Ah, the business of writing and publishing does go on...Intrigue, stress and pressure are a constant (though in varying degrees).

By the way, just how much does a Yahoo sports writer make now-a-days? For that matter, how much does a sports writer make working anywhere? Keep that in mind as you read the following short article. Is their salary enough to ignore a $140,000 advance? Sports writers must make a lot more than they used to! 

This rundown is by Tim Gardner in USAToday:

Publishing house Penguin Books has filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski after the writer failed to meet his deadline for a biography on former N.C. State coach Jim Valvano, The New York Post has reported.

From Bruce Golding's story in The Post:

The Manhattan federal court filing says Wojnarowski -- the NBA columnist for Yahoo! Sports -- initially promised to produce a 130,000-word manuscript about the controversial coach by Aug. 1, 2007.

After Wojnarowski repeatedly failed to deliver the book, his $400,000 deal was slashed to $325,000 and he got a "final delivery date" of June 1, the suit says.

On June 14, Penguin canceled the contract and demanded repayment of its advance, and on July 19 it "offered (Wojnarowski) terms for repaying the $140,000."

Wojnarowski told The Post the problem was "a miscommunication between my agent and me" and said that he would be returning the money to Penguin Books.

The book, Jimmy V: The Life and Death of Jim Valvano, is still listed as available for pre-order on Amazon.com.