Work-for-hire deadlines

This juvenile barred owl was sitting on my next-door neighbor's deck.

In the writing world, it's common knowledge that work-for-hire books have tight deadlines. If you're considering this kind of work, you might want to know exactly what that means. Here are my deadlines for Lerner:

For two books in a 4-book series:
Length = 1600-1800 words

January 3 - received guidelines, compensation information, and deadlines
January 17 - sent outline to editor
January 23 - received editor's comments about outlines
April 2 - due date for book 2 (the harder one)
April 16 -  due date for book 1
May 23 - received edits for book 2 and the text for the frontrunner* in the series
May 24 - received edits for book 1
May 31 - sent revisions for book 2 to editor (they typically give author's a week for revisions)
June 7 - sent revisions for book 1 to editor
June 13 - received photo wish list for book 1
June 23 - received photo wish list for book 2
July 1 - I uploaded most of the photos (I had to wait on a few) 
July 30 - received book layouts for review
January 2019 - publication date 

When they're begging for food, juveniles have unusual calls.

*The first edited text in a series is referred to as the "frontrunner."

As you can see, these books kept me busy the first half of the year. If I had to do it over again, I'd ask more questions at the start to confirm that what I was thinking matched what they were looking for. The photo portion of the project was a lot of fun and there were no deadlines. I delivered the photos via a steady stream of Dropbox uploads. Since I had planned a vacation in early April, I lost a week of work time, so that added to my stress level, but I made all my deadlines. Even though the deadline for book 2 was shorter, I worked on and handed in book 1 first. Logically, it made sense to do it this way.

The nice thing about the process is that a published book is produced in a relatively short period of time.

The owl has spotted me hiding behind my neighbor's garage. It's ready to fly.

I wondered why the deadlines were so short? Do editors allocate less man-hours to save money? Is the demand for this book so strong that they have an urgent need for it? Have they found that giving writers an extra week or two doesn't affect the quality of the book? Got me.  

I had my writing career all planned out in my head, or so I thought. I'd write lovely, lyrical books and editors would acquire them. It hasn't worked out that way.

The TransCatalina Trail goes up and down some mighty steep mountains.

Over time, frustration softened my resolve to stay on course and I became more open to new possibilities. This year, it's clear being flexible and snapping up opportunities when they surface are key attributes that allow a writer to grow and survive in this über-challenging business.

The University of Southern California's Wrigley Marine Science Center was below this hill on Two Harbors, Catalina.

Ten years ago, I never could have predicted I'd be writing two computer-related work-for-hire books and pitching scripts. Although I still aspire to achieve my original goals, I'm less focused on getting somewhere in particular. Now, my direction isn't so set in stone. It sways with the wind and takes me places I could never have imagined.

Emerald Bay, Catalina

Shade Swamp Sanctuary

I signed a contract to write my first two books for Lerner! So, I've been hard at work on them. My goal is to get one first draft done by the end of this week. One more chapter and some sidebars and I'll meet that deadline.

The zoo started out as a sanctuary for injured birds and other animals.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Shade Swamp Sanctuary in Farmington, Connecticut. It's unusual because it's the site of an abandoned zoo. I wouldn't want to do this hike when mosquitoes are buzzing about, but during the spring it might be a great place to view wetland birds.

 I believe these are bobcat tracks cutting across the frozen swamp.