Antoinette Borg, author of Fittixni and – as of today – of (Ri)ġenerazzjoni, inaugurates a new season of guest blog posts on our new website. And to celebrate, we’re offering a publication-day-only 15% discount on her brand new novel. Available only for the next 24 hours, simply use the coupon code RIGEN15 when placing your order online.

My second book, (Ri)ġenerazzjoni, is about to hit the bookstores. I am about to see myself in print again. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe this is real.

Being a published author is an incredible experience. Suddenly a chunk of your imaginings gets unstuck from the muddle in your head and magically (especially if your publisher is called Merlin) appears somewhere outside of yourself, on bookshelves and in other people’s hands. It’s thrilling just to think about it, let alone to live through it.

But as with all thrilling experiences, it comes with a flipside. Right now, when the book is just days away, I am at peak-level anxiety. It’s like the panic that grips the parachute guy the moment he is about to step off the aeroplane. What if people don’t like the book? What if it’s not half as good as the first one? What if dogs will want to eat it along with children’s homework?

I will be spending the next few days duelling with these thoughts and trying to distract myself with other, inconsequential-turned-important stuff. But I know that when I finally get to hold the book in my hands, all my jitters will fizzle out and nothing else will matter. Like the parachutist, I will just let the wind make a mess of my hair, and revel in the thrill of the jump.

Everything will be ok. I should know.

– Antoinette Borg