So I published CCJ

Wow, I hadn’t thought that I would ever be here. I hadn’t thought about publishing for a long time and it definitely wasn’t on my score card for 2023. But here we are.

For those of you that don’t know, this blog actually started around the time that I was first writing CCJ way back in late 2009 - a full 13 or so years ago now. 

No matter what it’s been used for and what I’ve decided to write about over the years it all started to talk about what I was writing about. 

CCJ, which stands for Curiosity and Canopic Jars, is a novel that I wrote when I was 19 about the fantasy of living in London, working for the British Museum and meeting some amazing man that I had. It wasn’t an intentional self-insert, but I was a lot younger and I wrote what I knew the best way I knew how at the time. I wrote the character I would have loved to be but I never considered her to be me - she was a friend. It sounds a bit crazy when you put it like that, but she, Daphne, really was somewhat of a friend for a while. 

In 2010 when I was finished CCJ I had it all bound and handed around to several friends/colleagues to review and provide feedback. The same year I started penning ideas about future sequels and the overarching story I wanted to tell. By 2013 I had a fully edited, peer reviewed and polished document ready for publishers complete with an accompanying proposal and summary. 

I did send to one publisher, exactly once and then time snd life and all the other things got away from me. I grew up a bit and CCJ wasn’t on my mind in the same way - I had other works going as well and eventually I just benched it. Not forever, just for a while. 

Until a few days ago when I came across some videos about self-publication via Amazon. Now, I’d heard of this but self-publication was never really on my radar and I hadn’t looked into it more. Back when I first wrote CCJ the world was different and there was much more of a stigma attached to self-published authors and their work. Today I’d say it’s quite different thanks to fórums like YouTube and TikTok which have greatly worked to uplift Indie authors and their works. The internet has revolutionised publishing. 

So I, with a ready manuscript on hand, figured why not? I published it. 

Oh, I did some minor work like formatting and creating a cover design but I didn’t spend too much time on the content. Not because I think it’s brilliant, but because if I start to edit it now it will be a totally different piece of work and it would take me hours and hours to never truly be satisfied with it. As it stands it’s somewhat of a Time Capsule for who I was back then. It was a different time, I was a different person, so all I hope is that it’s not too immature and not too problematic (because again, it’s been a while). 

Today CCJ is called Cursed are the Curious - an early change, really, but one that didn’t reflect how I viewed it. If you are interested it’s available via the Amazon Kindle store as Cursed are the Curious by S.C. Allen. 

Please feel free to read it and pass it on, I’m working on the paperback edition at the same time. All I ask is that you’re kind - you can hate it all you like, but you don’t need to tell me. When I publish the next one, and now that we’re here there will be more, give me feedback then on how I write now. 19 year old Sam can’t change at this stage. 

Sam xox

Oh, and by the way - it’s not about the money or the fame or success. It’s the self-satisfaction of finally achieving something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m not looking to be a famous, popular or well reknowned author right now when I’ve got enough on my plate. 

Let’s see how I feel in the future. CCJ is not going to be my only publications now that I know what to do.