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
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