January – May 2001: Typing madly before running to Professor Richie Friedman’s “Analysis of Organizations” class at NYU Stern’s MBA program. Always 5 minutes late and not exactly focused on management theory.
May – July 2001: Six cups of coffee a day to force as many pages out as possible—I start my post-MBA job in the Fall. Freak out from reading too much demon research: Throw away copies of The Exorcist (I’ve still never read it) and Malachi Martin’s
Hostage to the Devil—a seemingly authoritative, but suspiciously lurid, book on demon possession.
September 11, 2001: I’m thinking, “I don’t know from evil.” The sermons delivered at my church during that month are unbelievably moving and smart. I first hear the prayer about St. Michael and the “
ruin of souls.”
October 2001 – October 2002: Complete first draft while learning the advertising business with the great folks at the New York Times.
October 2002-December 2002: Sleepless diaper changing. No writing.
2003: Receive
Heather’s comments. She tells me the book feels “Rated G.” Through no fault of Heather’s, I decide to make Tom Harris the villain—in a surprise twist, it turns out he is himself possessed by the devil, and he committed the murder.
2004: I spend a lot of time unraveling this idiotic idea.
2005: Finally get a grip: Tighten the book from 575 pages to about 300. Find an agent, my NYU classmate, the magnificant Diane Bartoli. Revise according to her specs. Submit the book to 14 publishers. In December, find the wonderful Sally Kim at Shaye Areheart Books. Merry Christmas.
2006: The company I at which I was working, The Nielsen Company (then “VNU”), becomes a takeover target. I help create a cost-cutting plan that becomes a bargaining chip in our negotiations with six private equity companies. I am working most weekends. In the meantime, Sally Kim is giving me notes on the book. Between presentations to KKR and Blackstone I am taking a few long weekends to sit at Starbucks (wearing earplugs) and revise the book, raising the stakes in the final third: Add confrontation with Friend in the tree; add adultery revelation; add showdown over Forest Glen residential facility; add exorcism scenes.
August 15, 2006, Assumption Day: At last, hand in finished manuscript two months late. Manuscript accepted. Hail Mary.
