blog post.

Soon!
Love, Sheila