Why was Irie Offered a Fourth Publishing Deal? (Part 5)
“Bore da!” says Dai, as we wait for an infrequent bus into Aberystwyth. “You’re new to the village aren’t you?”
“I just moved in.” Pointing up the slope, towards the white cottage.
Dai enquires what brings me to such a sparsely populated and isolated Welsh valley and what I intend to do with my time.
“I am a writer,” I say, and feel the response explains everything.
Hodder require Teach Yourself Cricket to be rewritten. Updating and reformatted to fit with their fresher ‘Learn to Play’ brand. A simpler undertaking than composing the original edition, equally poorly paid. Yet, whatever you think, whatever you say, I still consider Learn to Play Cricket to be my fourth published book.
“You’re a writer?”
My favourite consequence of claiming to be a writer (beyond discovering one’s text on a bookstore shelf) is the associated permissions the occupation offers. Peculiar and precious perks including (but not restricted to) the right to be poor, the expectation of eccentricity, the duty to be self-involved (and/or irritable).
No reasonable person frowns upon the published writer who struggles to make ends meet. There is nothing feckless found, indeed a certain nobility resides within the poor poet. And growling eccentricities, often expressed in reclusive natures combined with idiosyncratic outbursts of emotion, style, colour and accessories, are not only acceptable, but to be revered within an author. Diagnosable mental health issues, alcohol and substance abuse, routinely overlooked as creative catalyst.
Reserving this privileged space for writers allows the sane to sustain the position of enlightened supporters of the Arts. And though I feel the cliché degree of fraud, I wallow in both the nature of these exchanges and the atmosphere of freedom these cultured permissions encourage:
[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://writer99401560.files.wordpres..." data-large-file="https://writer99401560.files.wordpres..." src="https://writer99401560.files.wordpres..." alt="" class="wp-image-1052" width="230" height="183" srcset="https://writer99401560.files.wordpres... 230w, https://writer99401560.files.wordpres... 458w, https://writer99401560.files.wordpres... 150w, https://writer99401560.files.wordpres... 300w" sizes="(max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px" />Live lofty and heartfeltRelease all your purposeReap rapture from faint praiseBeat humble away.Procure a grand bonnetHoist flamboyant featherLet tendency tumbleIntensity reign.(Love the muse with whom you dwell,Dress her in your finest clothes,Layered silk upon the skin,Exquisite thread and perfect weave.)Struggling to complete the first cricket edition forced me to write to a publishable level. Writing the two Second Life editions introduced me to composing in character. Re-writing the cricket volume proved perfect practice in brutal editing.
Now let me outline what else I learned along this unusual path…
