Getting better all the time

Even though this trip is insufferably long, it does have its purpose. And thank God for that because if I had to leave my family for 6 day for no good reason, I'd completely lose my mind.

One of the main reasons for this journey is to attend a huge conference of people working in a field directly related to a book series that I am responsible for. A series that has been floundering for much of its 11-year existence and that hasn't had a new book publish since June 2007.

But things are looking up. We had an amazing editorial board meeting a couple days ago, and the new people working on the board are actually going to do something, instead of just let us put their name on the list and then disappear into the darkness.

Yesterday was a huge success because a guy I've been trying to get to write a book since this same meeting in 2006 came up to me in the exhibit hall and said, "OK, I'm going to do this thing." I could've hugged him! His book will sell well...very well. And this series being seriously in the red (which is slightly ironic since the book covers are also red--ha, maybe a self-fulfilling prophecy? should've made them black, I guess), it could use a few high-selling books to drag it back out into the light of day.

So I'm excited. Although the travel part of this job is a stressful thing for me and my entire family, at least I can rest easy knowing that I'm using my time wisely and helping to secure my job's future by making progress with a series that used to be considered a bit of a dud. When I took it over a couple years ago, I wasn't sure there was any life left to be breathed into it, but it didn't take me long to see that all that was needed was some enthusiastic people to help us and some elbow grease. We're on our way!

In personal news, last night I actually got about 9hrs of fairly decent sleep. I feel almost like a human being again, and that is a good thing. Another night of crappy sleep and I was going to be pretty sick. Sleep deprivation comes in different forms, I've come to realize. And tossing and turning all night in a hotel bed creates a very different type of deprivation than getting good chunks of sleep in your own bed, broken by occasional crying jags from your baby across the hall, creates. To paraphrase Laverne & Shirley, I'm gonna make it after all.