Oh God, Finally - The New Book As Promised

Hello impalas,

How’s everything?

The new book is finally finished, and it is with medium pleasure that I’ll be sending out the pdf and ereader version with this post. A new video should be up very shortly too.

I’m going to rant for a bit about relief and writing and whatnot, so if listening to that nonsense is understandably not what you’re here for, let me just say: thank you so, so much for sticking around while I went radio silent. More than anything, I hope it was worth it. (An epub file should be attached below too for Kindle users.)

If you’re still reading now, then you were duly warned about silliness ahead. That wasn’t the easiest few months, I’ll be honest. I’ve heard climbers sometimes talk about ‘false summits’, when you think the peak of the mountain is just above you, but surprise, it’s an overhang and you’ve got ages yet to go. I’m not a climber, I get dizzy on thick carpets let alone mountains, but the last half year or so has been that at times; thinking the manuscript was finished, then noticing a million plot holes; finally getting the thing formatted and proofread and still spotting mistakes and weird turns of phrase. Honestly, if there are still issues in there, I can't see them. So, I cannot even explain what a relief it is to finally let it go.

Please don’t think I’m trying to dissuade you from writing a book if you haven’t. It’s massive fun, you get to sit in a chair and daydream for months on end, there isn’t much I enjoy more than that, but the final stages are a marathon, not a sprint, and you become miserably convinced nothing will ever get finished – I’m sure it’s the same with any artsy endeavour. Well, you’ve had your own hard projects, I’m sure, I won’t lecture you, but yeah, I will now proceed to take a few days off and do nothing but make soup and hang out with the cat.

I have a recommendation you’re welcome to ignore at your leisure – one thing kept me sane more than all else during the final phases of writing, and it’s called The Bureau (Le Bureau) – a TV series about French spies. It’s ruined media for me, nothing has been as good since, and I’m fairly sure it never will be. It’s perfect. I won’t spoil anything, but with very little action or the kind of shooty-shooty you might expect from a spy drama, they manage to spend five seasons building the tension to almost unbearable levels, making you care more about the characters than any TV series has a right to. Anytime I thought I was having a bad day of editing, I'd just remind myself that at least I'm not working in high level nuclear espionage.

Well anyway. If you end up reading the new book, I’m more grateful than I can say. In a rather egotistical way, more of ‘me’ went into it than anything else I’ve done, I think. I promise it doesn’t end depressingly, or not very depressingly anyway. I hope your own projects are going swimmingly and life is a breeze. Again, thank you so much for sticking around here – quite understandably you must’ve assumed I’d bailed at times and gone off to Bermuda. I simply couldn’t have taken the time to finish the book without your kindness and support, so please know that it means the world on this side.

Massive love as ever,

Ex.