Greener Grass

I was going to begin this blog post by saying, “I can’t believe this is the first blog post since May of this year!” But I won’t say that because I can believe it.

2018 has been one of the most intensively busy years I’ve ever lived through. It’s also been one of the strangest. It’s been strange because I achieved my dream of becoming an author published by a bona fide publishing company. And then I realised that the grass isn’t always greener.

Getting a publishing contract with Bloodhound Books still ranks as one of the highlights of my writing career, and that’s saying something when you consider I’ve been writing for twenty-odd years. Even though our partnership didn’t last very long, I have no regrets; they are a great bunch of people, and I’m sure we’ll remain close friends.

Our relationship didn’t last long because we both wanted different things, that’s all. Both parties burned the midnight oil for several months getting the Eddie Collins books out of my head and onto Bloodhound’s shelves, and when we got them there and opened them up for the world to see… it didn’t feel right to me.

I felt very uncomfortable seeing my books on Amazon and having absolutely no control over them. I confess too that the new Bloodhound titles didn’t sit well with me either. Black by Rose is a specific title that reflects a specific event in that book, and so substituting it for a generic name meant it lost a little bit of its individuality, lost a bit of its shine. Same goes for the other books too. I know Bloodhound had their reasons, and from a mainstream publisher’s point of view, their reasons were indeed valid.

So yes, this year has been very strange. My books are (for the time being) on Amazon with Bloodhound Books listed as the publisher; it’s always been my dream, and now I realise the dream is for someone else to enjoy. So now my books will be published by me, under my publishing name of The Ink Foundry. It’s like coming back home.

For me, for now at least, my dream is to get cracking on the next book, and get The Lock and Jessica Ripley selling well. But my ultimate dream is, as you know, to be a full-time writer. And I can do it, I know I can. I will do it.

Each time I finish a story, I always think I could have done it better. Well, 2019 is the year that I write the story that I cannot improve upon. Wish me luck…