That’s 105 days, for those either quick or slow at math.
This morning I finished what will probably be my very last read-through of The Camino Club. I haven’t re-read any of my other books once I received the physical copy. Then again, there is a first time for everything. I might just want to hold it in my hands and read it again. Never say never.
This book was a tiny idea floating around in my head when my feet first made contact with the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain back in May, 2014. I had this highfalutin idea that I would write it while I walked, cloister myself at the end of every days’ hike and jot down a few chapters. It might sound like a crazy idea, but I was used to writing complete novels in 72 hours at the Muskoka Novel Marathon. I figured I could storm through this one each day after a full day walking.
Boy, I have never been more wrong in all my life. The Camino is something you plug into 24 hours a day. It’s the Camino at night too…when the walking is over. Peregrinos (pilgrims) take in the places they stop in every day. They get to their albergues (hostels) and they freshen up…and then they typically go out and walk around the town/village/city they’re staying in that night. Or they take part in the communal meals and festivities that happen in their albergues. They LIVE. They participate. They become the pilgrims they imagined themselves to be.
You can’t put the Camino on hold to write while you’re on the Camino. It doesn’t work that way for me, at least. I would understand doing so if one were writing a travel journey or non-fiction memoir. They would want to get the details just right. But for me…I was formulating a fiction. I needed only to keep myself open and hope the story would percolate somewhere down below the surface while I was actually experiencing the Camino.
It took a couple of years…but it finally happened. I got that story out (I submitted to Interlude on November 23, 2018). It evolved from what I originally imagined it would look like. That evolution mostly happened because of the experiences I eventually lived out there on the path. My real experiences enriched the imagined experience. I’ll always be grateful for that first Camino…for forming the eventual story that came out.
Now, just 15 short weeks away, it will be something I can hold in my hands…something I can look at and say, “I made this!” I’ve never been so proud of a story. And a story has never been such a heavy weight to carry across an entire country and cultivate in my head while being out there living the life of a pilgrim. It’s like this impossible thing happened. And it happened to me! I’ll never get over it.
I might be talking less about the Camino now. Now that it’s out and the story will be in the world, living and breathing apart from me. I need to move on to other stories. I’ve been simmering a few in the incubator. I love the Camino. I will be back on the path for more wondrous Camino experiences. You can count on that. But I need to get my head wrapped around those other stories. I need to live, participate, experience.
Keep an eye out for the book drop! It’s coming soon. 105 short days from now. Better yet…go out and PREORDER. That would be great! It would help to lift this story off the ground ahead of its release. Wanna find out what six juvenile delinquent strangers get up to when they’re forced to walk across a country? Wanna taste of an amazing adventure–the Camino de Santiago–that’s out there waiting for anyone to try it at any time? Preorder now!
My publisher (Duet Books, the YA imprint of Interlude Press) said it best with the headline below when they announced The Camino Club on their website:
The epic trek begins October 6th.
Here’s Interlude Press’s The Camino Club blurb:
After getting in trouble with the law, a group of wayward teens from diverse backgrounds are given an ultimatum: serve time in juvenile detention for their crimes, or walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across Spain over the summer holidays with a pair of court-appointed counselor guides. Although unlikely friends, they all try to make the best of their situation. The pilgrims grow closer on their journey, but when and if they reach the Cathedral in Santiago, will they each find what they’re looking for and come out of the walk ready to conquer the shattered worlds they left behind?
The pilgrimage begins October 6th from Duet Books.
Cover art by C.B. Messer.
USA PRE-ORDER AMAZON LINK: THE CAMINO CLUB
CANADA PRE-ORDER AMAZON LINK: THE CAMINO CLUB
BOOK DEPOSITORY PRE-ORDER LINK: THE CAMINO CLUB
INDIEBOUND BOOKS PRE-ORDER LINK: THE CAMINO CLUB
BARNES & NOBLE PRE-ORDER LINK: THE CAMINO CLUB
BOOKSHOP PRE-ORDER LINK: THE CAMINO CLUB
PRE-ORDER DIRECT FROM INTERLUDE PRESS (In this link, find out how you can pre-order the paperback and get the ebook package for free: THE CAMINO CLUB
I got so geeky with this book, I even created and dropped the playlist I created while writing The Camino Club. You can check it out here:
Listen to THE CAMINO CLUB playlist on SPOTIFY!
That’s it for today. This is just me getting excited and anxious for this book to drop. It’s the first book I’ve written that truly feels like the book of my heart. I hope to connect this hard with the next one. Now that I know how hard a writer can connect with their work, I hope to experience that feeling again. Now go and preorder my baby! It’s waiting to be loved…
KEVIN CRAIG 