The publication date for my memoir The Accidental Terrorist inches ever closer. We're a little more than four months away from rolling out the book, and things here at Accidental Army Headquarters (a/k/a my house) are busy as ever.
The most important news to share is that last week I received my final set of editorial notes from the brilliant and insightful Juliet Ulman. I was breathlessly awaiting her verdict on the heavily rewritten draft I turned in at the end of March, and the news was good. Here's a bit of what she said:
This book went exactly where I wanted it to go, and it's so much stronger, not just because of the added historical context, but because of the additional work you put into trimming fat and pulling all of your threads tight. This is the book we were aiming at, its bones and body solid, and all you're doing now with these final edits is stepping back to look it over last time and polish it until the shine is satisfactory to you. I hope you're proud of what you've accomplished with this text, because you certainly should be.
I have to admit that the room got a little dusty when I read that. It's nice finally to hear an editor say "Good job" after sixteen years of work.
But there's a lot of work ahead. I'm applying the final polish to the manuscript now, and I don't anticipate finishing that for at least another week. Then I send it off to Paul Witcover for copyediting, while also printing up a batch of uncorrected proofs to send out to reviewers as advance reading copies.
When Paul is finished, it will be time to incorporate his corrections and order up a batch of hardcovers to sign and send out to my lovely early backers. Which I hope will be before the end of September.
Speaking of which, there's still time to get in on the pre-order offer! If you place an order by July 15th, you'll get a signed hardcover copy of The Accidental Terrorist at least a month before it's available at retail. Pre-order now, and don't miss out!
Now excuse me, there's a book I need to get back to work on...
