26 June 2013

I am leaving in 2 days for what is a business trip shrouded in a holiday atmosphere. Firstly I’m going to Cambodia to spend some time with “my kids” at Sunrise Children’s Villages and deliver 30kgs of collected cosmetic items to the kids and staff. I’ll be with abouuuuuut 260 excited kids and adults on their annual trip to the beach!  I have also to deliver on a promised to bake with the kids at Phonm Penh – and THAT is going to involve 32 cups of cornflakes and 1KG of butter……………

Following that sojourn – I’ll be heading to Sri Lanka for the first time in 6 years to meet up with my friend Bruno – who has organised all the travel and accommodation for my 8 day visit. I have NO idea about the details,  which does make an organised control-freak like me slightly nervous. MY lesson here – is yet again – TRUST and letting go of control (a recurring theme in my book).

We will be travelling about 7 hours by road – across the country to reunite with our priest friend Fr Jeevanadas in the town of Trincomalee. I have been told by Fr J that we have dinners here and meetings there ….. judging from past experience, it’s going to be huge and very hilarous!

As I’ve been drawing nearer to this trip, people have been cagey about asking me how I’m going with the book. My standard response is “AUUUURGHHHHH”

Alright. It has been a few months now since my BIG public annoucement about becoming a book writer and WHAT exactly have I been doing about achieving it? Well for a start – you KNOW I had that arm thing ( read back a few posts for the gory details) AND also, I have been kind of busy………. too busy to write…. unfortunately.

Having said that – I think for a few days I DID have a bit of a RUSH of inspiration and VOOOM – pulled together  a substantial slab of information. As a result – I DO have 27,000 words on page! Whether they are GOOD quality words and not words to confuse and befuddle is a different story.

The business side of publishing has also been an important aspect of my research these last few months. I’ve attended workshops on crowdfunding, digital and online publishing, the process and business of writing and have joined a memoir writer’s  Meetup group in Sydney. What I’ve been learning is that the publishing  and distribution side of things is of course, mighty important. Perhaps, just as important as the act of writing the book .

Each time I talk about this project with others on a similar journey, and we talk about our experiences with the process and craft I do feel more and more connected to them, and reinspired to tell this story of mine. So I thank everyone for their excitement and now the task is – to write it and go about the process of bringing it to life by producing it (no small thing).

SO today  – in order to prepare myself for flight time  – uninterupted writing time on the way to Cambodia and Sri Lanka – I printed it out, HERE – I DO Have the bones of a book – FOR REAL!!

I am also please to say that my friend Alina Bendeli designed my cover for me, and I have this blog up and going – so I really am further on the way to acheiving my goal than I thought!

One of the best ways to keep in touch with this evolving project is to LIKE my Facebook page . I mean, you don’t have to – but that particular source will be updated more frequently. By all means, please do continue to stop by this blog for updates too.

THanks again for the encouragement and excitement, and I’ll see you on the other side of my trips to Cambodia and Sri Lanka!

Sue x