And Now …

Dear Reader, the image above is of one slightly congested but delighted writer who has just signed the contract for How To Avoid A Happy Life in the very apt environs of Rabble Books and Games in Maylands.

The idea of having someone in Australia read the manuscript was, quite frankly, nerve-wracking. (My dear mentor Howard Norman is at a comfortable distance in the US, and also, like any midwife, and used to seeing all the messy bits along the way).

The manuscript is very long, longer than my PhD was, and I feared it might be A Bit Much. To be fair, living it has been A Bit Much too, at times, so I would have had sympathy had that been the response.

Happily, that was very much not the response.

Happily, I got a Friday afternoon call from publisher Georgia Richter at Fremantle Press, which was the dream of every writer.

Happily, the contract is signed and countersigned, and will be toasted by me with alcohol free something or other during the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, where I am shortly off to.

I’ve already started on the acknowledgements, to thank the people who got me through the living of the life as well as the writing of the book, even though it won’t be out until some time next year.

And among these are you, readers of this blog. Thanks for sharing the journey thus far, and I’m unutterably relieved that we will be able to continue it.