For the past few months, a lot of construction activity has been going on right next to our building. Every few days, my wife goes to look out the window, and remarks on how much progress the construction workers have made.
“My goodness they've done loads,” she usually says, followed by the inevitable, “haven't they?"
This happened again a few days ago. After nodding in agreement, I decided to join her by the window. As I looked out onto the construction site, it dawned on me just how far along the project has come since it started. The thing is, I walk by the construction site several times a day, and yet, I don't seem to notice the progress they make on a day-to-day basis. I see them working on the building whenever I walk past or glance out the window, but in those moments there’s little perceptible difference in the effects of their activities. However, when I compare snapshots of the construction site on a weekly or monthly basis, the progress is evident.
Construction workers might spend days and weeks laying the groundwork for a solid foundation before any sort of concrete structure can be erected on it. The effort expended in digging the ground and laying all those metal beams beneath the earth might not seem like much, but it’s all necessary, crucial even, and essential if the resulting building is to stand a chance of staying upright.
This is how I think about art. There’s so much that goes into any creative venture, whether it’s writing a novel or composing a song. Even though a lot of time and effort is expended in the pursuit of a project, it might not seem like much or any progress is being made daily. However, it all compounds and the progress becomes noticeable as time passes.
It's been over a year since I announced that I’d signed a publishing contract and would be an author. It was back in March 2022, a few weeks before I started this newsletter. So much has happened since then, I’ve spent a lot of time working with editors, illustrators, production teams and marketing teams, and almost 20 months later, there’s finally something to show for it. I can now reveal the cover of the book I’ve been working on for years, and I’m pleased to announce that I have a publication date. My book, A Hollade Christmas, will be available on November 10, everywhere books are sold.
The book is available to pre-order. This means you can place your order now to be one of the first people to get a copy on release day, and this helps me stand a chance of getting physical copies of the book stocked in major bookstores.
As you can tell from the cover, this is a seasonal, Christmas book, one that is suitable for children and adults alike. There’s so much more I want to say about the book, where the story came from, the writing and illustration process, and more, and I will in due course. For now, I’m just pleased and thankful to be able to put this out in the world, to foster and contribute to the positive representation of BIPOCs that was few and far between when I was a child. It is also a happy coincidence that I'm writing this in October, during black history month.
This book is one of many things I’ve had in the works for years, and it is a joy to finally see it coming to fruition. There’s a lot more to come in the next few weeks and months. I’ll have more writing and music announcements to make, but for now, I hope my little construction metaphor spurs you on to keep at whatever projects you’ve got going on. It might not seem like much progress is being made daily, but every little task and every little action counts for something. It all adds up and eventually becomes the high-rise building that takes its place in the skyline for all to see.
You can pre-order A Hollade Christmas here, and if you would like to read and review it before it officially comes out on November 10, please reach out.