Hafan Deg - First Three Chapters Only

On Friday, I said I would be leaving my complete novel - all 500 pages exactly, how weird is that? - on this blog for one month - well, I said until the end of February. I received a nice comment - very positive about the book, by the way - suggesting I was unwise to show the whole MS online.

I've thought about this a lot during the time I've been posting, and wondered why so few others seem to do it. I simply figured they weren't brave enough.

The book was copyrighted in December through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Registration No. 1063562. So that, you'd think, does away with the fear of plagiarism, which, in itself, seems a rather arrogant fear, considering my amateur status. But, you never know...

It's more likely that my helpful reader was concerned that an agent would have no interest in a book that was available free online. I think this is what he meant. I've asked him to clarify, by the way, but nothing to report to date. Whatever his feelings were, I felt that he was right, and I took his advice. That's why there are now only three chapters here.

So, for all of you who genuinely enjoy Hafan Deg, who are Followers of this blog, I'm happy to give you the website where you can read it all to your heart's content, possibly without ever feeling the need to read this blog again, which might be a bonus for you. Just comment and I'll respond with the details.

I have a bit of tidying up to do with my writing docs. I'll probably spend the day fiddling around with them, dumping a lot of stuff, archiving material I didn't use - yes, there was quite a bit that I left out, believe it or not.

And next week I'll begin the query process. I kept the original synopsis and query letter that got this MS into the hands of Allen & Unwin, in Sydney, in the first place. It was successful in piqueing their curiosity then, so I'll undoubtedly incorporate it into my current submissions. Oh, and the book was only 385 pages then. I certainly had a lot more to say. Let's hope it's an improvement.

I was thinking it might be cute to put up some sort of meter, showing the number of submissions, and the number of rejects, with dates. If that sounds coldblooded, well, the publishing world is, isn't it? I'm not so naive as to expect less than a dozen, fifty, or more rejections.

The one thing we don't talk about, the thing that is always uppermost in my mind, is how much all of this is going to cost! 500 pages has to printed many times, I hope, so there's the cost of ink casettes (I'm running it off myself), paper, boxes or sturdy envelopes, stamps. Sheesh! That could add up.

Once again, my thanks to all of you who have been following me. I hope you'll continue the journey with me. I really enjoy knowing you're there.