On launches and reviews

Busy week. The sequel passed the all important 60k words -- so I can see the end of the tunnel, and i'm starting to feel the light is not an approaching train. But enough about me.

Last night I was invited to a book launch of 'Fire in the sea' the debut novel from Myke Bartlett. I met Myke years ago when he was doing freelance journo work and he wrote an article about an education conference I was presenting at. Myke was also a teacher at the time, and I joked with him that I was trying, like he, to make the leap from teaching to writing.

Now, three years later, we both have novels published, and last night Myke let his loose on the world.

I'll be honest, I had a little trepidation going to a book launch of someone I know. I don't think i'm alone in my insecurities as a writer, and as much as I was thrilled for Myke, I feared his launch would make me focus on all the negatives of the last few months: the slowing sales of book one, and the trouble writing its sequel. However, I am glad to report the experience was exactly the opposite. Someone else's success should never be a threat. We all have our own path to take, and watching Myke talk about his book, and the journey it took from draft to winning the much coveted 'Text Prize' through to last night's launch -- was brilliant. I asked Myke to write some meaningful and insightful commentary on the title page of my signed copy -- which he did.



In other news, I received a very comprehensive review yesterday from a Christian reader. She was a little unsettled by some of the themes in my book. I take this as a very good sign.

Comments

  1. Wow. I hope someone puts that much time and thought into talking about my book one day! Well done! I agree, we should be encouraged by each other's successes as writers rather than insecure!

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