Holed Up for the Next Couple of Weeks - Do Not Disturb!
The reason for my short absence here on Substack
Hello and welcome.
Firstly, an apology, particularly to my new subscribers, for my short absence. Hopefully, my back catalogue of over 200 posts will make up for not posting regularly here on Rosy’s Ramblings, which I hope you will find interesting and enjoyable. Among those articles are several about my journey to becoming a published author and, in particular, the one when I found out that a publisher was interested in my manuscript followed by several more and then the one when I realised that I was going to become a published author.
Obviously, the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign is not intended for you, my wonderful readers, but more to put me in the frame of mind of not being disturbed while I am tucked away in my office with the door firmly closed, working tirelessly on the structural edits that my publisher sent through. As this is my debut novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect, although some very helpful words of wisdom from my best-selling author friend, Helga Jensen, have helped guide me through the maze of the ‘structural headache’ as she so aptly calls it.
Initially, I read the 8-page editorial report in conjunction with the returned manuscript with a line-by-line analysis of various writing elements and almost freaked out. There was even a colour-co-ordinated key to help guide me through the various headings such as tension, POV and clarification issues, to mention but a few!
I spent the first few days wondering how on earth I was going to manage to do all of this within the thirty-day period that I had promised to do in my signed contract. Yikes!! Nobody told me about that part of being an author. The time pressure and all of this has to be done on top of my nearly full-time job as a Legal Secretary. But my publisher, Lauren Ilbury at RomaReads Publishing has been wonderfully kind and supportive and I cannot praise her enough. She told me to let her know if I feel that I need more time and has said that my editor is there for me and not to feel alone or daunted by the journey ahead.
I thought things through calmly and decided that I would tackle the project in bite-sized pieces. Otherwise, I really would freak out and that would not do anybody any good, least of all, me. The one person who has wanted nothing else for as long as I can remember, to become a published author via the traditional route. And here I am, wondering if I can cut the mustard, sorry, finish the structural headache, sorry, edit, in time, on time and with a novel that I can be proud of. All jokes aside, it is pretty daunting but the more I work through the notes and skip between the pdf of the line-by-line analysis and the manuscript that I am editing, the more it makes sense and, more importantly, I can see it all coming together in a clearer, better storyline.
So, I hope you can forgive me for this short post, which is to (a) explain my absence and (b) keep you updated on my progress as a brand new (and very proud and ecstatically happy) author.
Thank you to each and every one of you for your kindness, unwavering support and above all, your belief in me that I could write a novel and get it published, which all began right here on Substack. It means the world to me. A very special ‘thank you’ must go to Lauren for believing in me. She really has made my dream come true.
As always, please feel free to leave a comment or you can contact me directly at rosygee345@gmail.com
Have a great week.
Take care,
Rosy. x
P.S. If you are looking for a unique Christmas gift, why not gift a subscription to a friend or family member?
The beautiful image at the top of this post is accredited to Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash.
Good luck!
Exciting, Rosy! Thanks for sharing the update and good luck on the edits. 👏