Six and a half years ago I signed a contract to write a guide to the Scottish mountains for Cicerone Press. Three days ago I posted the manuscript and photographs, work that has taken far, far longer than I envisaged back in 2003. Many weeks and months of research, both in the office and on the hills, eventually produced over 200,000 words and 287 photographs. The packed work, over 800 pages plus several CDs, weighed over 5kg and I carried it down the snowed-in track from my house to my car in a rucksack before driving to the post office and seeing it disappear. Finishing the book, which at times seemed always in the far distance, has left me feeling relieved and elated. Now the books and maps piled up next to my desk can be moved back to their shelves, now I no longer need feel at every spare moment that I ought to be working on the Scottish book. Now I can start work on other books!
Photo info: On Ben Loyal after a spring snow storm. Canon EOS 350D, 18-55@30mm, 1/500@ f8, ISO 100, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.6
Congrats! Now you can start on the second edition ;-) Someday I'll make it over there to sample the Scotch, er, I mean the Highlands.
ReplyDeleteOoh! I shall look forward to this one Chris. How long does it take the publisher to get it into the shops after you have sent them your work?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteWill be be seeing it in the shops?
It sounds brilliant and just the ticket for my 2010 christmas present. Well done Chris.
ReplyDeleteThanks folks! Xmas this year might be a bit early to expect it though. Cicerone haven't given me a publication date - they've barely had time to look at it - but it's usually a year from submission to publication.
ReplyDeleteI'm already looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! What an enormous relief that must be *g* I look forward to getting my crubeens on a copy, in due course.
ReplyDeleteChris, you must be blessed with an abundance of patience and perseverance to complete a work of that magnitude. I can agonise for twenty minutes over a single paragraph and still have to go back and alter it later.
ReplyDeleteThere was something I'd meant to ask you, With all your accumulated experience of gear testing do you ever get caught out these days? What I mean is do you ever, for example, find yourself winter testing a sleeping bag which just isn't up to the job and realising, around midnight that it's going to be a long night?
I haven't been caught out for a while but I am sometimes uncomfortable! Usually with clothing, footwear or packs. If I think a sleeping bag may not be adequate I carry extra clothes to sleep in. Testing single skin tents last year I did have some damp nights due to condensation - predicting this was likely I used synthetic sleeping bags or a down bag with a bivi bag.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to add this one to my bookshelf. Congrats Chris on a labor of love well done.
ReplyDelete