The Book Synopsis

It is almost exactly four months since I got the email, squeaked a lot and then settled down to work. In the middle of May, the journalist and author David Wickers and I were introduced by a mutual friend. Four months later, I’ve finally sent off a synopsis of his bestselling book that I’ll be updating, to the first potential publisher.

Clear the bathroom wall! Get rid, the photo frames. For the next few months shall be spent, no doubt, papering walls with rejection notes for The Complete Urban Farmer.

It’s not that I’m being negative. I love the unborn book already and I love the self sufficient world it represents. But I know that between his first email, and now, there’s been a lot of work: an intensely enjoyable meeting with David; numerous conversations with gardener friends; days in the garden trying out new varieties and still more in the kitchen; hours on the picnic blanket researching vegetable and fruit growing; still more hours in the library scanning the gardening shelves, and then days on the laptop writing it all up, reworking the chapter outline and searching for possible markets.

So when I say I’m celebrating sending off the first synopsis, it’s more an acknowledgement that despite the hours behind me, the work is really only just beginning.