So this is something of a surprise, as much to you as it is to me to be honest, as I hadn’t been planning to post any further articles – well not before lockdown eased and certainly not before Spring – however there is news…
In December 2019, about six months after I returned from my adventure and when California seemed about as far away from Scotland as it could possibly be, I decided that as my folks had not really been able to read the blog articles, I should print them out, bind them in a folder and give them a copy for Christmas; that way they could read all about it at their own leisure and not have to bother going online to do it. They really enjoyed it and suggested it should be properly published, which I laughed off and promptly forgot about it. However moving into January and with surfing still a very distant aspiration, I thought about it again and concluded, “Hmmm, ok, could be worth a punt”.
Towards the end of January, I contacted a number of literary agents and publishers and sent them a synopsis and fully expected to hear nothing at all from any of them. However, 3 days into lockdown in March I received an email from publishing firm Austin & Macauley saying they “loved it and wanted to publish it – if you are interested”. So, in fairly short order, a contract was issued and duly signed and then over the course of the summer I received a number of drafts from their editing team to proof-read and amend, with the final draft being completed in the Autumn and along with a fabulous cover designed by Evie using one of the photographs I’d taken of San Clemente beach it was all set.
The intention had been to publish late last year, but with the effects of the pandemic this was subsequently pushed back to the 26th of Feb and so it’s now live and available to buy via Amazon, Waterstones and WH Smith etc. – both in paperback and eBook. A couple of weeks ago I received a box from the publisher with my copies as well as a bunch of flyers, postcards, bookmarks and some posters which can be used for promotional purposes and just this morning when picking up the milk from the papershop in the village, Wullie (our friendly newsagent) handed me a tenner as one of the copies he was holding on the counter was sold yesterday – how cool is that?
So, I headed this article as “The Final Chapter” and if this is as far as the Wave Expectations journey goes, then what a ride it has been, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not yet the end, in fact in many ways it could well be a whole new beginning.
Watch this space…
