Long time, no see!
I apologize for disappearing this week.. With our rigorous schedule and barely any time to leave Exeter College, I found it difficult to blog these last few days. Although grueling, this week has been chock full of insightful lessons, energized speakers, and quality time spent with friends.
We dove into the business side of publishing this week – with the overall lesson being that while publishing is built off of relationships, it is still a money-making machine first and foremost. Learning how to utilize those relationships in negotiations, acquisitions, and sales is an important part of our work and will always be something we need to factor in. While this was all informative, and an important thing to have a basic understanding of, these lectures confirmed that I am not a numbers girl.
Today we start the mysterious “Book Workshop” week. We’ll be grinding through the weekend, morning to night, until next Friday, when we will have a finished product in our hands. What is the finished product, you may ask? I have literally no idea. In fact, when someone asked the other day if we could get a bit more information on our book workshops, we were firmly told “no.,” which I found hilarious. So today, the curtain will finally be pulled away. I’m terrified and very excited.
Aside from lectures, I have definitely gotten to the point in my stay here where my brain knows I’m not just on vacation. Definitely feeling a bit homesick.
Despite having this feeling, I am so blessed to have people that I love so much that I get to feel homesick for them. I also get to live in this beautiful city for a month, and I don’t want to let this overshadow the fact that I am having an incredible time getting to learn this place and meeting amazing new people. Is it crazy that I’m already half way through? Absolutely.
This weekend will definitely be a test of attention and dedication to our workshops, but I’m excited to see what the finished product will be. I’m also overdue for some exploring – so I’m hoping to hit a few of my bucketlist items in between scheduled hours this weekend.
My head will be buried in the sand for the next week, but I hope to update this blog sooner rather than later. They might be kidnapping me for all I know.
From Oxford, With Love,
Haley
