Tomorrow I will be publishing my second book and it is a million percent not what I thought my second book would be.
At first my second book was going to be the story of another trip around the South Pacific, but life – in a good way – had other ideas about that.
Then my second book was going to another travel tale about our adventures in the United States when we went there for Paddy’s 50th birthday. That one was called Gators, Guns and Keeping Calm. I got quite a way through writing it and then something terrible happened in my home town involving firearms and I just couldn’t. The tone was all wrong. One day I might resurrect that book. It was a fascinating place and we met some amazing people. I’ll know when the time for that is, but it’s not now.
And then there’s the one I actually finished
My third attempt at a second book is one I have actually finished writing. It’s had a manuscript assessment and needs a bunch of editing but it won’t be long before it’s good to go. It’s the first book in a nautically themed YA fantasy series with a lot of underwater shenanigans and it will see the light of day I promise!
This second book though, my actual second book, started life as a writing challenge. I decided I would take a crack at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time at the end of last year.
Book stores and pick up artists
It started with a running gag I had with a friend that came about after her insistence that a woman chatting with me about the cover of I book I was holding in Unity Books was actually chatting me up. We then started joking about how book shops would actually be an excellent place to score and that there probably was a secret code among browsers in the know. The idea fascinated me and I ended up writing a short story about it for her. With a bit of a supernatural twist it became a tale called ‘The best pick up joint in town.’
After I wrote it I discovered it was NaNoWriMo time. The challenge was to write a 50,000 word novel in a month and a short story collection counted, so I decide to give it a crack.
A creepy love-letter
Well I didn’t make the 50,000 word mark, but what I did end up with was a collection of short stories that formed a sort of warped love-letter to Wellington New Zealand – the home I have chosen for myself. A collection I felt proud enough of to have a crack at publishing.
Some of the stories are spooky, some of them are silly and some have a pretty high body count, but all, I hope, in some way will make the reader smile. It’s escapism, pure and simple – my gift to a world that might need a little bit of that right now.
The Wellington that was
This is my first foray into fiction, but when I was putting the stories together for publication, it wasn’t the ghosts, aliens and witches that stood out. It was the normal things that aren’t so normal anymore. Hanging out in bookstores, sitting on a crowded bus, buying a kebab at 3am.
What my second book actually turned out to be was a love letter to a Wellington that was. A Wellington I miss, and one I very much look forward to seeing again.
A socially distanced hug
So here it is, book number two. A very different book from number one in many ways, but similar in the most important one. It’s for you. It’s to make you smile if you are feeling shit. It’s a distraction if you are feeling scared. It’s not the great New Zealand novel – instead it’s a written hug from me to you.
I hope you enjoy it was much as I enjoyed writing it and tomorrow I will let you know where you can get your hands on it.
In the meantime check out this amazing cover, designed by the very talented Catherine Slavova’s Karnstein Designs
Oh, and a very important disclaimer!
