Like I said a few weeks ago, a good editor is pretty valuable, and I’m quite lucky to have one such editor in my corner. I turned in my edits to Ross Lockhart, managing editor of Night Shade Books, and found that the product I turned in was much improved thanks to his suggestions. That is pretty awesome. (If you follow Ross on Twitter, you’ll also find he has excellent taste in beer. I suspect this is indeed related to his editing ability.)
Speaking of 140 characters or less: Come follow me on Twitter if you haven’t already, and spread the words to your friends, relatives, acquaintances and frenemies. Once I get up to 300 followers there, I’m going to post an excerpt of The Daedalus Incident right here on the blog. And yes, it’ll be a decently-sized bit of of the book, not the few paragraphs you’ve seen thus far.
I’ve also officially applied to speak/moderate/empanel myself at Boskone 50 this coming February. This would be my first con appearance as a Real Novelist (TM), which would add to the other firsts I’ve enjoyed thus far in the process. (This week: First spontaneous, unsolicited expression of enthusiasm for my book on Twitter by someone I don’t personally know or follow. It put a smile on my face.) If all goes well, I hope to see some of you in Boston this February!!
I have other con visits in the works and will keep you posted as things firm up. I’ll also be guest-blogging a fair amount, to the point where my posts here will simply direct you to other people’s blogs for a few months this spring. And there are a few media surprises out there, lurking and waiting to come forth. Stay tuned.
And that’s about it for now. No real major topics to discuss or Big Things to announce right now. Mostly, I’m getting ready for Christmas and enjoying a few weeks of relative quiet. It’s been quite a year on my end, and I feel lucky and blessed for everything. I hope you enjoy the religious and/or secular winter festivities of your choice, and have a healthy, prosperous 2013!
, 
Michael J. Martinez 
You are not the first author to mention the positive effect of an editor. I read a lot of books written without an editor and I must say, that people still underestimate the work of editors.