Archive for August 2015
13th August 2015
STRAIGHT UP, I AM HOOKED
Black Inc. Books to publish Ubuntu: one woman's motorcycle odyssey across Africa
That special, generally perceived unobtainable, moment arrived this month. I opened my email and there it was: an email from a publisher with reputation. Black Inc Books, Australia’s small publisher of the year 2015. The first line read: ‘Straight up, I am hooked’. They liked my travel memoir Ubuntu: one woman's motorcycle odyssey across Africa.
I was stunned. And a little afraid as my mind tried rushing back to the way things were.There was a sort of comfort in the perpetual struggle to write, re-write and always live in the hope I would land a publisher.
I first pitched my manuscript to publishers back in 1996. It was very much a first draft back then and hardly ready to unleash onto the world. It also needed the passage of time.
But reaching the point of published author did not happen by magic alone. There were 20 years of holding on to the dream, which went hand-in-hand with hours of writing and re-writing all the time getting better at this craft. But life also got in the way and there were long periods where I never put in those hours at the keyboard. First, I did a journalism degree. Landed a job as a journalist with News Ltd, moved into PR working as a media/communictions officer for Plan, an international development organisation, and then as a freelance features writer. I got married, had three children, got divorced then got back on track. I joined writing groups, attended writing workshops, linked with other writers and read many memoirs (Wild by best-selling author Cheryl Strayed resonated strongly for me).
When I wrote the first draft of Ubuntu back in 1996. It was a regurgitation of everything that happened and how I felt on that motorcycle ride through Africa. It was a blow-by-blow account of ‘what, when, where, how and why’ with a bit of colour thrown in. The final draft wrapped this into an engaging personal story of high adventure that is also emotionally revealing and raises questions about our evolution and our very survival.
I engaged a professional editor to do the manuscript assessment and copy-edit. Nadine Davidoff is a former senior editor at Random House.
It took a little over two weeks for Black Inc. to respond to my query. I emailed the first 50 pages (prologue, chapter 1, 2 and 7), to six publishers with a recommendation from Nadine. This direct contact allowed me to leap to the top of the slush pile.
With the offer to publish, I was about to enter a completly unknown world. I quickly searched online for what I should do. I joined the Australian Society of Authors. I read their contracts handbook, which details the the industry standard followed by Australian publishers.
After Ubuntu, I quickly moved on to the sequel, which I aim to finish late 2016. It details my motorcycle ride back to Australia along the Silk Road through Central Asia and China following my HIV diagnosis in London in 1995. This was at a time when death from AIDS was inevitable. I explore issues of stigma, denial and why I did this ride knowing I would soon die.
Ubuntu: one woman's motorcycle odyssey across Africa will be launched in Melbourne in April 2016.. Venue and date tbc. If you are in Melbourne, please join me.