So I did a thing, and signed a book contract. Now I have one year to write it!

how it began

Before the pandemic, I met with the wonderful Eneida Garcia Villanueva for a walking meeting and chatting about PhD life and academia in principle. I told her about an idea I had for a book. One thing led to another and I told her about my book idea. Well, Eneida’s enthusiasm for the idea helped me pluck up the courage to submit my book proposal to a publisher.

ghosting and persistence

After two publishers, initial enthusiasm, followed by ghosting, I submitted the proposal to the newly formed Scottish Open University Press–I know I will forever be sorry that the abbreviation is SUP and not SOUP–anyhow, at the time my book proposal was not yet right for their first endeavours. At this point I was ready to bench the idea for a while and regroup.

turning point

However, last summer I got a message from the new acquisition editor asking if I still was interested in submitting my book proposal. So after useful editorial feedback I resubmitted, the peer review was very positive and I now have a signed contract and a year to write a book.

what’s next?

Enter a very strange mix of excitement, fear, impostor syndrome, joy, and a whole lot of emotional mess that still needs disentangling.

Anyhow–

I like myself a good meta-level approach to life, the universe and everything. So writing about writing a book might just be the way to address the emotional mess, having a useful reflective tool, and maybe there is the occasional insight or productivity strategy you might find interesting.