4 July 2005
Independence
Greg: What is special about this week?
Kate: It's publication week. People can actually buy Labyrinth! It's extraordinary.
Greg: How many people have read it up to now?
Kate: Only people associated with the production of the book - my agent Mark Lucas, my editor for the UK edition at Orion Kate Mills, the translators for the foreign editions Das verlorene Labyrinth, I codici del Labirinto and so on. Others, too. Some journalists and booksellers, sales reps and distributors.
Greg: Anyone else?
Kate: Well, people who have received early copies from on-line booksellers ...
Greg: And how does it change things for there to be a book out there that people can actually hold in their hands?
Kate: Everything is different. It's like the change from making promises to actually delivering. Or like sport, no longer talking the match, actually playing the match.
Greg: Nerves?
Kate: Yes, massive nerves, but in a good way. Nice nerves.
Greg: In what way?
Kate: Because Labyrinth is the novel I intended to write and now it's out there. It's a cliché, but the only way to find out if your chicks can fly is to allow them to jump out of the nest.
Greg: And in practical terms, what does it mean?
Kate: Many more live events, away from my desk, talking about the work in person to a range of audiences. Signings in bookshops. More time to devote to creative writing teaching.
Greg: Anything else?
Kate: The opportunity - at last! - to begin to immerse myself fully in the ocean of research for my next book.
Greg: Does it have a title yet?
Kate: It does, but only in my mind. I've not put it down on paper yet.
Greg: Will you carry on publishing on-line at www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk?
Kate: Oh yes, the whole process ... just like Labyrinth, but a new address, to be announced …
Greg: Thank you very much.
Kate: It was my pleasure.
Once inside the Labyrinth, will you ever want to leave?
