Book Progress and Administration

We are working on getting the photos.  We found one that Oxford U press already owns so that was good.   The next step will be copyediting.

I am still writing the history chapter.  It is going slowly because I have so many sources.  Someone will have to put it in some sort of order so that it flows well.  I found a time line on the African American Studies website.  I copied the pertinent items to another time line.  I have two other time lines that will have to be combined.

I still have to write the introductory chapeter and there are some women that I have to interview.

Next week I will try to interview the women.  I have given them enough time to get ready and I want to do it before the holidays.

I fianally worked on the administration part of the book.  I am now the owner of Sister Chemists LLC.  I have a tax id so that I can set up a checking account and get my royality advance.  The LLC is to manage the royalties, if any other than the advance.  Right now I need to money for the book expenses.  Some of the companies charge for the photos.

Now that the business part is done I will get down to writing next week.

Jeannette Brown

I become an author! ????

Well in order to go through this process, I guess I am going to need help. Also writers have to write, just as singers have to sing every day and other musicians have to practice every day so I decided to start this blog in addition to the two others I should be writing every day.
This blog will be just for the trials and tribulations of writing a book for a novice.
The first trial is looking at the contract. Until I sign the contract I will not reveal my publisher in case there is a last minute hitch, but some of you reading this will know as I told everyone. I just don't want to tell the rest of the world yet.
I have never seen a book contract before. It is 16 pages! It gives every detail of what the publisher wants me to do and what they will do. I am in the process of reading every line and I have two lawyers looking at it for me. I found out that I can revise some of it. I have a very supportive editor! In fact I really think he wants to publish this book which is good for me.
So this is the first post of this blog. I will take you through the gruesome details of book writing.

I am a researcher, a chemical researcher, but researching these women is very much the same. You look for them, find out about their lives and then ask questions and look deeper. I started this research about 40 years ago but I did not go as deeply into their lives as I am doing now. I just wanted to know why I was the only African American woman chemists that I knew. Then I met Dr. Marie Daly the first African American women to get a PhD in chemistry. Then I wanted to know where the other women were and why she was the first in 1947!

It has been fun going through this research and I am still researching, but at some time you have to stop and write it up. That is where I am now the stop and write it up part. This as I said before is the reason for this blog. I have to write.

You will see this is a stream of consciences but hopefully I will make some points and get better at it as I write.

That's all for now.
Jeannette