Ah. Yes. That.
My editor calls and I say, with much apologizing. “Did you get my e-mail? There’s a lot of art in this Dragonbreath-more than usual-and I might need an extension to November first.”
EDITOR: But…wait…your deadline was November 1st.
ME: It was?
EDITOR: Yep.
ME: …oh. Well, never mind then.
EDITOR: You are the only person who asks for an extension so that they can meet their actual deadline.
(The sad truth of publishing-at least for me, and with a series this size-is that half the time you blow through the contract deadline before they’ve even signed the contract and then they set the REAL deadline and then you forget what it was because you’re working on the book before it and so there’s vague emails now and again setting new deadlines, mostly involving when the catalogs come out. This may be wildly different for people who don’t put out two books a year in a series sold three years in advance, mind you.)
Originally published at Tea with the Squash God. You can comment here or there.