Exams are done

Yesterday P had her final exam, another History paper with three essays. She was pleased with it, thought the questions good, and was happy with what she did. I wasn't working, so picked her up, we got DVDs and burgers and sat on the couch from about 3pm watching Freaks and Geeks. I had heard about this show, knew about it, but never investigated. P watched it about 3 years ago and had told me that I should watch but I didn't. Until yesterday. I like it.

We also got some movies. She wanted depressing, tragic stuff, so we got Atonement, Bright Star and Legends of the Fall (we've seen all of these; they are revisits).

I'm struggling with reading at the moment. I'm waiting for the contract to come through. My agent rang me yesterday - an unscheduled phone call. It was on the work phone and I answered in my professional voice, which was a funny moment. She laid out how things will move from here. About the contract, about how my relationship will work with the publisher, a timeline for next year, working backwards. I told her I'm away mid Jan to mid Feb and we agreed it would be best for me to do any edits before I leave. Even to approve proofs, I'm not sure how quickly it will all move, especially at this time of year. We talked about the advance, and how her commission works (which I knew anyway) and how she will hand me over, really, to the publisher so J (publisher) and I can establish our working relationship without agent V in the mix. But she's there if I need her, have any questions etc. SO I'm happy about all that, I did have some questions but I like being clear.

Today I'm calling an old teacher who is published and established and is going to give me some advice. It's important I know the 'score' she said, and 'at the beginning'. I kind of wonder what that means. She's been a published author since the early '90s or even late '80s, so I'm hoping she doesn't have a lot of negative stuff to say (I don't think so) but I'm also hoping she can give me some practical advice, which might help me avoid making some mistakes. Especially things like: How Not to Piss Off the Publisher, also How Not To Be a Complete Pushover.

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So the next few months are going to be busy. Which is exciting but also a bit scary because I'm pretty tired. I'd like a quiet summer but it's not going to happen.