Authors Aren't Horses

As wonderful and graceful a creature as a horse may be, I still object to comparing any of my colleagues to an equine.

I'm referring of course to the common practice of labelling a publisher's authors as their "stable". Well, don't let me catch you calling my people that! They ain't horses.

What are they then?
They're a team.

Never have I been so aware of that as in these past couple of weeks, where we've had so much cooking behind the scenes. We've got our people proofing and editing each other's manuscripts all over the show. We've got a new marketing plan in the works. I've been delegating like mad to get on top of the schedule I've aimed at for the time ahead: four books in four months, and a load of prep to be completed by the end of February.

We've got all kinds in our team. Some are the editing type, while others are more the gungho marketers and salespeople, or artists, or image consultants. Yet we are all writers, no matter what else we put our hand to, and this is what unites us in a common cause.

We've added about five people to the team this month: three authors, an artist and an editor, for a total of twenty or so, with varying levels of contribution, and everything they do is valuable.

Twenty! How the blazes did I get twenty wonderful individuals to throw their lot in with me, even just for a time? I really have no idea, but I'm incredibly grateful for every one of them.

Thanks, guys. Here's to you.

 (and of course those not pictured, too!)