The morning started off just like any other — I got up and made my morning cup of tea, then got straight to work on proofreading reports for the school that employ me on a casual basis to help out as and when needed. It had been almost a month since Wild Wolf Publishing had requested to see the full manuscript of Hybrid, and after the initial excitement had worn off I’d become resigned to a long wait to hear their decision on whether to publish it or not.
It was just as I was about to go for my morning shower that I decided to check my emails before breaking off, even though I didn’t really expect to find anything so early in the day, and with a jolt that was equal parts excitement and nerves I beheld the new mail I’d been waiting for in my inbox. I paused before clicking to read it. I’d been so confident when I’d first sent off the full manuscript, feeling the narrative was much stronger for the redraft Wild Wolf had advised me to make after their initial response of ‘revise and resubmit’. Yet in that moment doubt plagued me. I knew my hopes and dreams were either about to come true at long last, or be shattered after I’d built them so high with each positive step of the way along the submission process with Wild Wolf. There was nothing for it but to open the email and discover my fate, so with shaking hands I clicked on the message.
And there were the words on my screen I’d been dreaming of for so long – ‘Hi Nick, I’m delighted to say that we would like to publish Hybrid’. I think that moment ranks in one of the happiest of my life. I rang my mum at work to give her the good news and I was so excited, I couldn’t keep my voice steady while we spoke. After that phone call I wanted to tell the rest of my family and friends, but I was working to tight deadlines for the school so I forced myself to calm and refocus on the work, and to celebrate later.
That was the 28th April and since then my world has been plunged into chaos. In the weeks leading up to my first ever book launch it’s been something of a struggle to meet the deadlines for the school and prepare for the launch of Hybrid, made more stressful by a house move in the midst of it all. But finally the release is just days away and everything is at last coming together. The road to being published has been a long one and now, as I take the first steps along the road to hopefully becoming a success, I’m filled with a torrent of emotions. Mostly I’m excited to see Hybrid published at last and I hope that people will read my work and enjoy it, but there’s also anxiety and there has been a great deal of stress in trying to make all the projects happen that I wanted out there in the build up to the launch. That said, I’m really looking forward to the day of the launch and the challenge in the weeks after of continuing to market my work, and I hope my debut novel will be the first of many!
So as I venture into the unknown territory of a newly published author I invite you to join me on this journey. The hard work has only just begun!
