Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

JordanCon was awesome. I'll do a post about it soon. First, I thought I should mention some book signing news that I've forgotten, in the craziness of the last few weeks, to mention. After that, I'll bring all of you WoT fans up to date on what has been happening with The Gathering Storm. (So if you have no interest in the signings in Utah and Nebraska, you can skip down to that section.)

I have a signing tomorrow (Thursday 23rd) at the Barnes and Noble in Orem, Utah from 7-8pm. It's educator's night, so they have special deals for all you teachers, but anyone is welcome to come chat with me and get a book signed.

I also am finally going to be making it back to Nebraska, the first time in years. Some libraries and schools have decided to fly me out, and I'll be doing several signings and appearances related to this. Here's the full list:

*Signing Wednesday, April 29th 6:30-8:00 PM UPDATED!!
The Bookworm
8702 Pacific St
Omaha, NE 68114
(402) 392-2877

NOTE: Stock will be limited at this event. There will be some books for sale, but not a large number, so feel free to bring your own books or buy them somewhere else, then bring them. I fly in at 5:00, so I'm hoping to be to this on time, but be aware I might be a tad late.

*Presentation April 30th 7:00-9:30 PM
Seward Memorial Library
233 S 5th St
Seward, NE 68434
(402) 643-3318

(NOTE: 7-8 will be a general author reception, while my presentation from 8-9:30 will be targeted more at high school students.

Friday, May 1st
*Presentation Time TBA
Morton-James Public Library

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED Sorry! The Nebraska City library just informed us that, for various reasons, this event is going to have to vanish. I'm very sorry.

*Signing
Saturday, May 2nd
2:00-4:00 PM
Lee Booksellers
Edgewood Center
5500 S. 56th Street, Suite 4
Lincoln, NE 68516

I've long wanted to get back to Lincoln to do some appearances, and finally I have my chance. So spread the word! Nebraska is a little off the standard book tour publicity trail, and so the chances of me getting back very often are not high. But if this goes really well, I might be able to convince Tor to send me during the Wheel of Time tour at some point. (And I might be back next year for a convention.)

Now, on to The Gathering Storm news. The last few weeks have consisted of entering final tweaks, as requested by Team Charleston as they read the final (but not really final) draft of the book. I got these all in (doing the last of them on the flight to Atlanta—note to self, next time get Business class, as writing on a full sized laptop in coach is killer. When I got to Atlanta, I found that Harriet had brought me line edits. This is where the editor goes line by line in the book and tweaks the language, fixing typos but also revising for clarity, detail, and general readability. Harriet is very good at this, but it meant another few solid days of revision for me, as I needed to enter the changes into the manuscript. It's better for me to do this myself, rather than just having a typist do it, as line edits are often meant to be suggestions or nudges, rather than always just straight revisions. In almost all cases, I just enter the line edits as marked—but there are places where a revision from Harriet sparks me to do a tweak in a different way that I think will help more, and I also can make arguments for certain changes not being made if I feel they change the meaning too much or do something I think Harriet might not have expected. (In some places of a manuscript, a certain phrase will be used intentionally in order to connect to a different phrase somewhere else, and you have to watch how you tweak these.)

Anyway, I finished these yesterday, then made a few spot changes and sent the book off to Charleston. So, in short, the final, final edit is in—though now it goes to copyedit. Copyedit is where a different editor reads through focusing specifically on continuity and looking for typos. Very little is actually changed editorially. I can still make changes when the copyedit comes back, but I'll have to do them on-paper rather than electronically. (Actually, Robert Jordan's editorial assistant Maria will probably handle the copyedit herself, so I'll send any last-minute changes I want to her for insertion.)

That's probably more detail than you needed to know. I guess the thing that it would be good for you to know is that the book is now officially 'In production.' That means we've hit our deadline, and the boulder—so long perched on the peak—has started rolling down the cliff. You no longer have to worry if some phantom problem is going to delay it. It is in, and it is coming.