The Book Deal Diaries #1
Choccy scoffy crumpets and the conversation that changed my life
Welcome
Firstly, a huge WELCOME to the Book Deal Diaries. Thank you for being here, I’m absolutely delighted to share this experience with you. If you’re not sure what to expect, please do take a look at this post which explains the road we’re going to take together. Although it may well meander in different directions, as who knows what will pop up for us along the way!
As I go into the book editing and publishing process for Breaking Waves in earnest from the spring, I will take you along with me to give unique insight into what I experience, as well as any guidance and inspiration I can provide as you take your own path.
In the meantime, I am going to step back a few years, and begin by inviting you into a warm and cozy cafe, with long wooden benches covered in soft, brightly coloured cushions; tables filled with friends chatting over pots of hot steaming tea and mugs of marshmallow-filled hot chocolate, and rows of choccy scoffy truffles adorning the shelves to be chosen and melted onto a hot toasted delight.
Come join me and an old friend, in the conversation that gently changed my life.
Of choccy scoffy crumpets and old friends
Well she’s not old, but you know what I mean.
I was sitting in this gorgeous cafe with a friend who I don’t meet very often, but one of those that when you do meet, a special magic happens. She is a quiet, shy and ethereal woman, her gentle demeanour belying the steeliness that carries her through the ravages of her own life. Those, however, are not my story to tell.
I was in a particularly lost period of my life. I’d been lost before, swept away by grief, but in those times I always had my work as an anchor. Now I found myself battling chronic health problems, and wondering if I would be able to sustain my career at all. It was a new kind of lost. If I wasn’t an air traffic controller, the aviation expert I had been for twenty years, then what was I? Who was I? Who else could I be?
I had had months off work, and at this point, I think I sensed this chapter of the book of my life was coming to a close. It was more than a chapter though, my aviation career was a whole book in itself (and who knows, one day I might even turn it into one).
As we sat there cradling mugs of tea served in perfectly palm sized earthenware, our chosen butterscotch truffles melting onto hot buttered crumpets, we discussed life, the universe and everything, and I felt the stirrings of change.
The last time we had met, I had been inspired to go and get crazy hair extensions - [not one of my better decisions as after a few days of waking up with unfamiliar wads of hair under my armpit and nearly strangling myself in my sleep, I got them taken out - feeling significantly lighter of both head and pocket]. I mean it looked good, but I can’t recommend. Perhaps this is why we only meet up every couple of years!
This time, however, the conversation turned, as it often would, to books. We shared stories that had inspired us, excitedly exchanged ‘must-reads’ and recommendations. Then, my lovely friend reached into her bag, and pulled out a book and said - have you read this?