Mission Meets With Success

I am all done working today. I cranked out more pirate crap and finished a draft of a proposal for the cookbook, and I am pooped.

I talked to my agent and got some bizarre yet wonderful news. He thinks the pirate stuff is too good for the publisher that asked for it. Better than the Nigerian book. He wants to shop it around and try to get real money for it.

That's good and bad. It's good because, well, it's GOOD. But it's bad because the editor who suggested it will get stiffed on the deal. If it goes to another publisher and does really well, he'll get diddly shit. I don't like to see that happen, because he has been great about the Nigerian book, and he has been a joy to work with, apart from dropping that hideous title on me out of the blue.

One problem with publishing is that editors are hamstrung by their bosses. You can have an editor you really want to work with, which is important, and then find out that the money and support just aren't there. In the final analysis, a writer isn't a charity, so you generally have to go where the money is. But it would be nice to work with people I like and trust.

There is nothing worse than working with an idiot, and that's where I'm headed unless fate is extraordinarily kind to me. Almost all editors are complete pinheads. I got lucky this time, but if that happens twice in a row, it will be a miracle.

I can't believe the pirate thing is working out so well. I was afraid it didn't have legs, but once I indulged my innate insanity and went off on various tangents, the material started to flow.

I conned Chris Muir into doing illustrations, so even if you hate me, you'll want the book for his cartoons. Here are a couple of preliminary sketches.

I truly look forward to the one with the pirates celebrating the Sabbath by firing a midget out of a cannon.

It's amazing, the things you can turn into books.

Now I have to unwind with some fine Scotch and some excellent Norwegian midget porn. Enjoy the sketches.