Pretty spent from the trip to New Hampshire, but a few things of note happened, none of which involved me directly. The girlfriend presented a 15 minute selection from her manuscript to her peers, then received her diploma.

Before I start gushing, all the poets in the program were quite accomplished. Possibly that approbation is redundant; very few people take the discipline to such a high level when greatest rewards are usually other than financial–unless they are dedicated to the craft. Her class was definitely skilled in creating and delivering verse.

But the girlfriend . . . wow. She laid that fucking podium down. Beginning with a straightforward and poignant piece, she progressed into some light humor, and then explored some very serious themes. It was dark; it was scary at times; it was masterful. And the dynamic came full circle, and she closed with an incredibly upbeat and positive piece about love in the Garden State. When she finished, the entire audience was spent.

Well, almost everyone in the audience. A very special member made her accomplishments even sweeter.

After the reading, one of the most notable poets of the last thirty years told the girlfriend to send her manuscript along for reading.

Yeah. That’s my girlfriend. A-mazing.

On the cusp of the morning, I’m stepping into the weather event of the year like an actor moves past a curtain before the audience. And for not money–which is usually why I do most anything. Oh, I’m kidding about the unrepentant materialism. Sort of.

No, there’s truly a higher purpose at work at here. This journey through inclement weather is for love. The girlfriend completes her terminal degree on Monday. Years of effort culminate before her loved ones and peers, which includes some very famous poets. I won’t drop names. They are big, though. I know enough about poetry to be impressed.

Allegedly poets and novelists mix badly at gatherings. Sort of like orange juice and gasoline. Add the right amount  of Styrofoam to the mix, and the resulting combination makes for a great defoliant–though its all rather toxic for those scrambling at ground zero. Perhaps the volatility reflects the essential rivalry between the two forms; performing either well means acting at cross purposes.

Good poets encapsulate the essence of humanity within a page, while novelists unintentionally–and for some by practice and design–say little of real consequence in four hundred.

Can’t speak for any other novelist, but I get along with my poet just fine.

I’ll be back on Wednesday. Unless New Hampshire or New Jersey is under an avalanche.

After much thought, here are my 2009 writing resolutions:

1) Implement the marketing plan for The Last Track and allow for any outcome.

2) Complete a decent draft of the new novel.

3) Enter the new novel in three high-quality contests.

That’s it. Best of luck to everyone in 2009!

Didn’t want to forget one very important piece of business before moving on to the 2009 resolutions: the guerrilla marketing project for The Last Track. Though alluding to this project throughout 2008, I concealed nearly all of the details.

WARNING: This is a longish entry and contains some particulars about the current state of book publishing. Some might find this entry largely conjecture, but I’ve talked with enough people in the trenches to believe this reflects what is happening in New York publishing circles right now.

Getting back to the original point, part of this secrecy was unavoidable; it was neither something I wanted in the wild until completion nor would it make sense in piecemeal. And because of the medium, my options for sharing it were extremely limited. Beyond that, there was a point–OK, several points–between August and December where the entire thing seemed impossible. If the project did get finished, it would because I took the reins and cowboyed my way back to sanity. Not exactly worth broadcasting all those doubts when one of the participants is hovering on such tenuous ground

Fortunately Steve–and his long-suffering, unbelievably understanding wife, Leslie–came through in a big, big way. Like not only did Steve deliver what I wanted, he executed it better than I could have imagined–much less ever communicated. There was enough push and pull between us for the past five months over the direction of the project I thought one or both of us would snap. But damn, it worked fine in the end. Even better than fine.

Steve was not the only one who cast digital magic.

The former executive art director for Harper-Collins performed her own miracle and delivered an amazing piece of artwork. She has a list of clients down the street and around the block–in the worst market publishing has ever weathered. After working with her, I know why she is the de facto art department for an entire division of a very large house. As a sign of her integrity, she only quoted prices on the project after reading the book start to finish. She gave up eight hours of personal time to read. Pretty sweet.

So between the multimedia piece and the cover, that’s two of the four components. I’ll have the last two pieces done in the next ten days.

All of this would be good news and everything would be set for February 13, 2009–the planned unveiling date.

That was before a few forces in publishing became very obvious. And here’s where my “informed” conjecture begins . . .

Over the past few months, adult fiction began an unprecedented transformation. Several houses are re-orging. Two major publishers have implemented a “editors are not allowed to buy any new manuscripts” policy. One of the big book retailers is struggling and if they fall ( and no one is certain whether they will or will not ) the bankruptcy could possibly capsize several houses.

All this matters as much as it does not. Normally I avoid regurgitating doom and gloom forecasts, much less making any decisions based on them. Though truth be told, very little media coverage about the book business in the past year has been positive. What does matter is that once the holiday numbers are in and the big first quarter shake-out in response to those numbers finishes its course, and the fate of the big retailer is known, the adult fiction landscape will be a lot less murky. Not necessarily calm, but something closer to functional. People scared about losing their jobs defer decisions, especially ones involving money. I know I have done that in the past.

And what that means is that I’m moving the release date back a bit. From mid-February to probably late March or early April. Instead of howling into a maelstrom trying to get attention, I would prefer conversing at a reasonable volume and being heard. Rest assured, if I see an opportunity for an earlier launch, certainly I’ll take it.

Whatever the final date, a few longtime readers will get a sneak preview about week before setting it loose for everyone else; I’ll email details to those affected parties at that time. And yes, Pollster, G-dawg, and Jaysen–you are certainly on that list.