Comments for Letter Off Dead

Comment on Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards by Ed

Ed — Sat, 21 May 2011 11:12:24 +0000

Congrats, man! Have my fingers crossed for you.

Comment on It’s alive! by Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:48:32 +0000

I am very happy to hear that it is still alive and finding its way toward publication.

Comment on Working on a new book by Ed

Ed — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:45:56 +0000

Hmmmm . . . soliciting ideas from the unwashed masses. Remember what Steve Jobs said: “People don’t know what they want until you give it to them!! Focus groups be damned!!” (The first sentence is an actual quote, albeit from memory.) But perhaps getting a series of lame suggestions (let’s be honest people? Are we published writers?) will spark a good one in you. So . . . perhaps a riff on your short chapter idea. But the conceit could be that each snippet is written in first person in the voice of the different characters. Would allow all kinds of fun opportunities to recount the same events, but from entirely different perspectives, filling in more details, and showing how the same thing can have entirely different meanings depending on who sees it, and from where.

Comment on O! The travails of publishing! by Caroline Starr Rose

Caroline Starr Rose — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:23:49 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear this!

Comment on O! The travails of publishing! by Ed

Ed — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:40:32 +0000

Hi, Tom — Don’t be too discouraged! You’ve already experienced your first great success with The Tilting House, and this setback will only be temporary, because you are determined and don’t give up!

Comment on O! The travails of publishing! by Andrew Fry

Andrew Fry — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:01:20 +0000

That is a shame. With so much complete on the book and your already an established author with a strong reader base, is there any self publishing option?

Comment on O! The travails of publishing! by Erik Hanberg

Erik Hanberg — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:46:07 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear it Tom!

Hopefully someone else can pick it up and run with it.

Comment on O! The travails of publishing! by RR Anderson

RR Anderson — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:14:19 +0000

capitalist pig dogs!

Comment on See what a crazy classroom of kids did with my first book by Abigail

Abigail — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:20:14 +0000

Man, I wish I’d gone to THAT school. Cool books and giant donuts. What more could a kid ask for?

Comment on Aaarrgghh! My publisher is closing its doors! by Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:03:45 +0000

I cannot imagine that it will not find its way to the shelves. And as far as the blog goes, it convinced me to buy The Tilting House for my son (and I) to read.

Way back when I had a book that was picked up called “Make a Production Out of It” which was a how-to on home videomaking (back when it was a fairly new). The company that picked it up scaled back their releases by to one quarter and mine did not make the cut. Still, I ended up re-purposing three chapters into articles for Videomaker Magazine.

Comment on Aaarrgghh! My publisher is closing its doors! by Caroline Starr Rose

Caroline Starr Rose — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:21:16 +0000

I was a Sept 2011 release, so I’m feeling your pain. So sad for Tricycle. And I got a BI cover, too.

Comment on Made the edits. Submitted the draft. by Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:26:46 +0000

Congratulations on making your deadline. I’ve really appreciated reading your descriptions of the editing and publishing process. Looking forward to seeing the final publication.

Comment on Made the edits. Submitted the draft. by Ed Dobeas

Ed Dobeas — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:55:11 +0000

Congrats, Tom!

I’m amazed, hearing about the links in the chain, how many first edition books I have read that still have typos in them. I don’t remember any in The Tilting House though, so perhaps it is a tribute to the hard work of Tricycle Press that their books shine when the first edition hits the shelves.

Comment on The glories of the editing process. by Ed

Ed — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:32:36 +0000

Man . . . editing can be tough! It seems like it would be easy to think “hey i wrote it that way! That is the RIGHT way!” And the comments seem like stuff meant to smooth edges a little bit. But my thought is “keep it sharp and alive! The things that ring true!” A painful process, no doubt.

Comment on Submitted a “final draft” to the editor by Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:55:06 +0000

I do find this interesting. Thanks for the insight most of us would never get. I am glad to hear your book is going to be published. I really enjoyed the story in blog form and I am interested to see how that will translate into the book format. I enjoyed a look back at my adolescence through the character in your story, You captured the thought and fears very well. Thanks for what you do.

Comment on Submitted a “final draft” to the editor by Ed

Ed — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:25:30 +0000

I like how “final draft” is carefully quoted. And based on your explanation it might even deserve air quotes if mentioned during a conversation. You have a mountain of work ahead of you! I enjoyed the blog so much, and am really, really looking forward to having your second published work in hand.

Comment on Cover illustrator chosen for Letter Off Dead by Ed

Ed — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:23:55 +0000

That is seriously cool, Tom!

Comment on Contract signed, sealed and delivered by Erik Hanberg

Erik Hanberg — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:26:27 +0000

So cool. Congrats!

Comment on Contract signed, sealed and delivered by RR Anderson

RR Anderson — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:37:56 +0000

Sounds like a winner! Ms. Darcy wants to pre-order a copy.

Comment on In contract talks right now! by tara

tara — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 06:06:39 +0000

So happy for you Tom – congrats!!

Comment on In contract talks right now! by Nick

Nick — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:34:57 +0000

Congrats, and well done! I’d love to pick one up when the time comes – I’ll keep my eyes out!

Comment on In contract talks right now! by Tom

Tom — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:09:59 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, Andrew. I hope people enjoy the book version as well. I really dig the revision process, actually. I’m a believer in the “you’re never done–you just run out of time” approach to writing.

Anyway, I hope you stay tuned and give the book version a try. Either way, thanks for reading.

Comment on In contract talks right now! by Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:48:46 +0000

Congratulations. I really enjoyed reading the serialized version of the story. Quite an accomplishment. Good luck with the publisher.

Comment on Trevor’s first day of junior high school by Author’s Epilogue | Letter Off Dead

Author’s Epilogue | Letter Off Dead — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:32:00 +0000

[...] If you’re new to the site, you can go to this page and scroll to the bottom for Trevor’s first post. [...]

Comment on This is my last letter to you. by Joe

Joe — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:18:41 +0000

Tom, sad to see it go. It has been a great read and I am glad to hear it will become the book it deserves to be. I was sorry not to make your book signing.

Comment on This is my last letter to you. by Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:11:28 +0000

I hate to see it go; I started my morning with the letters since the first one.

Excellent work!

Comment on This is my last letter to you. by Tom

Tom — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:14:00 +0000

Yeah, this is it. I’ll probably write a little,in form of comments, but the storyline stops here.

By the way, stay tuned. My publisher is really interested in turning this into a book, which means I’ll be giving it a good edit. If all goes according to plan, it will come out in stores in the fall of 2011, which is actually really fast for the publishing world.

Comment on This is my last letter to you. by Kevindot1

Kevindot1 — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:30:14 +0000

Tom, is this really going to be the last post on this blog? The dad will never write back again? Yeah, I have been reading every post on this blog from the first one onward. Good stuff! Thanks for the reading.

Comment on Count on my return, Trevor. by dd

dd — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:27:22 +0000

Thanks for the amazing story! I’ve been reading with rapt attention!

A quick editorial note: Toward the end of this post, you say “Martin came out to see us off,” but I think you meant Gordon…

Comment on We made the cookies. One with this stuff called Ex-Lax. by Brian Haase

Brian Haase — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:13:30 +0000

Hey Trevor, let’s LIVE life and not just pass through it!
Brian