It's Paperback Publication Day!

Here are five times being the author of The Ghost Lake made me cry

It’s paperback publication day for my nature-landscape memoir, The Ghost Lake!

I wouldn’t be doing my job as an author if I didn’t begin this post by telling you that you can

• Read about The Ghost Lake in this beautiful review from Sophia Yeo at the Ink cap Journal

• Read an exclusive extract of The Ghost Lake on the Harper Collins website.

• Listen to an extract of The Ghost Lake audio book here

• Buy The Ghost Lake in hardback, paperback here.

• Buy The Ghost Lake in audio or ebook here.

Five times being the author of The Ghost Lake made me cry

1. Getting the book deal! Every writer’s dream. Thanks to my amazing agent,

   Caro Clarke
   (you should follow her substack by the way, it is essential reading) we landed a book deal with The Borough Press. The day I heard we’d had an offer I was sitting on my sofa in my little ex council house and my hands were shaking. I started crying and my husband thought I’d had bad news. I will never forget the thrill of knowing that all that hard work (writer spoiler alert - there was much more hard work to come) and the putting myself out there over and over again had paid off. I can still feel that thrill now.

2. The Unboxing! I’ve done two unboxings now - one for the hardback and one for the paperback. The first time I had genuinely never seen the finished product and, oh, to see my book rising out of the packaging materials, with my name on it. The journey that was opening up in front of me felt magical. I often return to the video to remind myself of the moment, the joy of it all.

   wendyprattauthor

   

   A post shared by @wendyprattauthor

3. The Private Book Launch. There were lots of events when The Ghost Lake came out, but the one that meant the most was my private book launch. I had invited friends from all points in my life - childhood, work, the writer world - and family too. My work is always a bit of a mystery to my family, so it was really lovely to have them there. My brilliant publicist came up from London to Scarborough to help with everything and we had drinks and I gave a little speech. There was so much love in the room that night and I was so grateful to everyone who had supported me. If you are having a book published I highly recommend taking tome to have a small, personal book launch.

4. Edinburgh Book Festival! This was the first gig I did on The Ghost Lake tour. What a way to begin the promo! I read with the exceptional

   Ruth Allen, PhD (MNCPS Accred)
   (you should also follow her substack). Stepping onto the stage and being able to talk about the book, and also why it is important to see working class writers represented in spaces that are traditionally middle class dominated meant the world to me. I felt like an author. Also, EDINBURGH, what a city. I was a total tourist and went to all the usual spots. The National Gallery is superb if you get a chance to visit.

5. The response from this Guardian Article I wrote about dropping out of my PhD. Feelings of not belonging are a big theme in The Ghost Lake, and dropping out of the PhD was one particular time in my life when I carried an immense feeling of failure. But realised actually that I am so much happier following my own path. I am still getting responses from people about the article. People who also felt they couldn’t continue their academic career paths. I felt like I had done something good with this article.

Where to see me - Upcoming gigs

• 7th May - Oxford Brookes University - I’ll be zooming in to read from my latest poetry collection, Blackbird Singing at Dusk. Limited in person tickets here.

• 11th May - Filey Lit Fest - 1.30pm The Evron Centre - Buy Tickets Here

• 15th May - York Waterstones - I will be hosting a chat with author Sally Coulthard about her upcoming book A Brief History of the Countryside in 100 Objects. Tickets here.

• 17th May - Kemps Wetherby - 7.30pm - An evening with Wendy Pratt, where I’ll be reading from and talking about The Ghost Lake. Tickets here.

• 20th May - York St Johns University - I’ll be putting my

  Spelt Magazine
  hat on to talk on this panel about getting published. Tickets here.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement, and for subscribing to Notes from the Margin! Your support allows me to continue finding time to write.