As a result of the Spring Cleaning Frenzy I fell victim of the other day, I also finished the cover of House of Blue, the book written by my wife, nonetheless.

Now, this was a huge weight off my chest, as I was feeling really, really guilty about the huge delay in completing it.
I had actually started working on it as soon as I read the first draft; I had gathered my reference, made all my research and put together the first rough sketches. I was on a roll.
Then some paid assignment came up, momentum was lost, other deadlines popped up, and there it was, in the Unfinished Projects drawer, jumping up and down with its big puppy eyes together with all the other Lost Projects waiting to be rescued.

I hope she’ll forgive me about the delay, I’ve been feeling guilty about it for quite some time now.

Anyway, here it is.

I’m hugely proud of her. I should say it more often, I think.
Unfortunately, paying compliments to people and making them feel good about themselves isn’t one of my top 10 skills.
I guess it comes down to how I was brought up as a kid. I could have climbed the K2, and my dad would say to me “oooh big deal, it’s the second tallest mountain, was Everest too tall for you?”.
If I then climbed Mount Everest out of spite, my dad would say “oooh big deal, Edmund Hillary did it before you in 1953!”.
So, well, I was taught to suffer and rejoice just inside.
I’m still working on it.

But seriously, of all the hundreds of thousands of people who start writing a novel – or have an idea for an amazing novel – only less than 5% get to the end of it.
(For the obnoxious among you, yeh, I’m using vague figures. I’ve found many articles talking about it, but none of them cited their sources. So you’ll have to make do with no link and vague figures for once).
Being as it may, starting and finishing a book is a humongous, titanic, miraculous feat, and as I said I’m incredibly proud of her.
Plus, it’s a damn good read.

I shouldn’t “review” the book here, as I’m clearly biased, but if you like Magic Realism you should give it a try. You can buy it here!

by Paolo Puggioni