When I was in high school, my father was the head of English.
We lived walking distance from school and one afternoon on our walk back home across the oval, we got chatting about my latest English results.
The results were ok but it wasn’t my best effort.
The reason? The exam involved writing a creative story. Not my forte. AT ALL.
In fact, Dad’s life lesson stuck with me that afternoon as we jumped the stainless steel fence and walked towards home.
“Niks,” he said, “write about reality, not fantasy. You write better when you stick to what you know.”
He’s probably surprised to know that I still remember those words. Probably doesn’t remember them himself. That’s ok.
Those words served me well in my choice of my first career. As a journalist.
They served me well in my second career. As a blogger (you can get the back story on my blog to business story here).
And I’m counting on them to serve me well in my third career. As an AUTHOR.
Yes, you read correctly. All going to plan, in August 2014 I’ll be getting set launch my first bookstore book.
I honestly still don’t quite believe it.
I’m not one who ever thought they had a novel in them (see above) but, since starting Styling You five years ago, I had hoped that one day I’d have the opportunity to author a book.
Well, that day has come.
As of July 22, 2013 it’s official. I’ve signed a publishing deal with Hachette Australia.
The offer came through a few weeks earlier at the height of my dastardly flu. I drank champagne anyway.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Those moments are mandatory champagne ones.
So, how did it get to that champagne moment?
The commissioning editor at Hachette (*waves* to Robert) bought my e-book, loved it, asked me to a meeting, asked me to submit a proposal and took that proposal to an acquisitions meeting. They loved the concept, it passed the number crunching, the offer was made and here I am just a couple of months later.
I’m really looking forward to get stuck in. It will be a handy, fun resource that looks as good as the advice contained within. It will be published in August 2014.
I’ll be blogging throughout the process and also sharing what’s happening along the way in the form of a monthly diary or update.
If you’d like to be the first in the know when I share an update, when pre-orders become available and when and where I’ll be launching the book, sign up here.
If you’re a blogger and would like some tips on how to get your work noticed by a publisher – to go from blog to book – the very talented blogger and author Allison Tait wrote this post here on Styling You: Are book publishers looking at your blog? I can also highly recommend the writing courses through the Australian Writers Centre.
PS. The first update is now on the blog with some behind-the-scenes looks at the photo shoot for the book.
PPS. Here’s a look at my book’s cover!
