Next Year will be my Year( I say that every year)

A year in the life of Camino de Santiago: Sinners guide travel Writer Eddie Rock:
Well what can I say its certainly been a year of ups downs and a great big kick in the balls to boot! I think my greatest achivement was managing to sell two books to devout Catholic nuns from the west coast of Ireland. But the big kick in the cream crackers came after many years of getting rejection letters from all the publishers agents ect, ect : Well if thats not gonna work I thought? what better place to sell the book that on the Camino de Santiago itself...simple...easy...piece of pish...Just set up a stall on a nice grassy knoll where the thousands of pilgrims pass by and get selling. I even got two great big posters made up grew a great big woolly beard and an authentic pilgrim outfit... I was ready...
On the first day we were almost murdered by a psycopath and arrested by the Guarda civil whom we thing were looking for the afor mentioned nutter! this all happend at the famous Cruz De Ferro: It might be the highest point of the Camino but it was one of the lowest points of my year and thats a Fact!

Travel Writer Eddie Rock on Fame and Fortune since the Camino Santiago

Can anyone remember the episode of 'Alan Partridge' where he was being filmed at the recycling depot watching all his books dissappearing into a large pulping machine, whilst remaining overtly positive about the whole matter? No/Yes? Well thankfully that nightmare for me has finally passed since my afternoon out at Radio Gallega...,my subsequent phone calls from Hollywood directors and my invitation to turn on the Xmas lights this year in Santiago De Compostela . Things are finally looking up at last...

Eddie Rock. The story behind the book

The story behind The Camino De Santiago A Sinners Guide:

By Travel Writer Eddie Rock

·        1994-Australia- Two days after getting engaged to my girlfriend, I find myself in the custody of Her Majesty’s immigration department. It was at this point in my life I felt it necessary to put pen to paper.

After my subsequent deportation from Australia the quest for writing a book  took me on a journey through life with plenty of adventures and misadventures around the world in interesting places such as Amsterdam, Canada, Ireland,Israel,Egypt and last but not least Scunthorpe, with a cast of interesting characters and heavy metal soundtrack to boot.

 But by 2003 all I had was a couple on notebooks full of my scribbling still with all the intentions of writing my Australian Comedy...

‘Backpacking for the Craic’

 Unfortunately/Fortunately a brush with the law and a chance encounter with a gorgeous hippy chick had me heading for Amsterdam, then onwards to Spain to sort myself out once and for all, by walking the Camino Santiago. 

‘Solve it by walking?’ was the answer for me! Or so I though?

On completion of the Camino I returned to Scunthorpe with my tail between my legs and faced the music and the laws of the land.

In 2004 I spent three weeks in a writers retreat on the west coast of Ireland where I began to write ‘The Sinners Guide’ with ridiculously high hopes of completing the book in record time. Three weeks later I returned to Scunthorpe with only re written notes and a messy three chapter synopsis to send to publishers and agents in the hope of fame and fortune?

I sent 20 envelopes to varying organisations and in the next few weeks I received 19 letters of Thanks but, No Thanks! And a letter from one famous British publisher, telling me that they are already publishing a book by London travel writer ‘Tim Moore’ and his book ‘Spanish Steps’ about his travels on the Camino with a stubborn donkey.

Well what can I say? After purchasing myself a first edition hard back copy of this book, I realised I could do a much better job of writing a humorous travel story and set to work again on perfecting the ‘Sinners guide’ But unlike Tim, I did not have the backing of a major publishing house behind me and a healthy bank account to keep one’s self afloat whilst writing. I needed to work to earn money and struggled for years working as a joiner both employed and self employed, both of which took up a major amount of time and effort, and subsequently my writing fell by the wayside and began gathering dust on my book shelf. Every time I was having a hard time with work and more often than not finances, I would dig out my notes, chuckle to myself and dream of becoming a writer. 

In August 2009 my bank stupidly asked me if I needed a loan that I could ill afford to pay back and I set to work yet again with the hopes of finishing the book and getting into print. It was a case of now or never for me, luckily a friend of mine kindly allowed me to use his countryside cottage while they were away on holiday for three weeks. What he forgot to mention to me was that I would be sharing the house with a very noisy and mischievous ghost that kept me awake with my hair stood on end on many occasion. I managed to keep going with the book until the October of the year until yet again money ran out yet again. The frustrating point in all of this was while I was writing my telephone was ringing all the time with offers of employment with good money and they when I needed to work there was none! Sod’s law I believe it’s called.

 December 2009:  Luckily just before complete and utter financial disaster left me homeless, bookless, and in a state of total despair, I managed to get a small contract fitting a state of the art gloss black kitchen for an up and coming adult movie star, managing to make myself a little bit of money on which to finish my book and a few interesting DVD’S to watch before bedtime!  

 Xmas: I basically stayed locked in my house from the 24^th till the 10^th until I ran out of money again. It was yet again now or never yet again, so I went to print (mistakes and all) and got my first copy printed off.

April: Unfortunately the American publisher almost got me to sign a contract saying they could keep 70% of my sales. Luckily I read the small print and colourfully told them what I thought of that idea!

So publisher-less again I decided to go it alone and got my first 250 copies printed in my home town and set to work setting up an internet business and website. www.caminosantiago.co.uk but continued to work as a joiner and struggled to make ends meet with my ever increasing debts. As the economic crisis continued, and in my 40^th year of life, I soon realised that the only thing left for me to do was to sell my house and move to Galicia. As they say life begins at 40? Sold house in October 2010 and paid off all my debts.

Feedback from the first edition copies suggested to me that to enter the world of mainstream book publishing, I should first have my book edited professionally. So a public relations company was recommended to me and the happy smiling owner of this company told me it would be no problem to edit my book in 10 days, then refer me to all the publishers she knew, then work on my press releases, ect, ect.

So in January 2011, I handed over my manuscript to the editor and looked forwards to 10 days later when I got back the corrected re vamped edition so I could have more printed and take them to Galicia to sell to the pilgrims. That was the idea anyway?

February: Booked ferry for March the 12^th and began to get ready for my adventure in Galicia. Happy smiling editor tells me book is almost finished, just the finishing touches to go... so I organise a printer in the U.K so I can take the books with me and be ready for selling them when I get here.

March: Happy smiling editor tells me she has moved office and this has taken up a bit of her time, but she assures me she will have manuscript ready as soon as possible. March 13^th I arrive in Santander with the hope of having the books printed in Spain now. 

March 14^th arrive in Ferreira de Panton and work as a helpex for an English couple, begin to look at property to buy and restore and eagerly await the return of my manuscript.

April: Still waiting for manuscript: Happy smiling editor assures me yet again she is on final chapter.

May: I ask not so smiling, not so happy editor bluntly ‘Where on earth is my manuscript?’ She has a nervous breakdown and confesses to having done absolutely nothing, apart from lead me astray...To say I was angry was understatement of the year...

Same day: I almost have a nervous breakdown myself as everything I’ve worked for is in jeopardy, I realise I can’t trust anyone to edit this for me. So I begin to do it myself, with great difficulty.

June: A friend in Monforte de Lemos translates the book into Spanish for me...

June: Still editing book slowly, I move into a friend’s T.P but unfortunately I have limited electricity and this slows the book up even more, but on a plus point, my new friend Harriet helps me edit the book. Between us we finish our last edit in August.

August: Even though we have finished edit, the word format is difficult for the printer, so slow negotiations and extra editing is required.

December 20^th: Printer phones to say English copies are ready: Happy Xmas

January 10^th: Printer phones to say Spanish copies are ready: Happy New Year...

May 2012: I buy a small ruin in the Ribiera Sacra and live there in my own Mongolian yurt,

June 2012: Book release Santiago de Compostela:

The rest is history!

God Loves a tryer: apparently...he’s just got as funny way of showing it.

Hate the sin: Love the sinner!