The Trials of a Marathon Mum

This week I was listening to John Inverdale on Radio 2 waxing lyrical about the marathon, and asking people to email in song titles they run to. It seemed too good an opportunity to miss not to send in an email about the book wot I have written called: Running on Empty: Diary of a Marathon Mum.

I was out at Legoland yesterday (of which more later) and got home to two very excited phone messages from my twin sister and a friend to say that John Inverdale had not only read out my email but mentioned this blog. Oo-er! Am gobsmacked. There is a slight problem however, as having heard the listen again version this morning, I realised that he was sending people to this site to find a book which currently doesn't exist. Well it does, but you can't buy it - yet. There's copy sitting in my computer as I write, but it isn't published, and I still don't have a cover. So if anyone perchance did come looking yesterday (and I am hazarding a guess some of you did, as I seem to have 22 extra hits on my blog) and expected to find a book, it is coming and I will be posting details of it when it does. But in the meantime, let me tell you why I have missed the best pr moment of the year to promote it.

First off, I didn't write a diary as such when I was training, and didn't have a blog then, as I do now. However, I do have a very wonderful writing egroup where I let off steam from time to time, so I used to merrily post the mad doings of my training runs. And, dear reader, they were pretty mad.

In the course of my training I: nearly ran in front of a race horse, got lost with my friends' dog on a Spanish mountainside and then nearly got said dog run over; got stuck in a bomb alert outside Waterloo station after a hot and sticky run when I was due for a hospital appointment;nearly lost the will to live on a laughingly called "Fun Run" up the Long Mynd in Shropshire; and tripped over my feet outside my local hospital. This was all took place against a background of Spouse hiving off to India for a white water rafting trip, DIY Disasters, children pooing in their pants etc etc.Quite how I a)managed to keep sane and b)did any training is beyond me.

About halfway through my training it occurred to me that it was so mad to even be doing it I should write a book about it and try and raise a few more funds for the wonderful charity I ran for (Tadworth Court Children's Trust). So I started to take my merry little emails a bit more seriously. However, time as ever being agin me, I didn't always keep copies on my computer. After the marathon I got stuck into various other bits and pieces of work, but then wrote a sample three chapters and synopsis which with my agent's blessing I sent off to various places. Getting a less then enthusiastic response, I put it to one side (fatal mistake) and decided I would have a go at self publishing later.

My plan had been to get going in the autumn. But anyone kind enough to have stuck with the programme here, and read my blog from its earliest inception in November, will know that around that time my old computer blew up and I lost everything. Yes, yes, I know I should have backed up, but the old computer was so ancient I found it damned nigh impossible to do so. I then got sidetracked with editing Taryn's book, A November to Remember, which I have mentioned before.

So it wasn't until January this year that I had time to get back to my own little effort. I then had to go onto my email group and trawl through six months of emails to find the relevant bits of nonsense I had posted, so I actually had something to say in my book. Otherwise it might have been a tad light - not just running on empty, but short of content too...

This done, I then sent it back to my agent as she had interest from another publisher. At that point I still, like Mr Incredible, had time (just). Helas, as is the way of the rather brutal world of publishing, I had a rejection just over a week ago. Aaaghh!!!

So it's back to plan a) then, rather more belatedly then I had hoped.

I'm currently busy checking proofs, have someone designing a cover, and will be sorting out a website shortly.

So, if there is anyone out there remotely interested. Running on Empty, will be coming to a bookshop near you soon , and more details about it, and my website will be posted here when I have them.

You read it here first...

PS A friend has just kindly pointed out that my links don't work. Sorry must have done something wrong and will try and fix it when I've got time. Just now I have a book to produce...

With many many thanks to John Inverdale for giving me the best bit of publicity I could have hoped to get!