The last few months have felt a lot like climbing a larger-than-life Everest, with the hope that, at some time, the clouds will lift and there will be a sunny peak on which to rest my weary feet while enjoying the vista spreading out in all directions around me.

Most days, I believe in my path, trust the process, and enjoy the journey. Some days though, I can’t help but feel weary and tired, longing for a much-needed break. I am plodding on in my day job, uninspired, but knowing that for now my wife and I simply need to make ends meet.

Every day after work, I rush to my computer and search for jobs worldwide, hoping to find something more inspiring than screening up to 500 internet ads per hour. Then, I focus on searching for suitable literary agents online and send out excerpts of my manuscript. So far I have sent 47 submissions and have received 14 rejections.

Yesterday, it was great to leave our congested Maltese city for a day-trip to Gozo. When we reached the smaller island’s most famous rock formation, I couldn’t take my eyes off the waves dancing and boiling around the Azure Window. I inhaled the salty spray, watched the oceanic ballet, and let the waves roll on through my mind.

Today, the ocean is still within me and it’s time for another dozen or so manuscript submissions to make their way out into the world. Smiling to myself, I begin writing…

It’s 5 a.m. … and here I am, at Luqa International airport in Malta. In just an hour I’ll be heading to Heathrow and on to the London Book Fair.
I must admit I have no concrete plans. So far, all info is quite disheartening. Agents and publishers are not interested in spontaneous talks with aspiring authors and any interviews need to be booked months in advance. I love the world of books, so I’ll be quite happy strolling through the holy halls of modern day book publishing though.
Of course, I have dreams of running into my favorite authors, like for example J.K. Rowlings and casually asking her, “hey, wanna grab a coffee?”
To which she will reply, “Sure, I’d love to!”
Or chatting with an agent in between booths and him saying, “I need to hear more about that book of yours. I am veeery interested.”
Whatever happens or doesn’t happen though, I’ll enjoy the adventure and try to get at least a little taste of London.
For now, I am having a delicious chocolate croissant and am sitting next to a charming family from Liverpool whose little son is also called Liam. Looking at me with sparkling eyes and devouring his custard pie, I am sure little Liam agrees that our day isn’t off to a bad start.

Pheeew, exciting times. Three days ago my laptop began to freeze continuously. I managed to reboot it one more time, copied all the latest files for my book onto a thumb drive and, five minutes later, the machine was as unresponsive as a brick wall.
With lots of coaxing I was finally able to reboot it in recovery mode and reformat the entire thing.
Now it’s all good. Adrenaline levels are back to normal and backups are transferred to the “all new” machine.
Has anything like this ever happened to you? I am still sweating and have been reminded once more to not trust my gadgets too blindly and to back up religiously!