It's been a bit weird thinking what to write because I have so much to say and yet I kinda can't. But, as no one really reads this blog yet, I think I can talk about stuff in vague terms so when a reader goes back over my journey, they can get a sense of what the last few weeks has been like for me. I've always been very upfront and honest and about my journey and I don't want that to stop.

So the big news is I've agreed a three book deal with one of the UK's biggest (if not THE biggest) publisher of fantasy and sci-fi. If I were to list my favourite authors, then 8 out of 10 would be on this label. When I dreamed of being published, I saw their logo on the spine of my book. So it's crazy and wonderful and all those things.

My agent sent it out to 10 publishers and, at one point, 7 of them were interested. Some dropped out as things progressed for a variety of reasons, but we ended up with an auction that went three rounds.

I'm now waiting on contracts but I'm moving on to planning/writing book 2.

To give you an idea of how long things take, the deal will be announced in May - after I've done a round of edits with the big push starting in September for a May 2019 release.

Book 2 has to be delivered in February next year and Book 3 the year after that.

I first started trying to write properly 10 years ago but in 12 months time, I will be able to see my book in the shops for the first time.

Never give up, never surrender

I've wanted to be a published author for about ten years now. Ten years of working hard, stealing moments, facing rejection, picking myself up and writing more. It's a long, hard journey that I nearly gave up on many a time. It's so easy to not get up early, or sit back down on the sofa, turn on Netflix, hang out with the wife, the kids. I mean, I love doing all those things. But no. I got up at 5am and wrote. I stole lunch breaks and evenings, snuck off during my daughter's nap times and wrote. I finished one book, finished two, three, four and still I wrote.

And now? Wow. All my dreams have come true.

Today's the day. Deadline day. 8 hours to go. Will my nerves survive?

The one thing I do know is that WE ARE THE DEAD will be published in 2019 and available in all good bookshops. That, in itself, is a crazy thing indeed. The question that remains to be settled is who will publish it???