News: ‘Anomaly’ acquired by Affirm Press
January 19 2023So this very exciting news has been announced: my debut novel Anomaly has found a home at Affirm Press and will be published in 2024.
I’ve been sitting on this news (like a nervous, flappy hen) for quite a while now, so I kind of thought I’d acclimatised to the fact it’s actually happening … but nope. Seeing the announcement and realising it is officially official catapulted me into quite the emotional spin cycle of excitement, pride, bone-gripping terror, excitement, what-if anxiety, and more excitement.
Which in turn left me scatter-brained and unable to focus, so I can’t vouch for the quality of anything I wrote that day.
Along with the excitement – and the wild gamut of other emotions – is a behind-the-scenes awareness of how much work there is to do before that book (MY book – please hold while my heart explodes into excited, gory chunks for the hundredth time this week) hits the shelf.
But even that prospect is exciting – albeit daunting, given it’s my first publishing rodeo. I’ve been so close to this story for so long that I know the only way I can evolve it into something better is with a fresh pair of eyes and an objective perspective.
I’m lucky in the sense that my copywriting career introduced me to creative production process a long time ago (and taught me how to handle feedback without spiritually shrinking like a sad ball of hot Glad Wrap). So, while I know there’s a lot of work ahead (and probably lots of darlings I’ll need to kill), I also know the process of editing and revising and questioning and re-editing and polishing will inevitably create the best end result. One that I can’t achieve on my own.
That’s all still ahead. For now, I’m letting myself wallow in the joy that comes with the realisation of a big dream. I’ve had this one since I was very, very small, and writing scary stories on the back of my mum’s recipe cards (along with the occasional family scandal piece).
I’m glad I never let it go.
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