October 2020 - Harriet Mills

My Publishing Journey: A 2020 Publication Date

Wow. It’s all been very quiet on the publishing front and then – bam – it’s livened up.

Last week was a little bit crazy. I was doing 6 o’clock starts and leaving work at 6pm with possibly a few hours out but often that time was spent running around doing work-y things. Of course, this is the week in which I receive exciting emails for my book. Why wouldn’t it be? I find it’s like London buses my work load, it all happens at once!

It was Wednesday. I had just returned to work having sat staring at the TV not taking in what words the presenters were saying but instead contemplating how long my adrenaline rush would last and whether or not I’d survive the week. We were two important cogs of the wheel down and I was having to fill my head with more information than usual. The email came through from my publishers, and I knew exactly what it was.

My final proof certificate!!!!!!

I read the email carefully, glanced at the piles of post I needed to get through for customers who had come in during my break, and got straight back into my car to go to my printer and get it all signed off. The email stated that if I got the form filled in and sent back quickly, my book would make the Christmas market. I think signing and returning within 2 hours of receiving the email is pretty bloody quick!

That was that. Excitement again. Like no other. I couldn’t believe it and had to pinch myself that it was real and happening.

Friday. I got home and it was sunny so I had my sausage dog in his harness and we were waiting on my sister to go for a walk. Another email. This time it was my publication date!

Oh my oh my oh my…

My book is going to be published on the 30th November!!!!! It is all so very real and exciting. My support bubble are all incredible and the pre-order list is expanding fast.

A 2020 publication date might not be so bad… we shall see…

For links to all of my writing related stuff, my link tree is below. You can also find published work in my portfolio. My debut novel, Dear Brannagh, is available on Amazon along with the sequel Don’t Tell Jack. If you enjoy what you’re seeing here and are interested in following me on my writing journey, then please subscribe to my newsletter by dropping your name and email. There will be plenty of giveaways, news hot off the press and an honest insight into life as an author. Thank you x

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Honesty is the best policy, I hope you agree

Recently I’ve been feeling pretty flat yet frantic. Not drastically so just I’ve felt lower more often than I’ve felt like smiling. Anger has got the better of me and I feel so cross. All of the time.

My head is so busy yet sometimes so empty. My fretting of the future has been amplified. How am I meant to find ‘the one’ when I can’t freely go to the pub!?

I digress.

Two people very close to me were affected by COVID-19 this week, negative tests, but affected nonetheless and it hit home. The reality sunk in.

I then look to the dogs in bed beside me not knowing what’s going on in our world and happily content in theirs. Bliss.

I find it so easy to focus only on tv dramas because the issues displayed are not my own. I can easily zone into books because they too are different worlds away from the dismay of what we are living through. People are hugging, close, enjoying pub life and restaurants without guilt. Enjoying life. Normality.

But then here on our earth there are doctors and nurses in despair. Government in chaos. Decision makers ripping their hair out. Well, any that they have left.

I try to avoid the news. It’s awful. Even for five minutes.

I turn the news on to see people literally crying for their livelihood. Never knowing when it’s going to end. People feeling awful for normal social lovely things like going for a pint or for a pizza. I want to spend a Sunday afternoon enjoying a pub cooked roast and drinking plenty of wine without a tag on to track me! It’s so odd. Everything is practically illegal.

The reality that parents are struggling to put shoes on their children’s feet and food in their mouths is everywhere. It’s a crisis. It’s scary.

I know I shouldn’t feel this way because I have so much when others have so little. I should be grateful and only that. Then I am human, this is where I’m at some of the time. I soon snap out of it but occasionally I think it’s ok to let everything get on top of you, just for one second. Especially during the times we are living through.

I’ve just skipped the frustration out of my bones ready for another day, putting a jolly face on for the public who most probably also feel similar. My favourite time of the day is 6pm, sipping on a beverage in the company of great people, thinking how truly lucky I am.

There’s not too much purpose to this post except therapy for me and hopefully reassurance for others. Hopefully I’ll read over it in 6 months to a year and be happy that things have improved. Massively hopeful.

Until next time.

H x

All blog posts can be found at https://www.harrietmills.co.uk/ and to read my published work visit my portfolio.