Bloodlines - Touch Not The Cat - Traces - A Scottish - American Genealogy Mystery Novel Series by Thomas McKerley and Ingrid Schippers

Bloodlines-Traces: only a few more days to go

I caught myself right in the middle of it this week.
Me, in one of my other lives an energy counsellor, telling people how to relax and use their energies effectively,
stressing out over the publication of Bloodlines-Traces.

‘Tom!’, (over Skype) ‘we promised our readers the sequel would be out May 16 2016. We can’t postpone again.’ (rolling eyes)

The almost 5 year path since publishing Bloodlines – Touch Not the Cat, November 11 2011, seems to be riddled with delays.
This time, at the very very end, the last few meters of the marathon, it’s getting the proof copy done that  has been delayed, for reasons known only by the uncontrollable forces outside of us. 
We expected it to arrive end of last week, but so far Tom has been stalking his mailbox for nothing.

Along the way of writing Bloodlines -Traces we’ve felt embarrassed a number of times  when we had to postpone publication, having been far too optimistic on when we would finish the novel.
Most of the delays were caused by reasons too personal to display on Facebook.
Yet the advertising world of today, or maybe I could even state – today’s world -, expects precision planning.

30 years ago, when I was doing my very first marketing course, it was Mr Kotler who taught me that when you bring a product on the market you need to make sure all watches are synchronized.
Don’t start advertising when the product isn’t available yet, and o dear, did this conviction latch on to my conscience.

It was Joe Marich, long time publicist of Michael Crichton, who taught me this rule doesn’t entirely apply with books. With books you start advertising half a year ahead of publication.
A little voice in my head however is telling me those books are most probably already written and printed when advertising starts.

With Tom and me it was a totally different process. Toddlers we were in the way we played around.
As ‘accidental authors’ when writing Bloodlines -Touch Not the Cat, the learning curve was already unusual. We didn’t have an audience yet; we didn’t even know we were going to be published authors; it simply was a lot of fun and inspiration.
With ‘Traces’ we did have people waiting for the sequel, even more so , it is thanks to readers asking for more, that we decided to go for it.
The way we went about producing ‘Traces’ however, was as inexperienced as the way we jostled writing our debut.

Having said all that; what I do feel good about, is the blunt honesty of our process.
Personally I resent the commercials in which life is pictured as one golden glow.
‘As long as you use ‘this or that deodorant’ or drive ‘such and so car’, life will be perfect.’
Or the  articles in flight magazines, showing off overpriced suitcases, silver clean holiday beaches and sunset minarets of exotic destinations. They never show you the plastic bags homeless people use to carry their belongings in, or the whales’ carcasses  stranded  because of  plastic polluted oceans; or the poverty of the people who live in the backstreets behind the sunset minarets.

At least, I tell myself , we have always been honest about being new kids on the block and never pictured ourselves any better than what we were capable off. We openly showed, we were first timers at writing Bloodlines – Touch Not the Cat and first timers at writing it’s sequel Bloodlines – Traces.

It was a huge learning curve, actually more of a roller coaster ride with double looopings (yes 3 o’s), Double Axles, Triple Toeloops and Flip Jumps (all terms derived from ice skating) that left us in different states of well or not so well being, at times even  affecting our co-authors relationship.

To be honest; in retrospect it is nothing short of of a miracle we actually ever came to a point of publication and that our friendship came out stronger at the other end of the tunnel.

Now the question may rise…will there be a third one.
The answer: not telling

Bloodlines – Traces however… will be there … in May… bare with us… just a few more days

picture: courtesy of www.freepik.com