Lola Jaye's monthly blog on the road to publication of her debut novel...
NEWSFLASH! NEWSFLASH!
The cover for my book has been approved… so here it is…
Lots of flowers, yes and just a hint of pink.
Feel free to say what you think … I won’t mind … much.
Readers of this blog will know that I’ve actually had time to get used to the cover over the last few months as well as my strange inability to be objective about it. I know this has something to do with not being able to get past my name being on something other than an envelope, but I am able to extract the following opinions:
* It stands out
* It’s different
* I don’t ever remember seeing a green book on my book shelf before
All positive, I say!
So what else has happened this month? Well, I’ve had lots of ‘gormlessly looking at the computer screen moments’. Trawling my website guestbook (www.lolajaye.com) for new entries – a superb procrastinating technique – with other days spent ignoring the phone and writing like a maniac. Just another weird/manic/wonderful month as a writer, then!
I’ve also been having those ‘this time last year I didn’t have a publishing contract,’ moments. And yes, I’m glad to say that the experience still feels very fresh, exciting and at some times unreal. But I had to smile the other day when I looked over some of my old blog entries and my reactions to finding out I was at last, going to be published...
Also this month, I went along to an author networking event. Not usually the archetypal wallflower at parties (I’ve been known to be the first on the dance floor and ‘getting on down’ like a demented pigeon) but that night, I shrank into the corner with my glass of elderflower not quite knowing where to look. Why? For a start, instead of a room full of potential dance partners/boyfriends, this was a space full of AUTHORS from ALL disciplines (academic to aviation) which basically allowed me to become all shy and quite mute. I know! Me?
However, I was soon cornered by an array of enthusiastic novelists, plus a poet who annoyed me by suggesting I was ‘young’. No, let me rephrase. Within the context of say, a beauty pageant or spelling bee, this comment would be welcome, but I felt as if she was implying that my journey to publication had been a quick one! Hmm… perhaps I should have alerted her to my first blog? Anyway I managed to down another glass of Elderflower juice, before legging it into the pouring lane, getting lost en route to the station and landing home in time for a good nights rest.
Whatta party animal!
This month also had me sat in a meeting with my publishers. All proper and important, like. You see, I always get excited when I go to publisher HQ because its one of the few moments in time I get to feel like a real writer. People interacting with me as a soon to be published author and not a counsellor and that’s really, really nice. One of my many highlights was sitting in a room only recently vacated by Michael Crichton – HELLO! – and standing in front of a multi tier book shelf and being told I could take whatever books I wanted. Now, that was more than nice. A sort of supermarket sweep for books. Amongst my haul was Tony Parsons' new one, Tracey Chevalier's first one and all but a few of Cecelia Ahern’s entire back catalogue!
So, another month shuffles to an end and I am another step closer to my July 1st publication date…
So until next month…
By The Time You Read This… Lola Jaye (Harper) is out 1st July 2008
(Seriously? Yeah, really, it is… Joking, right..? No it is!)
