I've been dumped. And it feels good.

When we were Up North, the mysterious "transmittal committee" at the university press met to discuss my book. An e-mail from my editor, Todd, was waiting for me when I got home. He said the committee had decided on hardcover (yay!) and a September 2010 publication date. They agreed on the title. He needs me to get some signed permissions for the photographs. They were still talking about what the cover would look like. That was about it. All good news, nothing surprising.

And then today I got this e-mail, from someone else at the Press:

Dear Laurie,

Just a brief message to let you know that the final manuscript for News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist has now been transmitted from Acquisitions to Production here at the Press. The book will be published early in our Fall 2010 season, in time for the Midwest Booksellers Association meeting.

I will write with more specific information about the editing and production schedules later, but for now please let me know if you have any extensive travel planned for the next year that we should consider when planning the book's schedules.

Best wishes,
A.S.
Production Assistant
University of Minnesota Press

Ah ha! It has been transmitted from acquisitions to production. That's what that mysterious transmittal committee was all about. I've been handed off.

For some reason, I found this e-mail thrilling. My book is no longer in the beginning stages; it's no longer something they're acquiring, but something that has been acquired and is well on its way to becoming an actual book. This message is routine, telling me nothing new, but still, it delighted me, especially seeing the title in bold italics as though it is an actual book and not just some Word files I'm fussing with on my laptop.

I do feel sad, though, that my relationship with Todd is over. He's the one who liked the book from the beginning, who believed in it, who brought it to the acquisitions committee, who read each chapter as I wrote it, who gave me advice and encouragement. But he is an acquisitions editor, and now that I've been acquired, Todd and I are, apparently, splitting up.

I forwarded A.S.'s email to him, and put this note at the top:

so you.... you....you've dumped me????

He wrote back promptly (which is very unlike him).

You'll just have to propose a new book if you want me back.

A new book. I have to tell you, I loved writing that book but I love even more having it done with. I love having my time to myself again, being able to read for hours without feeling like I should be writing. I love not having it hang over my head the way undone homework used to hang over my head in high school.

That said, there's something magic about those words .... propose a new book.

I think that Todd and I will remain divorced for a while. I can play the field. Flirt with reading, with blogging, hell, with watching mindless television. But sooner or later--and I think he knows this--I'm going to come crawling back.