The Nitty Gritty Bit

The story of Tarantula Tide part 2

When I left you last I was still celebrating winning the Kelpies award with friends and family in Edinburgh. The honeymoon was the shortest ever and Gale at Floris books told me to be in their office first thing in the morning to start the editing. I didn’t have time to panic. I was still euphoric (and a little hungover) from the night before but was up bright and early and in the Floris office almost before they were.

             I was shown the book cover for the first time then. The striking black, white and red design, that seems so familiar now, knocked my socks off. I loved it. I’d had vague thoughts of just how my book would look from the minute I was short-listed - but this was better, far better than I’d imagined. I detected a sigh of relief all round.

         With a cup of coffee in hand I sat with Gale to go through the editing on the computer. Floris had already done a great job with the manuscript and the editing was far less painful than I expected – enjoyable really. There was little we disagreed on and I knew I had a few days to get home and go through the details again on my own.
Everyone at Floris was friendly and the atmosphere jovial as they told me how difficult it was not to give anything away at the ceremony the night before.
Christian and I went over the details of the contract and I was thinking, well, lookee here at me signing my book contract. I don’t think I’d stopped grinning since the announcement the night before.
Back home in my study in West Wales I had time to consider and implement the changes needed. There was no drastic revision and the bits I added fitted easily into the story - enhanced it even.
         A couple of emails back and forth to Gale and within a few days we were done. My characters, my story, my setting, were out of my hands. The next time I saw it, Tarantula Tide would be a fully-fledged book.