Over the Rainbow

A few weeks ago something happened that I had worried would never, ever happen.

I signed a publishing deal with Oxford University Press for my children’s fantasy adventure book –

 Mold and the Poison Plot.

Gosh. Even writing that seems bizarre!

I feel a bit like Dorothy when she woke up in OZ - dazed and stunned and wondering if it's all a dream. Weeks later I'm still wondering if I've had a bump on the head! 

Getting the very thing I’d been dreaming of for years is an amazing thing. But it has actually, properly, REALLY happened. During a meeting with my soon to be editor at OUP HQ in Oxford last week it finally sank in. A whole team of wonderful, talented people would be working with me to publish MY story! WOW!

Myself and my agent Kate Shaw outside OUP

I suppose you might be wondering how I got to this point so let’s Cue The Backstory and vanish back in time…

As soon as I began writing in 2010 it became clear just what a difficult and competitive industry I was trying to enter.  I did my best and followed all the advice: Writing draft after draft, joining SCBWI, setting up a crit group,  writing another book, going to events and conferences and workshops, reading books on craft and writer blogs and then writing some more.

I finished several projects, was rejected many, many times and kept on going regardless. I felt I was making progress but just not enough to break through.

I had been writing for over three years when the idea for this book popped into my head. I spent the next three months furiously writing the first draft and then, took a leap of faith and sent the first three chapters to The Golden Egg Academy.

Although I felt I had a plot and a voice and a story worth telling I also knew it wasn’t at the level it needed to be, not yet and I hoped GEA would help me get it there.

In January 2014 I met Imogen Cooper for the first time and our discussion sent sparks of inspiration flying in my head. I was lucky enough to be recommended for mentoring and my subsequent meeting with Maurice Lyon gave me such a clear path for the redraft that it almost didn’t feel like editing!

I did more work with Imogen until I finally felt it was ready to be seen by agents and in October 2014 I met and signed with the marvellous Kate Shaw from the Viney Agency.

More edits with Kate followed where I had to lose a full 10,000 words and then the hardest stage of all – submissions to publishers!

It was this part that felt the most terrifying. This was the make or break. Either someone would buy it or they wouldn’t and if they didn’t then I was looking at having to say goodbye to my much loved story and start again with something new…

Holding my nerve and staying positive through rejections was much easier with the help of my lovely supportive agent but it still tested my very sanity at times. (big thanks to my writer friends who put up with me and managed to make me laugh when I wanted to cry!)

And then the interest from publishers began and I held my breath, wondering if that interest would become something more concrete… and oh frabjous day it did! 

And so, we can return to the present day –

Summing up then, it’s taken two years since first beginning Mold and the Poison Plot to secure a book deal with OUP  that will lead to its publication in Spring 2017 – nearly FOUR YEARS after starting it and SEVEN YEARS after I began writing!

The years of scribbling away may have been long and often arduous but they have given me so much more than a publishing deal;  I’ve learned what makes me really happy (stories and writing), discovered I have more strength and grit than I ever imagined (who knew?), found supportive and wonderful friendships that I hope will be part of my life forever ( I’m not giving them any choice in the matter.) and a whole host of wonderful things to look forward to in the future from launch parties to school visits and hopefully more books!

I feel very lucky indeed and I'm going to do my best to enjoy it all, keep learning and try to remember always that the journey is just as important as the destination.                                              

Feel free to ignore the next bit everyone! It is a bit Oscar speech I’m afraid but I wanted those included to know how very much I appreciate them all. I could have waited for the book acknowledgements or my launch party speech but that is far away and life is uncertain so I just wanted to get it out there now –

I will be forever grateful to -

1)      The Golden Egg Academy, most especially Imogen and Maurice - for offering not just insightful editing advice and instruction on story but never ending support and the most wonderful writing community of which I am so happy to be a part of.

2)      My agent Kate Shaw for believing in me and my story.

3)       My crit group past and present who have been clever and funny and marvelous over the years  (Thank you - Miriam, Allison, Meira, Gail, Karen, Tania, Paula, Larisa and Michelle)

4)   Vashti and James for being the best writing chums a girl could ask for.

5)  Jude for knowing me forever and loving me anyway.

6)  My mum who took me to the library every week, sat and listened to me read endlessly and always believed I could do anything.

7)      My dad who told me such good stories about the pet crocodile he had as a boy in India that I believed they were true for years! Still kind of wish they were. 

8)      Steve – who supported me in every way possible, never grumbled about my new obsession and took his own joy from seeing me happy. Love you.

9)      Luke – my heart, my reason for writing, my sounding board, my harshest critic and always my baby boy. Sorry for the mushy stuff.

Forgetting is Easy

It's been a while since I posted, nearly a year in fact. (oops)

There's been plenty going on but the urge to blog has been strangely absent, perhaps because of the dangerous amount of time I spend on twitter where my thoughts can appear as I think them and without the unnecessary need to plan and focus and edit in the same way that a blog post requires.

If you have missed me on twitter (how?) or indeed if you never go near it then here is a very brief update of where I am with my writing -

I finished my MG fantasy adventure after much work (and some frenzied hair pulling) with the help of Imogen Cooper and Maurice Lyon at The Golden Egg Academy and sent it out to agents in September. In October I signed with my fabulous and amazing agent, Kate Shaw from the The Viney Agency (pause for whooping and excited dancing)

So with one book finished and out of my hands I did as had been recommended and started my second book. I was confident that after learning so much from the Golden Egg experience and going through such a rigorous editing process that my next book would be sufficiently easier to write.

Dear reader I must tell you now...

 THAT I WAS WRONG.

The first draft of my new book has driven me half mad.

• It has been MIND NUMBINGLY HARD WORK. 
• I have questioned whether I could write at all.
• I have questioned my sanity.
• I have wondered whether it might be better to try something easier? Perhaps scuba diving with great white sharks? 
• I've thought seriously about giving it up entirely and admitting that writing was just not for me.

Maybe my first book was just a weird fluke? 

But, BUT...somehow with the help and support of lovely writerly friends I slashed and hacked my way through a first draft and I now have something really quite rubbish.

And I know what you're going to say - "first drafts are supposed to be bad" and I know that's true but I had forgotten exactly how BAD they were. I'd forgotten in fact just how much work went into the early part of novel writing, of getting the meat and bones onto the page in some semblance of a story.

For nearly a year I'd been polishing and revising and editing my previous book, but I'd been working on something that did at least resemble a book. The plot, the structure, the basics were already there - I just had to refine them and polish them up. I had forgotten the bit before. Almost entirely in fact. And yet the first draft of my last book had been just as bad, possibly worse, but all I remembered was the beautifully polished version...

At this point I had an epiphany.

I realised that all those references to birthing a book were not just about the visceral love and attachment you have to your baby book but also about the strange tricks your mind plays on you after it's all over. Just as women forget the pain of childbirth, so writers forget just how terrible their first drafts were.

Selective amnesia has it's reasons of course - the continuance of the human race for one but also, and even more sneakily, to trick writers into starting another book.

And of course I'm glad for it. Perhaps if I'd remembered I never would have started at all. Now I have a first draft, however horrible it is, I can get on with the art of making it better. And no doubt when it comes to book three and book four I'll be just as innocent and forgetful as before.

But at least editing is easy right?  I'm sure I remember it as being easy...

Philosophy for Writers

Writing isn't easy.

Getting published is even harder.
But never fear people, I am here with a whole list of ways to help

you be philosophical  about a writing life.
Pick one of these and all your troubles will be over!*

(*the author accepts no responsibility for any harm that comes to you or others through using these techniques. Nor are any actual promises made as to the success or failure of your writing or the trouble freeness of your life)

Philosophy Number One

Confidence  Arrogancius Pluribus Maximus - 

 Perfect if you think your work is stupendous and the whole world needs to read it. After every rejection you receive simply rail at their sheer stupidity, write aggressive blog posts and send furious emails. The best part of this philosophy is that you can die convinced that you've been unappreciated in your own time and that only when you've gone will your genius be discovered.

Philosophy Number Two

Goddicus Fateicus

 Take the view that nothing is in your hands or in your control. Don't worry about whether your book is any good because it doesn't matter. If it's meant to be it will happen. If it's not then it won't. You have no influence on any of it so why worry?



Philosophy Number Three

Superstitious Extremus

You control everything. Your lucky knickers and special bendy pen can make the difference between success or failure. As long as you follow your special routine of writing on a Wednesday between three and four in the morning while wearing your wellies and singing "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles then your work is guaranteed to be lauded by all. 
Then all you have to do is send it off on the 3rd Tuesday when the moon is rising in Pluto, to any agents whose names begin with the letter P and are born in September while chanting Celtic nursery rhymes and you're bound to be snatched off the slush pile.
If not then it must have be the fault of that black cat that crossed your path or the ladder you walked under. 

Philosophy Number Four

Superious Stalkerific

  Basically if you have stalker tendencies this is the one for you. It's based on the idea that what you write isn't as important as who you know. What you must do is use the internet and social networks to find every agent and publisher you can. Then ignore their submission guidelines.
 Instead find out where they are, hang around outside their offices, gatecrash parties, linger around the loos and whenever possible force your manuscript into their hands. That way they're bound to read it and hey presto you'll be published before you know it.
 Your other option in case they all take out a restraining order on you (and they probably will) is to try meeting other writers and telling them how brilliant your work is in comparison to theirs. They're bound to realise (after you harass them for long enough) that their real purpose in life is not to write their own books but to help you get published by passing your manuscript on to their agents and publishers.

Philosophy Number Five

Optimism Overloadus


Of course you'll be published! Your mum and dad said so. And you got a gold star for your story in year five so that proves how good you are. You don't need to read any books or go to any courses. And you don't need feedback from others because you know you're destined to be a writer. All you need to do is keep writing. You've already made it to number seven in your twenty three part series. When you've finished them all you're sure someone will be desperate to publish them.

  That's all I'm covering this week but I hope you find something there that catches your eye. Remember, the right philosophy can make all the difference to your writing life!

Four editors, one weekend.

I know I should be waist deep in revision but I have to admit to being out and about in the world of publishing again this week. Bad news for my W.I.P but good news for any of you who missed it!

On Saturday I joined twenty four other writers in London at a free event run by the lovely people at Book Bound Retreat to find out a bit more about what they're offering.

The four editors running the event were Sara O Connor, UV co founder and editorial director at Hot Key Books, Karen Ball from Little Brown, Jasmine Richards from OUP and UV co founder Sara Grant.

They met while working at Working partners and since then they have all published their own childrens' and YA books which gives them a unique perspective when working with writers. As well as knowing what publishers are looking for they also understand the authors point of view.

Book Bound has been in the works for a couple of years but was delayed due to a surge of baby making! They are all now very excited about launching their new venture which will offer a weekend of workshops to twenty four writers at a beautiful location in Kent.

The retreat takes place from 9th to 11th May 2014 and includes accommodation, food, workshops and an in depth one to one with one of the editors. You will also have the chance to pitch your work (after a handy session on how to pitch) to four agents - 

Zoe King from the Blair Partnership, Julia Churchill from A.M Heath, Claire Wilson from R.C.W and Polly Nolan from the Greenhouse Agency. 

As a little taste of what to expect each editor gave us a few tips based on the workshops they'll be running over the weekend.

Sara O Connor talked about how to make the most of your opening pages by using details. She said we should bring our characters to life with concrete, character defining details that paint a vivid picture and root us immediately into the story.

Karen Ball will be running a workshop on character and suggested we use Pinterest to make up a mood board, we can use it to deepen our understanding of the character and make them more three dimensional.  Stalking our characters through the story from beginning to end was another tip she offered and can help us to see changes and ensure they are learning something during the story.

Jasmine Richards gave us some input on plot and the rather excellent quote

"Conflict is plot. Plot is conflict"

Another good pointer was to describe each scene and see if you use the word "and" to connect them or "but/therefore". If it's the former then it may be that the scene isn't moving the story on and should be changed.
She was also quite keen for us to be as mean as possible to our characters and offered us a few ways to add conflict to our story;
 1. deception
 2.search and rescue, 
 3.different setting,
 4.death of a minor character,
 5.enemies

Sara Grant is well known for her revision workshops and offered us some basic pointers that should help us all with revising.

MOST IMPORTANT - "Don't get it right, get it writ!"

1. Don't revise as you go.
2. Finish the 1st draft then revise it.
3. Macro edit first, look at the big picture, - conflict/voice/plot
4.Focus on what's best for the story
5.Great story is more important than great writing.

It was a very enjoyable event and all the editors showed huge enthusiasm for the project. A big thank you to everyone involved for sharing a little of their expertise with us. It gave a real indication of how useful the weekend could be.

If you would like the chance to go on this retreat then you need to submit per the guidelines on the website. The writers will be chosen based on potential and what the editors feel they can offer you. They want everyone to be at the same stage so that they can make full use of the weekend. They aim to let writers know within two weeks as to whether they have been accepted or not. Full payment will be required on acceptance but if you sign up to their newsletter now you can claim a £50 discount.


I am off now to do some actual writing but will be out again on Thursday night for the marvelous SCBWI agents party! No doubt I will report back on all the excitement in a week or so.

Things to do while you wait...

A big part of a writers life revolves around waiting. It seems that every single stage on the road to publication involves a waiting period and we never know quite now how long the wait will be, anything from a few days to a few months seems possible.

 And I can understand why, agents and publishers are very busy people, I'm often amazed that they bother reading all the submissions that come to them at all. Beause let's face it they're not being paid for that are they?

 So I don't blame the lovely people in publishing for my angst, it was my choice to submit and my decision to wait for a response after all.  But unfortunately, knowing that doesn't make the waiting any easier!

 

And the length of time you wait has no bearing on whether the news is good or bad as far as I can tell. 

I've sent out a submission email on a monday and had a form rejection the next day.

 I've also sent out a submission email and had a request for a full the same day.

   

So what can we do? The advice from the experts seems to be that while we wait we simply get on with churning out the next book.

 Oh, if only it were so easy!

But if I've just been working on a huge rewrite ready to send out to agents then I need some time to clear my head before I can start any thing new which means I need something else to fill my time while waiting to hear back such as...

1. Checking my email. I can do this hundreds of times a day. Just in case.

2. Cleaning the house. Boring but let's face it I'm not cleaning it when I'm writing and I'd like to avoid an appearance on "How filthy is my house? Really flipping filthy obviously but I'm happy to be humiliated on t.v if you just clean it all for me."

3. Read. Read books by published authors and consider all the ways that my book is better then theirs and the obvious unfairness of publishing and life in general.

4. Spend time with my family. Also known as whinging on about how stressful it is to be a writer and asking them repeatedly if they think agent xyz will love my work? If I'm lucky I can then provoke an argument based on either a yes or no answer and this will distract me even further.

5. Eat chocolate. Or biscuits. Or cake. Or ice cream. Or all of them together. This can make me feel better briefly and when I discover how much weight I've put on I can panic about dieting instead of worrying about rejection. Result!

6. Shopping. Buy books. Or clothes. Or Cake. Or anything really as long as it distracts me however briefly from the fact I still haven't heard anything!

7. Surf the internet. Read blogs by agents and authors and publishers or buy lot's of lovely things from amazon. This is two distractions in one and of course allows me to do number one also.

8. Erm....once I've tried all of the above and I still haven't heard anything now may be the time to contemplate the deepest recesses of my soul and consider what twisted part of my psyche persuaded me to become a writer at all??? I could have started a nice hobby instead like knitting or watercolour painting or making models out of matchsticks. I could have spent my time sticking pins into my eyes and repeatedly banging my head with a hammer instead of becoming involved in the sheer hell that is trying to get published!!!

Pause for deep breathing and happy thoughts...

9. Remember how much I love writing. Remember that I am not alone. Remember that getting published is a huge dream and that it's worth a bit of waiting because one day that wait may lead to something marvellous.

 One day...

Woe is me!

Woe is me indeed because today I had an email from an agent who was reading my full manuscript. Nothing can quite describe the feeling.
I'd been opening my email with trepidation for the last six weeks while waiting to hear from agents and then, today, there it was...
Of course my first thought was- oh no, not another rejection, but a tiny little treacherous part of my brain wondered if maybe, just maybe, this email might be the one I've been waiting and praying for, the one where an agent tells me how much they love my work and that they'd like to meet me and make all my dreams come true...
It wasn't. It was a very nice rejection, (if there is such a thing.) and my stomach sank into my boots, (metaphorical ones of course).I read it through again, and again but it still said the same thing. No.
So, I took a deep breath and then came the rationalising;
It wasn't personal.
It didn't mean I was a bad writer.
She wasn't the right agent for me.
Maybe I'll get lucky the next time.

And all of those things are true but it still hurts. It's still hard. It makes me wonder why I'm putting myself through this, why I keep trying, why I'm opening myself up repeatedly for pain and rejection ?? Surely it would be easier to just stop, give up, let it go.
After all how many people really have their dreams come true?
One in a hundred...a thousand...a million?
Who knows?
It's not the point is it because I can't give up.
I will try and try and try again like my mum told me to so many times when I was growing up.
I may still fail, that's life after all but at least I'll know it wasn't for the want of trying.