Is This the End of the Road?

An update of The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden

Hello and welcome.

I have not had a good week. I started my new job just over a month ago, which entails a two-hour daily commute which has turned into an absolute nightmare. I certainly hadn’t factored that into my decision when I chose which job to take, which you can read all about here.

I started commuting by train, which was fine. I would leave home at 07:15 and return at 18:30. A long day, but doable. Then the trains started playing up. There were delays (over an hour one evening, meaning I didn’t get home until 19:45.) A delay of 15 minutes one morning meant I was late for work. Not great for the new girl.

So I did some research, found the cheapest car park I could, and took the plunge to drive to work. Traffic snarl-ups meant an agonising drive of an hour and a half. I was leaving earlier and earlier.

Then I was asked to cover in one of the firm’s other offices, which, thankfully, was much closer. On my first day, I left in plenty of time and was happily driving along, music blaring, feeling pretty smug at not having to wait on a draughty, cold platform for a train that might or might not turn up, all cosied up in my comfy car. To my horror, when I rounded a bend, there was a roadblock. I was going nowhere. Admittedly, I had passed a couple of signs earlier announcing that the road was closed, but that happens all the time around here. I thought I could sneak through or the signs hadn’t been removed from earlier roadworks, but no such luck.

It looked like I was going to be late again. Great. I tried to re-program the satnav as I manoeuvred into a starting position to goodness-knows-where, when a small black van behind me beeped his horn. Oops! Had I been a bit too close, not concentrating on my slick three-point turn? I looked up, startled, angry and not in a good place. ‘Are you going to Hereford?’ the driver asked. ‘Yes,’ I replied enthusiastically. ‘Follow me,’ he instructed.

And so it was that I set off, following a complete stranger through a warren of back lanes and shortcuts, rat runs and cut-throughs. At that point, I was wondering whether I would ever reach the office before sundown but, miraculously, we reached a main artery of the road that I recognised, having bypassed the road closure. My good Samaritan turned off, indicating for me to go straight on and I got to work in plenty of time. Thank you, whoever you were. You made my day so much easier and took the stress out of trying to navigate my way around roads that I am not familiar with.

I can do without all this stress at my time of life. The nuances of working in two different offices, learning new systems and ways of doing things, has been excruciatingly painful. The transition has not been easy. My new colleagues have been very friendly and helpful but when you are flailing around like a fish out of water, no amount of kindness can get you through a busy day. I am finding it all incredibly frustrating. I will just have to console myself that it can only get better.

I hate that feeling of not being in control. Having mastered my previous job down to a tee, when I could multi-task several jobs at a time without batting an eyelid, I am struggling to cope with the agonising frustrations that I frequently have to face during the day in my current job.

But, like I said, things can only get better.

The Mysterious Disappearance of The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden

No, you haven’t read that headline wrong. There have been delays in getting my debut novel published. My publisher RomaReads Publishing and I have been in discussion about where to go from here. There was even a point when the sentence, ‘…dissolve your contract,’ was mentioned. Nooooooo! After all my hard work and gargantuan efforts. Please bear with us on this one. I have been assured that the book will be published. It is currently with the printers and will go out to the distributors on the 18th of this month or sometime thereafter.

When an e-mail arrived in my daughter’s and husband’s inboxes last night saying that Waterstones and Foyles had cancelled their orders, I was incredibly upset. I don’t know what’s going on. Once again, my publisher has assured me that she will look into this. The problem is not at their end but lies with the printers/distributors. I certainly hope so and I will keep you updated.

Having read horror stories of authors finding out that their books were not going to be published via a third party, I am anxious that this might happen to me. After all that I have done, and all the hard work that I have put in, it seems incredibly unfair not to see the book in print and sitting on bookshelves around the country. I couldn’t bear it.

I am not going to hold my breath. Or stress anymore. What will be, will be. I have faith in my publisher to sort the issues out. I cannot believe, after everything, that it might be the end of the road for The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden. I hope, with all my heart, that it’s not and that the book will get across the publication finishing line. That’s all I can hope for. But, in all honesty, I am running out of enthusiasm for the whole process. It has been such a long, tough haul, that I can’t bring myself to even think about the worst-case scenario. It would, quite literally, break my heart.

So, on that note, I hope I can rely on some positive vibes from you all to see the novel cross that all-important finish line of becoming a book in print.

I am mentally exhausted from all the book stuff, so much so, that my enthusiasm for my second novel, which I have already completed, has waned. Despite everything, I am pushing on and pushing ahead. Otherwise, how can I expect to get book number two out into the wide world and realise my dream of being a published author?

If you have any comments or would like to leave a positive vibe, hit the button below. In the meantime, I’m going to lie down on the sofa with a good book. One that I didn’t write.

Have a great week.