Welcome to what will probably be one of the more exciting newsletters! In case you blinked a thousand times and therefore missed it, Thursday was publication day for the UK version of my new book, Speaking in Tongues. It's confusing because the US version is titled The Illustrated Book of Sayings and they are essentially exactly the same thing and I figured if I was getting a little confused, everyone else would be also. As I'm writing that, I realise that maybe you're all totally cool and calm about that, so let me know and I'll stop panicking. It's probably unrelated, undiagnosed panic anyway.
Let's begin!
THINGS THAT HAPPENED ON THE BLOG THIS WEEK:
This thing (below) and then this and this. But likely you saw the latter two somewhere anyway because I threw the illustrations like small wriggling creatures across all of my social medias. Is it obvious that I'm really excited because I am SO EXCITED. Really you don't need to click on any of those links and we should move on.
BOOK-RELATED NEWS:
Here is a photo you've already seen of me keeping the new book company in Waterstones (for those of you not living in or from the UK, Waterstones is a chain of quite lovely bookstores). I tried to act nonchalant but failed miserably and may or may not have squeaked at an unnaturally high volume when I saw it. This store had it in the travel section piled up on a coffee table, but Lost in Translation was in 'gift and humour' so I don't really know what is up or down.
I don't entirely know what happens next. I've got a radio interview the week after this one, and several online and print publications have already been showing kind and lovely interest in featuring the book, me, or both. Or they already have because they are far more organised than me. And then of course there is the small matter of the book being published in the US—13th of September here we come with wide eyes and a giggling stomach. We must run with it all people, even if the running is awkward and lopsided.
ALSO:
Here is a real illustration from the book for you, in case you think 'Oh! I have enough books already!' or in case you live very far away from all bookstores and/or haven't been able to leave the house for security reasons. There are 51 more of these in the book, so please share in my incredulity (I cannot believe I made all these I think I have memory loss because it was such a privilege to create and share this project).
THINGS NOBODY HAS SEEN EVER:
These two pen sketches, which are what the book illustrations looked like at one time or another. Before colour and magic happen, they are empty and look distinctly like they are waiting for something.
This second one became the illustration that we ended up choosing for the cover of the book. It weirdly aligned with the UK cover of Lost in Translation in terms of elements and feel and well... most things.
The end.
We should stop now, before I get too carried away and before I tell you all my secret plans and clever tricks and who knows what else. I hope your weeks have been as delightful and otherworldly as mine, and that life is treating you kindly.
Farewell, see you next sometime.
Copyright © 2016 Ella Frances Sanders, All rights reserved.