Set aside my last email...

What I'm going to need from you, a.s.a.p., is a "Eureka!" email.  I need an email from Barrett saying that you guys have been talking a lot and came to the realization that it would make the book even hotter if you start w/ yesterday's events--

--and then, for the record, you need to detail WHAT those events are, taking nothing for granted, because we're not nearly so up-to-date as you guys are--

and talk about why, and talk about where Gregg fits there too, and how you're laying it out in his voice, his personal observations and knowledge and participation...

And THEN you need to explain how, by moving the COS stuff later [and you'll have to say WHERE it's going to go], you save yet another BIG section of Gregg's personal story [COS being the op that seems most inextricably tied to Gregg, the one where they came after him personally] for further into the book...

And present all this not as a fait accompli, but as this great idea that you want me to take to Julia, in hopes that she'll see the value to it.  Barrett (and Gregg), we need to SELL this to Julia, and make it seem that she's part of the conversation.  If we just drop this in on her--AND IF GREGG HIMSELF ISN'T COMPLETELY ON BOARD--then it'll feel to her like nobody's steering this ship, and confirm that Barrett's political goals for the book are at odds with her vision of this being, first, a PERSONAL narrative.  And if this happens, this close to our delivery date, all kinds of shit is going to hit the fan.  And--unfortunately for us, but something to be considered here--WE STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED A CHECK FROM THEM.

So address this to ME, and we'll work on it on the fly...

Gregg, please weigh in here--

-D

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Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House