More progress, and though it's only little details, I'm disproportionately chuffed. It seems to make everything more imminent even though the Amazon countdown tells me I'm still 180 odd days away from publication.
I am no longer Doug -I am Douglas, which will please my mum, and is regarded as more authorititive in marketing circles. And Caligula, which I always had a feeling was a little ... sparse, has grown to Caligula: The Tyranny of Rome, which I like a lot. All this was revealed in the book jacket copy Simon sent me this week. It sounds so great, I can't believe it's actually me who's written it! The sales pitch is fantastic, too, but I'll keep it to myself just in case it's a secret weapon.
I sent Simon a picture of myself for a brochure Transworld were putting together for the Frankfurt Book Festival (when, incidentally, I expected the world to fall at my feet and the offers to come pouring in. Why is euphoria always such a painful experience?) but now he's asked for another one. So tomorrow one of my mates who's a professional photographer will take a set of new portraits. What to wear? To smile, or not to smile, that is the question? The good thing is that it doesn't really matter, no amount of effort is going to make me look handsome/clever/fashionable and I don't have to worry about getting a hair stylist, a polish will do fine.
Stan's been busy over Christmas with a lot of other stuff, but he finally got round to reading the follow up, which I call The War God. He says it kept him up til 3 am before he had to give up three chapters from the end, he liked it and he couldn't believe I turned it round so quickly. Four and a half months from title to The End - and all written on the train. The kids are talking about getting me a railway carriage in the garden if I ever give up work, just in case the magic wears off.
Enough for now, but a couple of things/experiences that are worth mentioning but were missed out of the story so far have occurred to me. I'll tell you about them next week.
And congratulations to Guy for getting his web site going for The Africa Reich. It looks fantastic.
2 comments:
Hi Douglas,
Glad to read it's going smoothly on. Just interested it the writing on the train. Do you write in both directions? I used to do it but only in the morning, in the evening my brain was stuffed and I usually didn't get a seat anyway. I love long distance trains though, something about the rhythm
Hi, good to hear from you. I'm really lucky I travel outside the usual rush hour. It's still pretty busy, but on the way to Edinburgh I get on at the second stop so there's nearly always a seat at a table. It's just about the only time I get to myself so I have to make the most of it. At night I think I'm so tired I go onto automatic pilot, which probably helps.I like the way people just ignore you and let you get on with it. Anti-social, but good for me.
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