Finally - It Happened to Me!

If you are long term readers of this blog, you will know that for many, many years, I have been trying to become a published author.

I've had a lot of rejections along the way but for some strange reason (insanity maybe?) I refused to give up. 

I have been thinking and learning about self-publishing for a long time because I'd decided that if no one wanted to publish me then I would do it myself. 

But something inside me wouldn't give up the dream.

I'd been working on what I will call here, for now, Book 1, for a very long time. In fact in a very different format it was one of the first longer pieces of work I ever wrote. Over the years, I worked to improve it (in fact I wouldn't recognise it now from the original). I came across the rejection letter from Mills and Boon from that very first attempt, and I have to say I whole-heartedly agree with them. 

Book 1 has been through 2 critiques through the RNA's New Writers Scheme, and my online writer friends have also been kind enough to comment on it on numerous occasions.

After finally getting Book 1 to be the best I thought it could be I decided to submit it to Choc Lit.

And, I'm delighted to say that this is the result

To say I'm chuffed to bits is the understatement of the year.

I'm so looking forward to working with the Choc Lit team who seem a very friendly bunch.

The other Choc Lit authors seem lovely too, and I've already have lots of encouragement from them.

So, now the hard work really begins, but I'm looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into it and can't wait for the day when I can say I'm a published novelist.

Its been a long time coming!

Write It Down!

I’m incredibly behind on my submission to the New Writer’s Scheme at the RNA this year.   In January I decided that I would revamp a book I started many years ago, because the story has stayed with me and I thought it would be good to complete it.

 

However, because my writing was in its infancy when I started to write it, I have found that I have had to do a full re-write rather than an exercise in editing.  I’ve struggled to maintain any kind of momentum and have written it in fits and starts with times of no writing at all in between.

 

Yesterday I finally finished the first draft – hoorah!  But it does require a serious edit and I’m running out of time.   I’m going to concentrate on doing the best I can with it during July and then send it off.  It won’t be to the standard that I would like, but at least I’ll get some feedback.

 

I still need to write a synopsis (yeuck) and think of a title.   I was running through possible titles in my mind the other day as I concentrated on some mundane domestic task.  I came up with a brilliant idea, but because I thought it so good, I didn’t write it down.  How could I possibly forget it?? 

 

Well, you know what’s coming next don’t you?  Two hours later the title had been completely erased from my mind.  I struggled to come up with something else, but nothing compared to the sparkling brilliance of my first title came to mind – well, at least I don’t think so. 

 

Then, yesterday, I had a sudden flash of inspiration and now I have a title – but I have absolutely no idea whether it’s better or worse than the original or even if it’s the same.

 

Lesson to self:  WRITE IT DOWN!

 

This is my third year as a member of the RNA, and although I haven’t had a chance to attend any of the meetings, the value for money for me comes in the feedback you receive on a completed novel.

 

So by the time I receive the feedback on this one I shall have three novels which could potentially be edited and sent out. 

 

The trouble is, I haven’t had the time to edit any of the previous two because I’ve been concentrating on the next one.  So next year, I’ve decided not to continue my membership and concentrate on the three existing.  It’s a bit of a shame, because I like the challenge of the submission, but there’s no point in having those manuscripts sitting in a drawer is there? The downside is that when I want to rejoin, I’ll have to camp on the website when the RNA opens its applications, as the competition to join the scheme is fierce!