• Contemporaneous: A Living Novel

    Contemporaneous: Chapter 18

    18. Wednesday, I go into work for the morning, but come lunchtime (Autumn ducking her head out of her office to wish me luck) I’m out of there and catching a train into the city (I hate driving into the city) to meet my publisher, Regina, for lunch – well, actually, she was appointed fiction publisher after I was signed and had my two books published, and I’ve only dealt with her briefly, and unsatisfying, over email. She’s only thirty or so, which worries me because I’m ageist – I’ve dealt with younger people in the publishing industry, and they think they know everything. I know that because when I…

  • The Story Behind the Book

    Just Another Week in Suburbia: The Publishing Journey ~ Part 1

    The publishing journey is about the stupidest fucking journey you could ever aspire to take. It’s like asking somebody to kick you in the crotch, thanking them for it, grinning inanely, and then asking somebody else to treat you the same. When I was younger, more inexperienced, and stupider, I held an unflappable belief I’d be published. I think most authors at a similar stage in their careers feel similarly. It’s just a matter of time. This is naivete talking. Or we can go back to that stupidity thing. Then I got older and learned more about writing, and that my writing at that stage was shit. Not hopeless. Not…