Good thing, bad thing, we don’t know

Twenty-one days to the book launch and behind the glossy photo things have been going wrong. The first advance copies of Unravelling arrived and whilst checking through them, I found a book with the first seven pages missing. You couldn’t make this up…

Twenty-five years ago, having been rejected by every publisher, I embarked upon my first self-publishing venture. On receipt of my first consignment, all 3,000 books had a page missing. It was a big deal as I had lined up press with my feisty blonde alter-ego and people are not really bothered by your logistical problems. If you miss a deadline, you miss a deadline. So, I asked the printer to print me 3,000 copies of page 179 and I ‘Prit-sticked’ them in the middle of the night (long story but I was supposed to be a management consultant, and no one knew of the publishing deal I had given myself).

Fast forward to today, I turned down a fourth book deal with my publisher to self-publish Unravelling. Why you may ask? I asked that question when I see that seven pages are missing from a book, and it takes me right back to that moment of panic and ‘pritstickgate’.

But then, things worked out for me with those 3,000 pages missing. I got to go to the London Book Fair where we caused quite a stir as large publishers were giving out leaflets and we were giving out books. I found my agent at that Fair and I ended up signing a three-book deal with HarperCollins (not necessarily a good thing for me but led to other great things).

So, I go back to my living room currently filled with books and start checking each one and draw upon something I heard from Dr Rao.

He says, “Good thing bad thing, we don’t know,” that it is a question of perspective, and he uses a Sufi parable to illustrate this. It’s so true, I look at some back at some of the ‘good’ things that have happened, and they haven’t necessarily been good and vice-versa.

So, if you currently find yourself in the middle of a ‘sticky situation’, I hope this helps.