Last night, I e-mailed my author’s questionnaire to Nayt. I enjoyed answering the questions, especially the ones about my origins/themes/goals/regrets about writing the novel. It really make me think about Frozen Voices. Through the past six years of writing and rewriting it, I’ve really gotten to know and love my characters as people. What began as me trying to craft a story, ended up with me attempting to show who these people were, what they cared about, and what their dreams were. They were so real to me that when I wrote about them, I’d find myself lost in their 1907 world. After working on the novel for a few hours, I’d look around me and blink, feeling disoriented in my modern-day home. More than once, I’d find myself wanting to speak in person to one of my characters; they were that real to me.
Today, I received an e-mail from Nayt, thanking me for sending the manuscript and completed questionnaire. He said he was excited to start working on FV. He said that the student editors would receive my MS in about two weeks and then two weeks after that, I should hear from one of them, my team liaison. Imagine that—I’m going to have a liaison! (In that book about NRP, there was an essay about a high maintenance author, who often needed to be calmed and reassured by her team liaison. I hope I don’t ever fall into that category.) Nayt said that my liaison will explain the process to me and will let me know what the team will be doing as well as what is expected of me. She’ll be my primary contact at NRP but Nayt said to copy him on all correspondence, too, so that he may keep track of progress. He said I’m welcome to communicate with him directly, too, of ever I should feel the need to do so.
Tonight, I e-mailed those authors about writing “blurbs” for me. I also called Eric Wertheimer, the photographer who Betty Cotter, a local author/friend of mine, recommended for my author’s cover photo. Eric and I are going to try to get together for a photo shoot this weekend, but I’m afraid he’s going to have a challenge dealing with me. As I mentioned previously, I am generally not very good in front of a camera. Maybe I could just find a beautiful model who would let me use a photo of her instead.