A friend of mine I spoke to on the phone last night pointed out that this time next week, I will be a published author. My book will be in shops and people I’ve never met before will be able to read what is ultimately an incredibly personal story. A book that started out as a straightforward factual “handbook” for people new to atheism has, for what I now think are very good reasons, ended up as a personal narrative of how and why I came to reject the religion I was born into. But, as the journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed has said after reading the book, “The Young Atheist’s Handbook is no anti-Muslim misery memoir. Rather its strength is the way [Alom] explores his life and faith scientifically, through a series of thought experiments.”

I’ve spent this week mostly stuck under a duvet, with good books (including Leslie Cannold’s Book of Rachael) and lots of tea, in the hope that a cold I’ve had for over a week will disappear before I head out to Australia. I’ve also started to give interviews about the book, some of which are already appearing online.

My favourite interview so far has been with my friend Kylie Sturgess, a fellow teacher and multi-talented blogger and podcaster. She’s done a fantastic job of making me sound coherent despite the fact that I was still struggling with my cold when I spoke to her. You can listen to the podcast here:

Alternatively, you can download the podcast from Kylie’s Token Skeptic site.

Kylie has also used her expertise as a teacher to write a set of teaching notes for The Young Atheist’s Handbook which I’ll be making available here soon.