Notes from Summer

I sit here overlooking a sun-drenched balcony and the riotous greenery beyond - tall, swaying bamboos, tousle-headed palms, squat fig trees, and an unruly banana-passionfruit vine carrying huge pink blossoms - a promise of an ongoing harvest when the season soon begins.

As we close out the year in which Splashdown Books was conceived and came into being, I am reminded of the proverb that says: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step." That step has been taken this year, and a few more besides, for which I am grateful. Fred Warren, the first author to come on board, has been great to work with as we prepared and released his first novel, The Muse. We had great fun discussing back and forth on the cover design and promotional materials, as well as the video trailers. The release went as smoothly as we could hope for - and everything came out right!

Losing my Dad in mid-year was a hard blow and took a good three months out of my time. One of my day jobs was reduced from fixed hours to (occasional) contract basis. Being turned out by my landlord has eaten up several weeks, too. But that's life I guess. Let's hope for better in the future.

What's next for Splashdown? I've got a number of great manuscripts in serious consideration, and have begun discussing publication with their authors. There' everything from superheroes to high fantasy in the possibilities. Fred is also hard at work on various new projects. And then, at long last, there's finally time to work at my own novels - you might see one or two of those during the year to come.

And so it has begun. Everything is set up and running; it's only a question of my time and how many books I can prepare and publish. The sky's the limit!

For any readers in New Zealand who are also writers, I just came across the Pindar contest at www.authors.org.nz - offering publication and a huge marketing package to the winner of a book contest. Just thought you might like to know!