The last few
months have been a rollercoaster and a half with its own highs and lows!
Following my
visit to the London Book Fair in April and sending proposals to a number of British
publishers I’d carefully selected, but being constantly rejected, I tirelessly
continued fine tuning the whole manuscript.
But I knew I needed some help.
Twitter has
recently had bad press but it’s thanks to it that I was introduced to an
amazing, inspirational and like minded person – Ben Westwood – who has written
his own successful travel books - Rough Guides to South America, Moon Handbooks on Trips of a lifetime, Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands & also writes travel reviews for some of Britain's national papers. But it would be the first time he’d help with copy
editing someone else’s book – I liked that - pioneering the project together.
Back in April, I remember Ben saying the ‘project’ sounded interesting and as
one of his favourite books was ‘Travels with Charley’ it seemed like a good
omen. So for the next 3 months we
tirelessly focused to get it ready for final submission to a publisher – if
ever that would happen!
I was
seriously starting to think that to get the story out the only route would probably be
self-publishing which I was ready to do but I wanted to hold out for just a bit
longer.
And then a
totally unforeseen turn of events happens which proves that sometimes the destiny of our lives is not totally controlled by ourselves. It gives us another choice on which road to take.
Towards the
end of May, just a few days after my transatlantic interview with Brent Miller,
I’m contacted directly by a real life American publisher who had tuned into the interview. He’s genuinly interested in the
story believing it has a unique slant.
I slowly
gulp in this delicious fact not quite believing this is happening to me.
We agree
that I’ll submit the manuscript towards the end of June after all the tweaking
has been done here in London.
Ironically
on the 4th July!, I receive a monumental email –
“thanks for your manuscript. I took the last 2 and a half days and read it
cover to cover ... it’s a good fit and I would be happy to work with you in
North America for getting it out to the public”
Heavenly
words.
These words
and belief are from Mike Fitterling, publisher of Road Dog Publications, and
well known and respected person within the American travel and biking
world. His aim and tireless passion is
to introduce new and exciting slants on travel and adventure books that are not
simple technical manuals or turn-by-turn travel guides but instead books about
the unique experiences and life lessons that the writer has given to himself
and now passing onto the reader. A true
like minded pioneer in finding new opportunities out there.
We’ve only
just this week finally completed the agreement, amusingly on Friday 13th!, so a lot more news will be coming from
me very soon ... Maybe all those self determined, solitary months
this time last year until the beginning of this year to write it all down has
finally paid off ....
Thank you all for your support along the way.
