We Have a Truck Draft

~ Jenny

And the first draft of Rest in Pink is done.

I know, we’re amazed, too. It still needs work, but we have a truck draft (a draft that’s complete and good enough to publish if we get by a truck). Bob wants to rewrite a scene and write a new one for the end, but he nailed the action ending, something I am not good at so he is a GAM as far as I’m concerned.

And I’ve finished two books so far this summer. I know, WE’ve finished two books, Bob and I, but it’s been so long since I got to the end of a book, let alone thought, “YES! That’s how this should end,” that I am positively giddy. There was a whole list of niggles to take care of, but I knocked a lot of them out last night:

Pearls

Bartlett

Chris Blake

Five Button Jeans

Imani

Jason

Sex scene (for the three beat)

Running up that hill: Umbrella for Anemone

Anemone puts the money in her account.

And now we move on to One in Vermillion, which I still want to call Yellow Brick Roadkill, but Bob does not. Sigh. This is collaboration.

47 thoughts on “We Have a Truck Draft”

  2. That’s amazing! Congratulations! There’s no feeling better than accomplishing something and checking things off your to-do list. (Also what’s a GAM? “Great Action Man”? “Gilded Antler Mogul”? The possibilities are endless…)

      1. Yesss thank you so much haha I realized it as I was pondering in the shower. It was a real aha moment 😉

  13. Congratulations!! I’m not getting the truck inference. Did you mean if we get HIT by a truck, not just by a truck? I’m confused. Must be professional writers’ lingo. Anyway, that is a wonderful accomplishment.

      1. Thank you for clarifying. I’m not as dumb as I sound, but I am a little OCD!

  14. So glad you and Bob made it without bloodshed. Now When Will they Be Published??
    I know you are happy 😆 but Us Guys need the books in our little hot hands. Not to mention I need to inform my Library to buy copies.
    p.s. I will buy my own copies also, needless to say.

    1. Never feel guilt about using the library to read our books. Libraries make HUGE buys of books.

      We still have to write the third one, and then go over all three and rewrite all three so everything lines up. The books are stand alone, but they’re also a trilogy.

      And then we have to sell it to somebody and if that doesn’t work, self-publish them.

      It’s gonna be awhile.

  16. Two books in one summer? And you’re starting the third? This is so wonderful! It’s like you’ve come out of the desert into Eden. OK mixed metaphor but I’m just so happy for you. And so happy for all of us that we’ll get to read them.
    Thank you for answering my question about which of your books had seasoned heroes. I remember Andie so well and I went to look for it in my book case because I decided to re-read it and realized I must’ve lent it to somebody so I bought it again last night. I’ll be reading it by Wednesday night.

    1. My pleasure. And thank you for buying!

      As far as the speed, I know, it’s a miracle. It’s killing us but it’d going so fast we don’t want to stop.
      And I think the books are really good.
      This last one is going to be tough, both the mystery and the romance plots. But we can do it. Probably.

  17. I really love the fact that both you and Bob are so good at and so suited for collaboration. Your schedule match could be better, but I think it’s cool that the two of you banter via email in ways that remind me of the banter in your novels.

    Every time I read about the hell that so many authors go through in doing the edits and the editor markups and all the formal ways that either one mind (the author’s) or a second but critical mind (the publisher’s/editor’s) have to twist into destruction mode, I feel VERY VERY SORRY for authors. Somehow the collaboration genie seems to moderate a bit of that and sprinkle it with fun — or anyway, that’s how it looks from the outside.

    I’m so looking forward to the villain(s?) in your next volume. Their corporate name seems to say it all!

    1. I’ve been very lucky in my editors, only one screwed up my ms and I screamed and got a new editor. VERY lucky.

      It helps that Bob and I met and worked together so long ago. By now, we really know each other. He talks me off the ledge when I start to freak, and I catch him when he starts to plot himself into a knot: “Simple, Bob, SIMPLE.” It’s been really great this time.

  19. Congratulations! It’s so cool to see the two of you making it work. You can absolutely do the third book–you’re on a yellow book roll.

  21. I’m thrilled for you that you are finding such satisfaction and making such progress in your collaboration with Bob. Congratulations! How exciting to have a trilogy coming!

  22. I am gobsmacked by delight! And, like Kelly, think Yellow Roadkill is a great color related title.

    1. Easy to agree. Baen Books sells eARCs from time to (all the) time (electronic Advance Readers Copies). They’re the digital equivalent of ARCs, which are not-quite-ready-for-prime-time versions of the manuscripts short of the final edit sent to people like reviewers to generate blurbs and buzz. Some of the less scrupulous recipients of ARCs have been known to sell theirs on eBay, so Baen charges a reasonable amount (15 USD) to eliminate the demand for pirated copies.

      I’d happily pay that for an eARC of these books.

  30. Blue. Pink. Vermillion (red)…
    How about Orange You Glad You Named It With A Primary Color?.
    Or maybe something with a Charred Rouge.

    1. Or maybe when you finish Yellow Brick Roadkill Bob can help you write Haunting Alice, because if May is taking over the housekeeper until she strokes out, voila! Instant zombie! And Crumb wouldn’t be the only one, would she? Sooner or later, Bob could combine Crumb or Boston Ulrich, some of that decanted spiked brandy, and a candle flame to achieve screaming yellow zonkers! You thought I was going for flaming zombies, didn’t you?

    1. I am still chuffed every time I read the title of this post. All I can really say is “You go, girl — and GAM!”

  32. Wow, that is so good! I’m amazed at how you have powered through these two books. And I LOVE the title ‘Yellow Brick Roadkill’. It fits really well with your writing, and the sarky humour. (Plus it’s got ‘kill’ in it. How could Bob not love it?)

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