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Time was up. We had less than a week before the draft was due to our publisher. It had only been five weeks since Tony and I were in Lake Tahoe (when we first sat down to take it from outline to book form) and we were already blinking at the deadline.
It was a little daunting since Tony still had several sections to write, I had yet to add the third party content and we were both wondering how the whole process would end. But our psychic editor, Will (aka The Book Whisperer), flew to Vegas for the last days before we had to hit SEND. This was the 3rd week of October, 2009.
A couple weeks ago, Will sent me these camera phone pix he took from the trip, so I can't help but post a behind-the-scenes blog of the images captured through his eyes, now through my vantage (how's that for teamwork).
#1 Triathlon. Writing, editing, imbibing. Our wake/sleep cycles came out to a rough 20:4 ratio. It was intense, but we had unforgettable moments and this was one of them. Tony had to record a live session with CNBC in the morning. Before he went live, he texted us "Do you guys want In-n-Out for lunch?" We wagged our tails yes, watched him on TV and 45 minutes later he appeared like a genie with this in his hands. Yeah, talk about delivering happiness.
#2 House guests. Tony’s the consummate host, always welcoming whoever might be visiting Vegas at the time. Holly just happened to be there that week to celebrate her birthday. We of course wanted to celebrate with her and took a break from the triathlon. (Fast forward six months later, Holly's joining the Delivering Happiness team after making the leap of leaving her old and pursuing the unknown new.)
#3 Paper trail. Up until this point, Tony and I had a rough outline of the book -- he kept writing, I kept chipping and plugging away. But now, I wondered how we could tie everything up in so little time. Lucky for us, Will introduced us to the paper trail approach to creating a cohesive book (on the floor, as it was). Unlike post-its on the wall, it seemed that much more important since we had to walk over it to get things like water, food or Grey Goose.
#4 Aftermath. By the end of our sprint to the finish line, this was the carnage left behind. But we made the deadline. And we didn't have too many more edits, other than fact checks and minor typos. Given what I know, it's probably because Tony wanted to get it right the first time and Will got his hands dirty with us throughout the process, not after.
Thanks for the pix Will! They gave me a nice jog down Memory Lane.
Hm. Now I feel like we should talk about what happened in Tahoe...
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