You're Probably Wondering

You’re probably wondering what in the heck happened to my publishing dream. Well, it’s still there, like the herpes I can’t get rid of. Like a pregnancy craving for prosciutto. Like a soul mate I can’t seem to give up on. Like the green ray that bursts forth a second before the sun hides behind the horizon; it may be an optical illusion but I have seen it once, that green pie in the sky.
I’m a believer.
It’s just that lately I’ve been too wrapped up in the roller coaster of daily life to put much effort into getting my manuscript published. I figure it’s been sitting in that drawer for so long anyway that a few more months won’t matter. But I like to think of this ‘time off’ not so much as literary stasis but as preparation for the next sprint. And I have been writing. To prove to you that my literary ambition is still alive, here’s a list of what I’ve been doing over the past few months:
· polishing / copyediting an (enormous) academic volume to be published by Brill in 2013
· discussing possible publishing contacts with one of Brill’s editors – but if I told you his name I’d have to kill you
· getting the first five chapters of my manuscript Lost in the Spanish Quarter translated into Italian in order to approach Italian publisher Einaudi, where I now have a contact
· co-writing a children’s film treatment, synopsis and pitch to be put forward for funding to the New Zealand Film Commission – but once again, I can’t tell you anything about this fabulous story without a murder charge
And if that weren’t all, I can’t help but want to start the16th edit of my manuscript. A little space from it does wonders.