Wow

Dude, I have an Amazon sales rank now. Well... half of one. And a "people also bought" list. La la.

They carry more than 50,000 titles, right? Well then, we're ahead of all the other ones. Yee-haw.

Erik's other book is just below 3,000. Wow, that's really good.

CROATOAN

Yes, that's kind of creepy.

Plan C

The Media Lab has turned down my application. I can't say I'm not disappointed, but I'm also relieved. The two reactions mask each other, and the only thing I feel is: all right, then. After months of waiting, I have finally moved past the singularity on my calendar, and can plan my future again.

And here's where things get tricky, as I mentioned before. I need to formulate a Plan C, since Plan B (Just Get A Job) autodefenestrated when I signed the Macnut contract. I don't think it would be realistic to get a full-time day job and stick to my near-vertical writing schedule. Not if I want to stay sane. Despite appearances, sanity is actually quite precious to me.

Plan C might be something like this: Remain a full-time writer until the first Macnut draft is done. I'm contractually obligated to make this period of time last only a few months, at most. Then get a job. In theory, I can continue living on advances, the occasional column or programming joblet, and maybe royalties from P&X. As for this last part, I honestly have no idea what to expect. I mean, I couldn't even guess what typical royalties look like; I didn't work on P&X with money in mind, so it never occurred to me to ask. Hmf.

It happens that I'm meeting with Chuck today, so there's some fortuitous timing in my presently finding the Media Lab letter (midway down a Pile, as I feared, and postmarked last week, but at least it was a neatly-stacked pile). I'll talk it over with him. If my editor tells me, for example, "No, you should really get a job and relax your writing schedule a little," I'll consider it. I guess I can ask around about royalties, too.

Oh, speaking of... Erik and I got a positive letter from one of the big perl-xml people today, who has been reading and enjoying our book's final draft. Rock on. Letters like these do a lot to melt away my feelings of lingering dread over it. (Actually, I wonder why he has a draft. Back-cover blurb purposes?)

Later today I am appearing with Erik for a presentation at Softpro. (Even though only Erik's name appears on the schedule.) I hope that goes well.