Hi everyone

I daren’t even look to see how long it is since I last posted but it’s certainly been a while. Anyway, I thought it was time I updated you as to where I’m at with trying to get the letters and postcards that Ethel North (lady’s maid to Lady Winifred Burghclere) sent to my grandmother, published in book form.

After a lot of thought and consideration, I’ve come to the decision that for a number of reasons, I’m not going to be able to do this after all. If you’ve been following this blog over the number of years I’ve been posting on it, you’ll know that despite all my efforts, trying to find a literary agent or publisher for the proposed book just hasn’t worked. That was why I then committed to getting it self-published and was determined to do that. However, once I really delved into how much such a venture would cost and how time-consuming it would be both before and after publication, I feel that realistically I simply can’t do it. My age, health and financial situation are all contributing factors now that weren’t necessarily there when I first started on the project.

The first page of Ethel’s first letter in the collection

My next decision was to put the letters online (on this website) and I’d actually started doing that but even with that, the amount of work involved and how long it was going to take, cutting down the eighty plus letters and sourcing enough PD or CC images to break up the reams of text on screen, not to mention getting the technical stuff right for mobiles, desk-tops etc was just too much for me.

Of course, if I suddenly won the lottery (even though I never buy a ticket!) and had plenty of money to spare, it might be a different matter as I could pay someone to do the work for me. Likewise, if a “sponsor” was interested in the project (crowdfunding is something I’ve looked at but not ventured into for various reasons) or a traditional publisher wanted to publish the book, I’d never say never.

Crowdfunding is something I’ve looked at

And of course, it is disappointing. When I first found Ethel’s letters in the back of my late mother’s wardrobe and started reading them, my overall feeling was that I wanted other people to be able to read them too. “Share them with the rest of the world” was the phrase that came into my head and the amount of people who have shown an interest in their contents over the years has been really encouraging and kept me going with the project, at least up until now.

There is also something known as the “sunk cost fallacy” to think about. This is where we are more likely to continue an endeavour if we have already invested in it, whether it be a monetary investment or the time and effort that we have put into a project. This often means that we go against evidence that shows it is no longer the best decision to make or even in our best interests any more. It’s a bit like that well-known phrase from the UK quiz programme Mastermind, “I’ve started so I’ll finish”.

Mastermind’s iconic black chair

Well, I definitely started and I’m sad that I don’t seem to be able to finish but such is life as someone much wiser than me once said. And if this is really the end, then I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported the project and encouraged me along the way. It has meant a great deal to me and it has been a real privilege to share some of Ethel’s amazing story with you, even though it has only been in snippets, rather than as a complete book.

Thank you all.

Melissa Lawrence

A page from Ethel’s last letter following Lady B’s death in 1933

The list of things that Ethel was left in Lady B’s will