The journey: Frills in the Hills the book

I know some of you may be surprised, shocked, elated or all three by the title of this post.  Some of you may be saying 'finally!' because a few of you lovely readers have asked me when I may be having a book coming out.

To be perfectly honest, I never saw a book out of this blog.  I never started or continued the blog with that in mind as a goal or even a possibility.  I have actually said that very thing to many people who have asked me.

So just over a month ago I was approached by a well known publisher to come meet with them to see if I had any interest in writing a book.   At first I just stared at the email on my computer screen with my mouth open.   I was speechless and a bit 'what do I do know?'.  So I called on a few of my bloggy friends to firstly - squeal.... then secondly work out what to do next.  One of these friends said 'reply YES with twenty million exclamation marks'.

So I went in and met with the publisher about a month ago, we talked through ideas and I agreed to work on an outline and title, what I envisaged the look, length to be, what the message was.   Dutifully and excitedly I came home and started to write the outline.  It was so much easier than I thought it would be and ironically it all flowed like it had been in my head for years...

I had a clear vision of it's look and length and message, but where I struggled - the title.  It needed to say 'this is what it's about' in about 4 words, it couldn't be 'Frills in the Hills' because really - what does that tell someone who has never been to this site?   I came to a title... I was kindasortahappy with it.

So off my outline went and then I was advised it would be reviewed by the acquisitions team on guess when.....?  My 40th birthday.   I advised that if there was any negative feedback - tell me the day after because I didn't want to know on my birthday.

So about 5.45pm just before I'm about to sit down to my dinner that my husband lovingly cooked and a cake my frills had lovingly iced... the email came in.

It's not a yes and it's not a no.
The outline was good, but the title wasn't strong enough and it's expensive to print colour photographs.  We needed to do some more work to get it accepted.

I was devastated... and that was devastating in itself.  Why was I devastated?  Why when this wasn't something I had pursued?  Maybe my ego was a little bruised because they didn't love it?  Maybe I was pissed off with myself because I only kindasorta loved my title and I should have thought of a better one?

I took some days to work this out.  At the end of the day I came to a conclusion.  It was the photos.  I personally don't connect to a cookbook that doesn't have photos.  There are a few exceptions to these but if I think about it,  a book by me and based on this blog needs photographs.

So I had a heart-to-heart with the publisher this week and I think I got the message across that photos weren't a negotiable element.  I agreed about the title.. but the photographs I couldn't give up.

So now we're working on a way we can have photos before it goes back to the acquisitions team - I need you to wish us luck, and also - help me come up with a title!  If you could sum up Frills in the Hills ethos in a hook-y title what would you choose ? I promise to give you a signed first copy if you can nail it, because it's driving me BONKERS.

I'll update you on this journey - I've felt a bit terrible keeping it from  you this long! xx
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