Hello,
A very happy July to you all. I hope the summer is treating you well. I've been super busy as always and I have some news to share. It's good and bad news, although being a positive, half-full sort of bloke, I prefer just good news.
So my latest book was out for submission for quite a while, but unfortunately it hasn't been picked up by all the publishers my agent sent it to. I was sad at first, and spent a few hours feeling sorry for myself, but I soon picked myself up and my wife (as always the perfect partner) made me see the positive side. It isn't going to be traditionally published as I'd hoped, but this gives me the chance to do everything myself. I have complete control.
When I was a young writer (I still am really), I thought that having an agent and being traditionally published was everything. It was my only goal and when it happened I was over the moon. It's a really hard business though and just because you have one success it doesn't always follow that you'll have more. So many writers are in the same position or even have deals and aren't making hardly any money. My wife made me realise that I was happiest when I was working on my own, when I got my book into the Kindle top ten charts on my own, and when I had complete control over every aspect of my work. Don't get me wrong, I loved working with publishers, with top editors, and feeling like a proper author, but it isn't the be all and end all. You can do it on your own. You can make a success of it on your own.
So I stopped feeling sorry for myself and instead worked on a plan of action. So the good news is that I will be publishing my new book very soon. I'm hoping for September 1st! It will be published as an eBook and as a paperback. I' also going to redesign and release 'This Family Life' as a paperback too. I'm also going to start work on a Christmas Novella (which I've had knocking around my brain for the past few years), and I'll release that in time for Christmas. So plenty to be happy about. And the last nibble of good news is that after I've done all of this, I'm going to start writing the last in the series of my 'This Life' books. So far I have 'This Twentysomething Life', 'This Thirtysomething Life', and 'This Family Life'. So next year, 2016, will see the release of, 'This Fortysomething Life' the last book in that series. So that's a lot of writing coming out very soon. So you see, it's definitely not all bad news.
So that's it for today. This is where I'm at. If the world gives you lemons you make lemonade. Happy summertime everyone. Until next time.
Hugs,
Jon X
