Mark Sarvas, L.A.'s most recognized lit-blogger, has a post up at The Elegant Variation that he's been hoping to write for a long time. He sold his first novel, and it will be published next year. He fills in the backstory for his readers by way of a Q-and-A with himself and a recap:

There's a Microsoft Word file on my laptop dated April 29, 2003, which contains the first thoughts on my novel. What's striking is that when I went back, three years later, upon completion of the draft, the book I'd written was very much the book I'd envisioned. My conception appears to have been pretty clear from the outset.

Regular TEV readers have been following the progress of the book. First came the "rough first", the draft that carried me across the finish line for the first time. Then came the "show people" draft and, finally, the submission draft.

The submission draft found a home last Wednesday, when Bloomsbury bought my novel.

He'll always remember this week: Mark is in Paris on his honeymoon too.