I wrote about 22 book pages in just the last week! Hooray!
Writing the profiles is a pretty intense process – I am literally steeped in someone else’s world for a few days, which I have to admit is kinda cool. I start off by reading through the interview transcript with a highlighter, and then I mentally marinate everything overnight. My goal is to wake up with a catchy opening line in my head, and once I write it down, it’s like being shot out of a cannon and the rest of the piece comes together quickly. Part of me feels like a documentary producer – I get to sift through each interview and use my judgement to cut all the extraneous stuff that doesn’t add anything relevant or interesting to the person’s story. Loving that power! Storytelling is a blast.
We also heard from the publisher again last week, as they submitted for our review draft web copy (a description of the book for online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble), author briefs, and keywords. Took a quick peek at what they sent and found we’ve got some work to do on all those pieces.
At the moment, I have three interview transcripts on my desk that aren’t going to write themselves into profiles, so I need to figure out whose world I feel like entering for the next few days. Such a fun project!