Dumelang, hello...

WOW, the last quarter of the year.

We are on SUBMISSION at the moment. And no, not the kind where you yield or surrender (lol). Except in every way, it is exactly that—the part I have to play in this. My agent, Barbara, has submitted my manuscript to eight imprints/publishing houses for consideration. When Barbara sent the email I’d been waiting for (i.e., to tell me I don’t have to do any more edits… for now), I bled tears of relief. In her words: “Now it’s my turn.” And that’s where submitting to the submission process comes in.

There’s been a bit of waiting—we’re almost at the four-week mark. Yet, this is par for the course. After all, editors are only human, and I remind myself they probably have large stacks of manuscripts to read. So I wait patiently (and with hope) for my turn.

So far, we’ve received two passes (i.e., no thank-you’s) out of the eight editors Barbara submitted to. Would I choose for this to be over already? Of course. Was I at some point checking my email obsessively? Shhh… don’t laugh too hard :-).

And what else?

For a much saner, healthier approach to this waiting game (welcome to traditional publishing), I’ve occupied myself with, amongst other things, researching and interrogating the book ideas brewing in my head. And today—after a bit of frustration over which story to write—I finally settled on one. Phew.

I’m also back to actively participating in my writing club. I took a break during the intensive part of editing, but it feels good to return. For any writer out there who, like me at the beginning of this journey, might be writing in a cave—one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received was to write in community. In whatever format works for your creative process, as long as you have people who will cheer you on, give you feedback on your work, and allow you to grow by doing the same for them.

That's all I have to share.

I am praying and hoping that next time I’ll say, tada—we have a book deal.

While I await news, I'll pretend my recent trip to Trinidad was also to celebrate being on Submission. Here is a shot of Port of Spain from my hike up Lady Chancellor Hill (because this email really needs some colour...heehee).

Till then, have a most productive (and peaceful and restful, I hope) end to 2025. After all, it’s been quite a year. We humans (as my 6-year-old refers to adults) are a lot sometimes.

Ntebogeng