Friday, October 13, 2006

Astonishing News!

I received a telephone call last night at 21:30 from a very nice man in Kerry. Hmm, I thought to myself as the Kerry lilt asked for me by name, I wonder who this is calling at this time of night.

You see, our landline number is one of those that people seem to ring by accident - is that the insurance firm; the radio station; the local newspaper; are all questions that I get asked a lot, so when someone asks for me by name and I don't recognise their voice I am woken out of auto-answer mode.

Imagine my astonishment when this sonorous voice introduced themselves as the editor of a small press publisher in Ireland and went on to tell me that the press' editorial council had selected my manuscript as one of six books to be published next year - contingent on funding!

Finally! After two years of hawking the manuscript around, sometimes with publishers not even able to read it, my work has persuaded a small press to take it on and give it a launching pad.

You know, I do believe that some of Inner Minx and skintwriter's luck is starting to rub off on me!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even though we've never really 'met' on OU FirstClass, I still lurk as I made so many friends in Lit last year. Can't know how it feels from where you're standing, but you impress the hell out of me, with your rich full life and the warmth and intelligence with which you have filled my darling Debbie's shoes as moderator this year. So really this is just a spontaneous 'fan' letter to say: CONGRATULATIONS on the potential publication deal!! This makes sense of all your hard work and persistence and I hope your evident gift will be applauded the length and breath of these lands, so I can say, 'Oh, that's my mate Babs'!

Unknown said...

Thank very much Janette - that is a very generous thing to say. As for filling Debbie's shoes, I must demur - I really miss her wonderful mastery of Henry James, her own words and her ability to encourage the best out of people... I hope she surfaces in FC or blogland soon!

Thanks once again for the warmth of your remarks!

David Todd said...

Well done!

Is it the FC Arts Cafe the kewl place to hang out these days , where I can try and chat up the moderators there :-)

Unknown said...

Ooh - you've got me guessing now cyberscribe... ;)

Thanks very much though!

Anonymous said...

Oh so many congrats!!! That is wonderful news - well done. As we say over here - Good on ya mate!

Anonymous said...

Way to go Cailleach - fantastic news - you deserve it

Anonymous said...

Whoo-hoo!! Fantastic news!!!
So very, very pleased Cailleach - welcome to the 'wake every day with a smile' club!!!

Sorry I haven't been around - I've been writing!

Julie Carter said...

Lovely news. Yay!

Hedgie said...

Congratulations! That's excellent news.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Barbara,

Looking forward to seein you on the shelves in the near future!

d.
x

Unknown said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all!
Me and the Artistic Sister are busy now trying to choose a suitable cover for it (she's the visual artist!), over a few celebratory beers...

Who knew that picking pictures was going to be this difficult?

Rob said...

Great stuff! Is this a poetry collection ? Well done whatever it is.

apprentice said...

Fantastic, so pleased for you. Kerry men clearly have great taste.
Like Rob I'd love to know what it's about.

Bet the kids are impressed!

pundy said...

Brilliant! What an amazing thing to happen. Look forward to reading it.

Unknown said...

Huge congratulations! What birlliant news!

Seoman said...

Well done congrats. Excellent, excellent.