January 2006
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May 2006
May 2, 2006
Today I spent the day going through and editing three of the day-in-the-life diaries that women kept for me for their profiles. I had received the diary entry from Michelle Carter, who is an assistant country director with CARE Mozambique last week. When I was fresh out of college and eager to save the world, I landed a job producing videos for CARE, working out of their New York offices, and it was truly one of the most fulfilling jobs I ever had. I loved the organization, loved my boss…the only problem was that they eventually relocated to Atlanta, and since I was living in NYC with my college boyfriend, moving to the South didn't feel like an option. Anyway…I digress. While working at CARE, I went to Somalia for three weeks to shoot a documentary about the civil unrest there (this was in 1993…it was not a good scene). It was one of those rare life-affirming adventures that I'm so glad I had a chance to experience, and I came back to New York with eyes wide open, and an immense amount of respect for the relief workers who made their living in the field, sometimes in seriously hard and even dangerous conditions.
So I knew I wanted to profile a relief and development worker for this book, and I decided to go back to my roots and contact CARE. They in turn put me in touch with Michelle, who kept a diary about the reality of her everyday life.
The other two journals came in from Kelly McCarthy, who kept a detailed diary about a day in her job as a video game programmer (so interesting, especially since it's such a male-dominated career field) and animator Lauren Faust, who actually wrote about a three-week chunk of her life, so we could see the ebb and flow of her job as an animator.
All three of the profiles came to me in good shape, so I didn't have to do a ton of editing. But I wanted to tighten up the writing and get it back to Michelle, Kelly and Lauren so they could approve the changes I made.
I have one outstanding diary, Amanda Koster's diary from her photography trip to Morocco, and I'm almost there!
May 3, 2006
I had a great phone meeting with my editor, Michelle, today. I wanted to clarify some things about the format of the manuscript, how to get her the material, and so on, before I sent the book to her. It looks like everything's on track.
May 10, 2006
I took care of a few last minute interviews today as I continued to do one more edit of the rest of the manuscript. Today I interviewed Lupe Valdez, who is the sheriff of Dallas County. Lupe was too cool for words. Not only is she the first Hispanic sheriff of Dallas County, but she's also its first woman sheriff. Lupe was a fascinating blend of tough law-enforcement officer and introspective, sensitive woman. I'm so glad she's a part of the book…the interview was really interesting and the profile should turn out great!
I also connected with Barbara Boxer's office today, and she was kind enough to answer my questions via email, since it was the only way she could find time to participate. I was so glad to have her as a part of the book…she is such an impressive woman and someone whom I really admire.
I've only got two outstanding interviews at this point...I'm working on getting a big-name actor for the book, as well as an independent bookstore owner. My publisher is going to help me identify the right person for the bookstore owner, and hopefully I'll have news on the other front soon!
Lastly…I'm feeling the pressure of serious crunch mode. I'm not sleeping so well, as every time I try to lay down, my mind just starts racing. I should probably sleep with a notebook next to my bed so I can jot down ideas and thoughts as they come to me, but instead I find myself getting up and schlepping down the hall to my office so I can tackle whatever is next. I'm looking forward to a break after I turn in the first draft!
May 12, 2006
Amanda just got back from her trip to Morocco, where she was photographing a group of Islamic women singers for a special project she's working on. She just emailed me the diary she kept about her trip, and I'm going to go through in the next two days so I can try and slip it into the manuscript before sending it to Michelle.
May 15, 2006
Well, I did it! My manuscript is out the door (or at least out of my Outbox). I can't even tell you how light I feel!! Now I can sit back and enjoy a life of leisure for the next few months. Not. But I can chill out for a couple of days and decompress from the intensity of the past few weeks.
May 28, 2006
I think I turned in my draft just in time. My third Chicken Soup book, The Real Deal: Challenges, is about to come out and I am doing another radio campaign for it. I really enjoy doing radio interviews, but sometimes they're hard because they're usually on morning shows, and since I'm on the West coast, that involves me getting up as early as 5am for a live 15-minute phone interview. It's hard enough getting out of bed and sounding chipper, let alone actually come across like I know what I'm talking about. Anyway…the next few weeks are full of these—it will be good to talk about teen issues to a big audience!
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© 2003-2007 Deborah Reber
