Deep Water

We watched the doco of that name the other night — the Donald Crowhurst story: how he left port according to deadline but before he felt ready. How he sailed south with quaking heart. If he entered the southern ocean he would probably die. If he turned tail for home he faced financial ruin. Sad, sad, sad. But fascinating, too, to ponder what risks one is prepared to go on a limb for; what constitutes a risk, what a failure; and where is the point of no-return?


Helpful, too, for gaining perspective, No lives or livelihoods are at stake if Rosa Mira Books goes online before all doubts are quelled. However, we want the rigging sound, our crew confident, and all sailors to have a happy trip when they come aboard. We're running around checking the sheets, anchors and winches (okay, am about out of nautical terms here; you get the gist) and are casting a weather eye at this week's forecast . . .  We want everything just so — although the draft pages are looking sleek and lovely already. Hugh reckons it's his best design yet. I think he might be right.

 This week suddenly it seemed crucial to have an e-reader in order to test our manuscript. I needed a versatile device, so I went down to the Mac shop, stroked the iPad a few times and said, 'Okay.' On it I can download a zillion apps: Stanza, iBooks, GoodReading, Kobo, Kindle, B&N . . . (Best of all, the meowing cat piano app).

Meanwhile the little soft-covered, bendy e-reader is on the imagination's back burner. It'll turn up in due course. :)

Take a look

It's possible that the final paragraph of The Glass Harmonica: A Sensualist's Tale has at last been tweaked to perfection, just in time for the stylist and the proofreader who advance like lawn-mower and garden roller upon the author and editor.

And look!

The cover image was hand-painted by Christine Buess of Longacre Press fame, designed, more or less, from a description of Henry's waistcoat with its pièce de résistance, the tomato, or pomme d'amour.

Dani Wright has cooked up a marketing plan that includes Rosa Mira going seriously online. Soon. The inevitable is imminent and I'm almost ready for it. We have some plans on the front cooker in the U.S. too. Kind of exciting.

Meanwhile, thanks to Helen Heath's weekend reading round-up I've found a couple of expansive articles on Why Readers Hate DRM (digital rights management) and The Future of Publishing Takes Shape on Faber's blog, The Thought Fox. Points pondered in the latter include the editorial process which I am pleased to state will be Rosa Mira's strong suit in an industry that has been forced to reduce its editing TLC in recent years.

It's possible the website will go live this week. You'll hear it first here.