Hello lovely readers! Spring is just around the corner; the lighter evenings are definitely lifting my mood! The snow here in the East Midlands of England went as soon as it came, but no matter. At least we had a little bit!
In today’s post, I’ll be explaining a little more about my most recent publishing endeavour: The Masks We Wear! What makes this book particularly special is that it was a worldwide collaborative project that incorporated 175 writers, writing one page each, until one beautiful story came out of it!
As for the how:
Sometime in 2020, I was followed on my Twitter by an account called The Next Page Book project. Intrigued by this peculiar name, I had a little snoop through the account, and eventually stumbled upon their website. There, they outlined their premise: one story, co-written by over 100 writers, each contributing a page. All they needed from me at that point was an email address and a short bio. I didn’t give it too much of a thought before I submitted: I knew I needed to be a part of this!
Not too long afterwards, I was contacted by a young woman named Samantha Pearlman, the creator of The Next Page Book project. She graciously accepted me as part of this amazing project!
Once Samantha had accepted enough writers to the project, she sent out more correspondence as to how this project would work. She, as the primary author and publisher of the book, wrote the first page of the story. Once she was finished, she sent the page to the next writer, who read through the page and added the next page. These two pages were sent to the next writer, and so on and so forth. I was number eight in the list, so when it was my turn to contribute a page, I had seven prior pages to read before adding my own.
I was quite fortunate being so early on in the list and only having to read seven pages. My memory’s so bad, I fear that if I was much further down the list, I would have forgotten key points of the story so far! Maybe the writers at the other end kept notes, haha..
I finished page eight back in 2020, so this book has been three years in the making! And now, it is finally finished and available to buy! I love how much the story has progressed from my page!
The Next Page Book was renamed The Masks We Wear. In this story, we follow Sid, a teenager going back to school after a year of isolation in the midst of COVID 19. Soon, she meets a girl called Ruby, not knowing of the shocking and convoluted threads that bind them together. This is a story that tackles identity, mental health, love, family, as well as challenging both the physical and mental masks we wear.
As a contributor to this project, I was able to read the story ahead of it’s publication. It’s such a beautiful story, and actually thought provoking at times. I’m so, so honoured to have been able to lend some of my words to make such a wonderful story!
Many thanks to Samantha for letting me be a part of this. Every publication, no matter how small, no matter how many people it reaches, means so much to me! Good luck to anything else you have planned for the future, and the same to my fellow Next Page Book writers!
The Masks We Wear: The Next Page Book Project is available on Amazon. I hope you consider giving this beautiful story a chance! And as always, remember to rate and review to help spread the word.
That’s all from me today. I hope you’re as intrigued by The Next Page Book project as I was. Writing for this project was such a pleasure!
Sophie, signing off!
Sophie Brookes 