Exclaiming About Jake!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!

Are musicians excitable people? Or is is just writing about Jake that inspires them to fill their work with exclamation marks? I'm thinking it's probably a bit of both. I removed approximately 879 exclamation marks from the approximately 200 pages of the manuscript. Let's see, that's an average of 4.39 exclamations per page. Yup, sounds about right. But don't worry. I still left at least two per page :-)

The book is almost finished!

Yesterday I wandered through the book section of the Harvard Coop, indulging in one of my favorite pastimes: imagining which of the tables will feature my book. I've done this many times before, but this was the first time that I've had a publishing contract that would result in the book being sold there, or anywhere.  It was a very nice feeling!

I'm editing now, so this is the book I'm relaying on these days:

Yup, the good ole Chicago Manual of Style. Everything I ever wanted to know about editorial style and methods and lots more.


But it's exciting to have gotten this far. I have hundreds of stories from 165 contributors, a wonderful mix of humor, nostalgia, affection, and very warm memories. I never know what awaits each time I open my email folder or stop by the Post Office.

The manuscript should go to the publisher by the end of March and we're aiming for an October publication date.