I’ve been quieter than usual this summer as I recover from my father’s death. Grief is an odd thing I’ve discovered and just when I think I’m getting better, I get my ass kicked. But now it’s back to school time, I’m pushing myself to be productive. I need to be distracted. Fortunately for me, I’ve been able to dive into some great reads.
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Now Back to Those Great Reads!
The President of the Astrological Association, Roy Gillett, sent me a copy of his book “Working With the Planets” a few weeks ago. The work contains over 20 years of his contributions to his column of the same name for the Astrological Journal. Although politics are not a particular interest to me, I was immediately impressed with the sheer devotion it would take to follow current events and then write about them so passionately and with such regularlity. It was like reading a multidimensional account from newspapers, TV, magazines, books, blogs and of course astrology. I feel like I’m catching up with all the stuff I’ve missed for the past 20 years.
My friend Anne Whitaker was good enough to write a review for the new edition of “Growing Pains” a few years back. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to return the favour. “Postcards to the Future: Mercurial Musings 1995-2021” arrived a few days ago. The premise of the book is similar to “Working with the Planets” in that it is a compilation of astrology articles. Anne’s blog, “Writing from the Twelth House”, is one I have occassionally dipped into. Her essays answer questions from readers, cover current events and even spar with controversial material.
It would be completely unfair to compare these two books except to say I can feel how much both authors poured themselves into their work. Reading these books felt like I was examining their hearts and souls. It was terrifically moving to have been given the privilige.
I’ll be writing fuller reviews of both books for Amazon and Good Reads, etc and doing interview with both authors once I finish digesting the contents. I’m a fast, greedy reader and I feel I need to luxuriate in the captured knowledge for a few days and maybe go back and read my favourite parts at a slower pace.
Back to Me
Anne and I have been bantering about self promotion. (I’ve seen Roy lecture and I know he doesn’t need the bantering, lol). I have little mantra that goes like this: “She that tooteth not her own horn, the same shall not be tooteth!” I was a little shy about promoting myself when “Growing Pains” came out in 2013 and let’s just say I got over that shyness pretty quick. Anne, on the other hand, tells me she hides behind the 12th house couch. I’ve been coaxing her but a fellow Leo Moon can’t fool me! We’ll be hearing a lot more from Anne very soon. As I told her, sometimes my Cancer Sun is completely mortified by what my Leo Moon puts us up to. But we all seem to get along just fine. Self promotion is all a part of the rich tapestry of an author’s life.
All Hail to the Victor!
Anne and Roy’s books have something else in common: Victor Olliver, the editor of the Astrological Journal . And this brings me to my news: the Journal has just published an extract of my upcoming book “Mirror Mirror: Famous People and the Actors Who Have Portrayed Them”. Victor has faithfully edited Roy’s columns for years and he was a huge support for Anne too. As for his part in my book, he was the first person–aside from me, my publisher and the printer–to hold the first version of the manuscript. I watched him carefully as he flipped through and I sighed in relief as he nodded his approval. It’s a great moment for an author when a respected editor tells you that you have something good. So thank you Victor for all your encouragement!
The journey of the book was a twisted one. I watched over 200 biopics with my kitty Mr Bubbles, the last one being “Lawrence of Arabia” which ended up being my furry baby’s last night this side of the rainbow bridge. Mr Bubbles was also my writing companion and he would often lay on my left arm, purring contentedly, as I furiously typed with my right hand. The actual writing of the book only took about 6 weeks but the bloody CHARTS (all 400 of them!) had to be verified, then re-verified, checked again and then checked again. Our data sources kept updating unexpectedly too so we had to update. The editing process took over a year. BUT we are nearly there! And thank the great goddess for that! So keep checking in (or sign up for my newsletter) for news about the book launch, the interviews and other good stuff.
But in the meantime, enjoy these great reads!
