This weekend, I’m making the final edits on Becoming Dr. Seuss, and then it’s off to production on Tuesday. That means I’m making all the changes suggested by and discussed with my editor, and well as the copyedits, fact checking, and legal read. I also have to go through every endnote to make sure they’re accurate, as well as structured correctly (meaning they’re all in the proper citation format that used to make us all crazy in high school).
I also do quite a bit of spot-checking as I go, ensuring I’ve quoted things correctly–and that involves a lot of back-and-forthing between books and articles. There’s a lot of heavy detail work that goes into biography (and history and other non-fiction) — and it always seems to take much more time I ever think it will.
It also means making a HUGE mess in the office, with piles on the desk, and on the floor.
The production folks at Dutton are waiting to get their hands on this thing, so they can start doing all the work necessary to have Becoming Dr. Seuss in your hands by May. They’ve already done some really fun work in both their title page design and font selection. Take a peek:
If you’re interested in pre-ordering, there are brand new links to your favorite booksellers right here. And thanks for your interest! I appreciate you.
I’ve also been asked if there will be any appearances and signings. I don’t have any information yet, but as soon as I do, you’ll see it here. And here’s hoping I’ll have the chance to see a lot of you lovely people beginning in May.
It was great to be among so many passionate readers, writers, and publishers–and I tried not to fanboy too much when I met Dave Cullen, who’s heartbreaking Columbine is one of my all-time favorites, and with Alexandra Robbins, who’s got a new book, Fraternity, coming your way in January. We also got to hear from Neil Gaiman, who picked up an award for being one of Goodreads’s most-nominated authors. It was a pre-recorded (Whattayawant? The man is off working to bring us the miniseries Good Omens!), but it was still super cool.
*sigh* Yup. After nearly fifty years on Sesame Street, the man who’s performed the iconic Big Bird and the just as iconic Oscar the Grouch, has announced that this season on the street is his last.
A number of you wonderful people who’ve placed advanced orders for Becoming Dr. Seuss through Amazon have contacted me recently to let me know you’ve received word that its publication date has been moved from February to May. And the question you’re generally asking me is: Whaaaat?
I was sad to learn of the passing of Dorothy Love Turk, who died earlier this month at the age of 88. Dorothy — or “Dot” as she insisted I and everyone else call her — was one of the very first people I contacted when I began my research on Jim Henson back in 2010. As a guide at the Jim Henson Boyhood Museum in Leland, she was great at helping me track down All Things Jim Henson in their little town–and as a lifelong resident of Leland, she was also the expert on the history of Leland. Heck, she even wrote a terrific history of the place, charmingly called Leland, Mississippi: From Hell Hole to Beauty Spot. That was her kind of title.
Her book on the history of Leland, in fact, was also one of the first I bought when I started researching–I had to grab it from a used book store–and she was genuinely touched that I had purchased it, read it, and even brought it with me for her to sign. When I handed the book over for her sign, she turned to the blank front page, and wrote simply, “to Brian, Dorothy Love Turk.” When I returned to Leland a year or so later for a Henson-related event, she ran up to me somewhat flustered and apologized for “signing [my] book so badly!” She said she was so rattled by the idea that anyone would ask her to sign her book that she didn’t know what to write. That sort of adorable humility was very much part of her charm.
Brian Jay Jones 