Have been immersed in reading the proof copy of my novel for the last few days. I hate this part. Not reading my novel – it’s not that bad! No, what I hate is proof-reading, editing word by word, line by line, second-guessing myself, looking up each fact, each spelling, each grammatical rule. Writing it the first time is a thrill, and with each new round of editing I lose a little more of that initial thrill.
Anyway, it’s done now. And it wasn’t all bad. It was great to see the book starting to take shape. I like the way the pages are laid out, and I like most of what my editor, Tom, has done to the text. I love the cover design by Gudrun Jobst. It’s all coming together!
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What is your book about?
It’s about two people who are tired of life on London’s Holloway Road and set out north on a road trip. Along the way they listen to a scratchy old cassette recording of Jack Kerouac’s Beat classic On the Road, and find their journey consciously and unconsciously mirroring that of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. They discover, however, that the horizons of 2008 Britain are considerably more limited than those of 1950s America, and their attempts to lead a spontaneous life are dogged at every turn by speed cameras, policemen and CCTV.
So basically about trying to be free and live spontaneously in an increasingly ordered, controlled world.
So where in the publishing process are you? When’s the release date?
Hi Randy
Well, just heard from the publisher and he’s putting through all my changes and hopes to get the final proof copy back to me in the next few days. Then I’ll read it AGAIN(!) and then if all is well it goes to be printed. Don’t know what happens after that, but somehow books get to bookshops, and a launch party is organised. The final release date is 28th February.
I lived Grimsby most of my time and every few weeks I had to be in Manchester. and let me be honest Grimsby really does live up to its name. However I very much miss England I actually made a trip to the central market in Dallas to pick up some wheatabix and british choclate.