In early June 2015, I received a phone call from Alan Whiticker at New Holland Publishers. He said 'I've read your submission and I want to publish your book, can you send me the full manuscript' - He had it by that afternoon and I was still reeling from the shock.

A week later, he called again and he told me that he had finished reading it and still wanted to publish it. He explained the process of giving the manuscript to 'in-house readers' to gauge response and a few weeks later he forwarded me their feedback. It was all positive. The next step was to present his case to the Managing Director and board members for a final decision. Another few weeks passed (exceeding slow for me of course) until the day he called and told me that the decision had been made - They were going to publish my book. I had not allowed myself to get excited until that point, always expecting to be let down, but this time I had not been. I was paralysed with both joy and trepidation.

The months that followed were full of phone calls, e-mails and letters taking care of the contract details, my marketing obligations, and media training. I was introduced to my editor Suzie, and to half a dozen other people with various other titles that I didn't understand. It was an extremely full-on, educational, challenging few months. I learnt how the editing process worked, honing my computer skills and my working-to-a-deadline skills - there were a few really late nights.

During the editing process there were many talks with the legal team over any future issues regarding the information contained in the book, but they were completely satisfied due to many facts : no real names were used, all information regarding the crime itself came from official documents & forensic reports, most of the story was told through situations where Normie & Kate were alone and could not be refuted, and Normie had stated at the start that his recall of dates and times was probably flawed due to his drug use, and the rest was my own personal experiences & opinions, and HIS take on events, HIS story told in HIS words - which of course was the whole point to the book - pointing out the erratic behaviour & beliefs of someone addicted to ice.

I made a quick trip up to see Tess; I thought it was prudent to go over a few bits of information with her before the final edit. She was polite as usual and answered my questions honestly, but wanted it done as quickly as possible, not wanting to talk about her ex-husband. She continued to take the stance of 'I'm happy that you're getting published, but I still don't think he's worthy of a book' - I hoped that she would see the message within once it was a physical book in her hands.

Once the editing was finished and Suzie was happy with the final draft, the designers went to work on the cover and the subject of the books name came into play. Alan tentatively told me that they wanted to change the name of it, expecting I guess an artists tantrum, but I said yep, no problem and let them do their thing - I liked 'Shards of Ice' immediately. It was strong and to the point. Then they came up with a short author biography; not easy with a life as boring as mine I gotta say, but hey they did it. They sent me a print of the full back & front cover and it looked awesome. Then it was off to the printers!!

#ShardsofIce #MethAmphetamine #Ice #Normie #AlisonSampson