The Publishing Process: Part 1: Edits by Sophie Claire

Last month I blogged about the publishing deal I’ve just signed with Hodder & Stoughton (you can read that post here), and the Novelistas have asked me to write about the publishing process. Although I had a book published before with a small independent press and a couple of short stories in anthologies, this is my first experience of working with a large traditional publisher. A lot of the process is new to me, and I’m very excited about getting input from professionals: I'm certain that my book, The Christmas Holiday, will be all the better for it. As I take you through my journey, I hope to demystify the process and show how much work goes into polishing a book before it’s ready to hit the shelves.

First up: Edits

I had heard terrifying stories about writers who were asked to completely overhaul their plots or rewrite a character, and often in less than a month, so I nervously awaited my editor's email. However, when it arrived I was relieved because there was nothing major and no structural changes. (I’m lucky that I wrote The Christmas Holiday in my own time without any deadline pressures, and my agent Megan had also been through it and suggested minor changes to improve it).

I was asked to add a couple of new scenes, but mostly, my edits were about deleting repetition and adding depth; that is, revealing little snippets of additional backstory which help explain characters’ behaviour. I was careful not to fall into the trap of adding too much: I’ve learned over the years that a couple of lines or a paragraph are usually enough.

What I didn’t expect in my edits were little comments marking the bits my editor especially liked – a passage that was particularly tense or an emotional scene she found moving. I was grateful for these, because it’s good to know what you’re doing right. So I made the edits, read through the book again, making sure it made sense (any writer knows, the smallest change can have a knock-on effect: no one wants their characters referring to an event that’s been deleted, for example) and sent the book back.

Then I waited to hear.

I had told myself I’d get straight back to writing book 5 (this one does have a deadline), but it was surprisingly difficult to concentrate until I’d heard if my edits were approved. I forced myself to sit at my desk each day, but my mind was elsewhere, worrying. Was what I’d done good enough? Should I have added more? Would my editor send me a second round of revisions? And if so, how many rounds should I expect?

After two days I couldn’t bear the waiting (I know, I really need to learn patience!) so I emailed the Novelistas asking how long does it normally take – days or weeks? ‘How long is a piece of string?’, said Trisha Ashley. Everyone agreed: it depends on the book’s schedule, your editor and their workload at the time. I knew I had to be patient.

Later that same day my editor got back to me (see? I should have been patient!) saying she was delighted with my revisions, and there were just a few tweaks left. I did these the same morning, and sent them off. The next stage would be copy-edits, which I’ll talk about next month, but for now I could get back to writing book 5.

Sophie.x

Good Things Come by Sophie Claire

I’m so pleased to tell you I’ve signed a three-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.

There have been tears of joy, celebrations, and just a few nerves at the prospect of deadlines. 

It’s a dream come true, but it didn’t happen overnight. 

Oh no. 

There’s been so much waiting, nail-biting and doubt along the way, but I hope my story gives comfort to others that there is always hope. 

So here’s how it came about:

A brief background

My first novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex, was published in 2015 by a small press. It sold well, much better than I expected in fact, but it had always been my goal to have an agent, so when I finished my second book I sent it out. I signed with Megan Carroll of Watson, Little Literary Agency in March 2016. Megan loved my second book, a summery friends-to-lovers story set in Provence. She approached publishers with it, and although we had a few near misses and really positive feedback, it didn’t sell. I won’t lie, this was disheartening (for both of us – it’s easy to overlook how passionately agents represent their clients and how much work they do on their behalf).

During months of not hearing anything, I had to keep the faith, be patient (I’m not very good at that) and keep writing. 

And then…

On the bright side, the submissions process is a slow one, and by the time Megan had exhausted her list of publishers, I had almost finished writing my third book (a Christmas story, set partly in England and in Provence). I’m glad I did because book 3 attracted more interest, including offers from two publishers. 

Celebrate!

I was utterly thrilled and, after Megan’s call, I confess there were a few tears. This was what I’d been working towards for the last fifteen years, after all.

I signed with Hodder & Stoughton, who will publish The Christmas Holiday in October this year, re-release my first novel (under a new title) next year, and publish a third book which I’m currently writing in time for Christmas 2020. 

Yet to come

I’ve already begun working with my editor and her team, and I’m thrilled with how it’s going. Although I’ve been published before, Hodder & Stoughton is a large traditional publisher, and a lot of the process is new to me. I never realised so much work went into bringing a book to publication beyond the author writing ‘The End’. It’s exciting to be getting input from so many experienced professionals, and I know my book will be all the better for it.

The Novelistas have asked me to blog about the process of bringing a book to publication, so over the next few months I’ll be sharing my experiences with you.

One of the things I love about writing is that I’m constantly learning, and I hope that never stops.

Sophie.x

Writing: Getting Serious by Louise Marley

I've always liked the idea of New Year's Resolutions. That chance to reinvent yourself every year, like the kind of books I read as a teenager: neglected female completely transforms into the belle of the ball with the help of a few mice, a pumpkin and - oh yes, a fairy godmother. Funny how these kind of stories always involve someone else coming to the rescue. I'm a proactive kind of person myself. If I'd been Cinderella, it would have been more a case of "B***** the Fairy Godmother, get me a pumpkin and I'll do it myself."

You see, as much as I love watching TV shows like The X Factor, there's always one thing guaranteed to infuriate me: whenever a contestant says something like, "I really want this, I've wanted it my whole life." OK, so they've really 'wanted' a singing career but they've never done anything about it? Never had singing lessons, or written a song, or formed a band, or tried to set up a few gigs? Basically, they've been sitting around waiting for a fairy godmother (Simon Cowell?) to come to the rescue.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

If your New Year's Resolution was to write a book, or maybe you've already written a book and you want to get it published, what have you done about it? Anything? Anything at all? Scribbled a few notes? Fantasised about the hot actor you'd like to play your hero in the movie adaptation? Stuck a pin in the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and queried a few random agents? Enjoyed a few daydreams about the glamorous life you're going to lead as a full-time author? (And that's a whole other blog post, trust me.) If you want to be a writer badly enough, I'm afraid you're going to have to get serious about it.

Understand that you'll to have to make sacrifices. Not the dancing-naked-in-the-moonlight-and-endangering-defenceless-chickens sacrifice, but the kind that involves the most precious thing of all: your time. For example, if you know you only have an hour a day to write, then write - don't waste that time faffing about on social media.

Perfect your craft. There are hundreds of books about writing (my favourite is Stephen King's On Writing). Or take a creative writing course and, once you've written your novel, pay to have it professionally critiqued before sending it out to an agent/publisher. Although I still feel the best, easiest and most fun way to learn how to write fiction is to read lots of it. It's not expensive. You can borrow books for free from your local library and there are always deals to be had on ebooks. If you feel you don't have the time to read, think about how you spend the time you do have. Sacrifices, remember? No one lies on their death bed wishing they'd spent more time on social media.

Having said that, social media is an effective tool for writers, but only when used in the right way. Unless you are already published, forget about all the things you've heard about creating a 'brand' and setting up a 'platform'. The most important thing is to be social; you'll get far more out of it. Make friends with fellow writers, new and established. Follow people in the industry, such as agents and publishers - but don't expect them to follow you back, and definitely don't pitch your novel unless invited to do so. Most publishers are great at posting about deals on books and will have competitions to win signed copies from your favourite authors. Some publishers have blogs where they post writing tips from their editors, tell you when they are open for submissions and what they are looking for, as well as running writing competitions to win a book contract.

Talking of which, don't overlook those writing competitions - that's how I got my first book deal - and I didn't even win. And, if you can afford it, attend writers' conferences and literary festivals. Editors and agents are less likely to ignore a submission if it's come from someone they remember (in a good way!) from a workshop or a one-to-one meeting at a writers' conference. But if you're not lucky enough to bag a one-to-one, don't despair. Sometimes you can learn more from attending an industry panel event, and listening to writers and editors talking about the current market - what's popular and what's out of fashion. You'll have the opportunity to ask relevant questions and learn more than if you had pinned all your hopes on a one-to-one where you might have either targeted the wrong agent/editor, belatedly realised your submission is not polished enough, or had plain nerves just get the better of you. Early on in my career I found myself sitting on a sunny bench at a writers' conference, drinking coffee and chatting about trends in fiction with a commissioning editor. I got far more out of that than if I'd tried to pitch her my book.

With fellow Novelista
Trisha Ashley

No one understands a writer like another writer. Try joining a writers' group, club or society. The Romantic Novelists' Association accepts unpublished authors under its New Writers' Scheme. Alternatively, find out if there are any writers' groups meeting in your area and, if not, why not start one? The Novelistas came about because Trisha Ashley moved to North Wales and put out a request asking if other local writers would like to meet up. Our group has now been going for almost fifteen years.

Compared to when I first started out, there are now so many great opportunities for writers. Don't waste time waiting for that fairy godmother or daydreaming about success. If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, you have to start taking your writing seriously.

And no one can do that but you.

Louise Marley writes romantic comedy and romantic suspense, and is a creative writing tutor with Writing Magazine. 

Her most recent book is Something Wicked.

Website

Twitter

Related Posts:

W is for Writing Groups by Annie Burrows
T is for Time Management by Annie Burrows
The RNA Conference & Industry Day (2015) by Sophie Claire
Pitching to Agents & Publishers at the RNA Conference (2014) by Sophie Claire
How NOT to Submit to a Literary Agent (York LitFest 2016) by Sophie Claire


All pictures, copyright: Louise Marley
Except for girl in party dress, copyright: Fotolia 

Let There Be Cake by Trisha Ashley

My latest book, A Christmas Cracker, is set in a small hamlet near Little Mumming. This was the scene of Twelve Days of Christmas, so you will be able to see what some of those characters are doing now – and one in particular plays quite a central role in the new book. But I’m not going to say any more than that – you will have to wait and read it to find out who it is!

As usual, there are some recipes at the back including one for my Igloo Cake – and here’s one I prepared earlier! A miniscule Father Christmas is landing on the roof, which takes some doing when your sleigh is drawn by a team of frisky reindeer, but the two Eskimos look quite happy about it. I used a fruit cake recipe, but sponge or a traditional Christmas cake one would work just as well.

My Christmas cake recipe is the same as the wedding cake one in the back of Wedding Tiers, only instead of soaking the fruit in dry sherry for three days, I use dark rum, like in this one I made for the Novelistas Christmas party last year. (As well as talking about writing, we engage in a lot of cake-related activities!)

The cake I made for the Wedding Tiers book launch was shaped like an Elizabethan pomander, my most complicated cake yet. I baked a round cake in a huge Christmas pudding tin, and then covered it in marzipan, followed by fondant icing. Then I put an icing ribbon round it to divide it into four with a bow at the top and studded it all over with rosebuds. For a couple of weeks beforehand, whenever I had a few minutes to spare, I’d make a few icing roses. By the time it was covered, I could make them in my sleep.

It was just as well I’d taken some pictures, because the Novelistas demolished it in minutes, and all that was left was a scattering of white rosebuds and a few crumbs!

I could write an autobiography of my life punctuated cakes: Diary of a Fruitcake, anyone?

Crumbs!

This post originally appeared in the October issue of Trisha Ashley's newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

**THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED**

You can win a signed copy of A Christmas Cracker, as well as a set of cat-shaped cookie cutters. The competition is open to all, just leave a comment below - it's that simple! (Closes midnight on Friday 30th October).

Things can’t possibly get worse for Tabitha. Framed for her boss’s dodgy dealings – passing sparkling wine off for vintage fizz – she’s got an eight month prison sentence! Her boyfriend's dumped her and given her cat away to a shelter.

But rescue comes when a kindly prison visitor puts her in touch with Mercy. A master of saving waifs and strays and impressed with Tabby’s creativity – paper-crafting is more Tabby’s thing than swindling! – Mercy wants her to breathe new flair into her ailing cracker business. Together with a staff of quirky ex-cons they’ll save Marwood’s Magical Christmas Crackers!

But someone’s not happy. Mercy’s nephew Randall wants to turn the mill into a shopping centre and he thinks Tabby’s a fraudster. So suddenly her future happiness depends upon winning the brooding nephew round. Tabby’s been through so much already, she’s not going without a bang!

The Child Behind Every (Grown-Up) Writer by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

The other day I shared a picture on Facebook, a selection of classic Ladybird children's stories. It prompted the sort of response that led me to think, Ah FB isn't so bad, after all. It isn't just a bunch of people shouting out random things and being ignored. I suppose I was becoming a bit too cynical. Anyway, it got me thinking about books and childhood and the stories that shape us as we grow up.

Here at Novelistas Ink we're a very diverse bunch of writers. 

As you can probably tell if you're a follower of our blog. We're all good friends, though, and our lunches are infamous throughout North Wales. OK, slight exaggeration, but then we do write fiction. The common thread we share is our passion and love of writing. We're besotted with it. Head over heels. Can't get enough of it (or perhaps we can when we've got a deadline looming, or edits-from-hell to wade through, but on the whole we enjoy it).

Our genres range from witty romantic comedies to moving war-time sagas. From atmospheric historical novels to sparkling Regency romances. From plot-twisting, cliff-hanging romantic suspense to modern, grown-up fairy tales. And all that wonderful stuff in between such as contemporary YA or straightforward novels about relationships and marriage. I'm not sure anyone's written a spy thriller yet, but give us time and we just might.

But what steered us to write in our favourite genres?

What made us the writers we all are today? Was it the books from our childhood or the books we've read as adults, or maybe a mixture of both? I believe it's a mixture, but I also think we can't deny the power of those stories we've carried with us most of our lives. Those treasured tales that lodged in our hearts and never left.

As a girl, I spent hours in my small local library...

It was just round the corner from our house, so I often hid away in there after school or during the holidays. Sometimes with similar minded friends, but often alone. If I wasn't reading I was writing or researching. I've written stories since I first learned to misspell words, aged four. There was also a bookshelf in our house full of novels that looked like this, no dust jackets or blurbs, just the bare bones of a cover:

As an only child, I spent hours entertaining myself reading. My parents still own most of those books, and my own children's shelves still hold the favourites I loved to read over and over again.

A beautifully written and illustrated anthology

This anthology of classic fairy tales from around the world (see photo) is probably mine and my daughter's current favourite. I owe a great deal to this huge collection of stories. It was given to me as a gift by a family friend. Little did they know how much it would shape me and nurture a love of fairy tales that's stronger than ever these days.

Of course, I loved Enid Blyton, too. I had all the Famous Five and Secret Seven books.

I think those taught me how to pace a plot and keep a reader turning the pages. Those were the ones I read under the covers with a torch. Come on, admit it, we all did that. Maybe some of us still do.

Now admittedly, if you write erotica, you probably didn't read it as a child. Or maybe you used to sneak down the more adult books from the shelves at home when your parents weren't looking, and thumb through them for those, er, interesting bits. As a teenager in the 80s, I can still recall all those mini-series on TV based on the doorstop sex-and-shopping novels that were so fashionable...

Lace, Mistral's Daughter, Princess Daisy, etc.

These are the books my friends and I consumed and tried to emulate in our stories (I wasn't the only one of my gang who wrote fiction back then). It was a glitzy world we knew nothing about apart from what we read or saw on TV, but boy did we have fun trying to write about it! Then there was Virginia Andrews and Danielle Steele and Barbara Taylor Bradford... The list is quite lengthy and I could probably rattle on all day, but then this post would be too long, and the whole point of it was to provoke a discussion.

Do you think the books you read as a child have influenced your writing as an adult?

If so, to what extent? I think it's a fascinating subject to consider, both for established or aspiring writers.

Every now and again it's good to examine why we write what we write. Because doing it for the market alone will never truly make us happy if we don't pen (or type) our words with love, honesty or joy. We need to find that balance in our work in order to be healthy and well-rounded. We owe it to our readers as well as ourselves. They can always tell if we're short-changing them.

Just a small selection...

So maybe, if you're stuck in a rut right now, and don't know where to turn or what genre to aim for, it might help to travel back in time and remember the tales that inspired you and made you want to be a writer in the first place.

I can tell you, hand on heart, a few short years ago this is precisely what helped me.

Please leave a comment if you have something to add, I'd love to hear your views on the subject.

All the best,
Valerie-Anne x

Valerie-Anne Baglietto's latest release is the full-length novel FOUR SIDES TO EVERY STORY.

Romance, magic and vintage fashion in the sleepy Cheshire village of Fools Castle, where a young fairy-godmother who normally gets things very right suddenly starts getting them disastrously wrong.

A modern, grown-up fairy tale perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Cecelia Ahern.

Amazon US - view here
Amazon UK - view here

www.valerie-annebaglietto.com
Twitter: @VABaglietto
Facebook: Valerie-Anne Baglietto Author

A Writer's Resolve ... by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

So - what exactly does RESOLUTION mean?

Its original definition was, apparently, 'to loosen or dissolve again'. Ironic I think, because that's exactly what happens to most people's New Year ones as January lurches on, freezing, wet and windy, and possibly the bleakest of all the months in the northern hemisphere. Our resolutions, like tight, tense knots in our days, loosen. Our determination dissolves in the face of teeth-chatteringly cold mornings and dark evenings. Spring is somewhere out there, we can sense it, but it's still too far away. We try to starve after Christmas, forgetting that our bodies need a few calories to stay warm. We vow to go to the gym, but funnily enough, there still aren't twenty-five hours in a day, even in our technologically advanced 2015. We promise ourselves lots of things we never live up to, and so we get depressed and winter eats into our bodies and souls until we get the flu, or just binge on wine or hot chocolate or too much tinned soup. Anyway. 

Enough.

My resolution this year was paradoxically not to make any. I broke it almost immediately by making one. My wardrobe is so fit to bursting that I decided to take a leaf out of my daughter's book and try experimenting more with what I already have rather than adding to it. My daughter isn't afraid to try out combinations you wouldn't think would go together, and quite often, she manages to pull it off. Maybe you can get away with this when you're nine.

Well, I then went and broke my resolution not to buy any new clothes almost immediately last weekend when I bought this... 

I couldn't resist, it was on sale. It's obvious I need to stay out of shops because my willpower is pathetically low.

So as my husband returned to work and my three children to school, I turned my attention to the WIP that I'd put aside to make way for Christmas. Maybe instead of resolutions I knew I couldn't keep - anything involving retail therapy basically - I would focus on my writing instead.

Writing in itself has always been like a form of counselling for me. When it's going well and I'm getting lots of words down on paper, it helps keep depression at bay. But sometimes there's a glitch and I'm not getting those words down fast enough, and the glitch isn't life getting in the way but my own fixation on making those words Perfect with a capital P. I can obsess for far too long and lose sight of my reader, who won't care or notice that I substituted a fancier word for another with the same meaning. If the emotion is there, and the page-turning elements of the plot, it shouldn't make any difference, as long as the word I decide to use doesn't jar, or detract, or fall short. 

I know voice and style and good prose are vital, but not at the expense of getting the story across and making it resonate in the reader's heart. What I mean is that I'm going to focus on the emotion in my story, and on the narrative more, and not get so bogged down by the prettiness or cleverness of my language quite as much.

So, that's my first resolution. For me, it's important. It should increase my productivity. But at this gloomy time of year creativity in general might need a boost anyway; like a blast of virtual Vitamin D, we often need something to pep us up. Another creative outlet besides writing often helps. 

I'm no good at crochet, sadly. My spirit is willing but my fingers are rubbish at it. I do enjoy photography though, I always have. Nothing serious, but these days I like the challenge of taking good photos with nothing but my phone. I also like playing around with filters afterwards. 

#NoFilters (Taken on 29th Dec 2014)

It serves a second purpose because I'm also taking photos of places or objects that inspire me and might end up in one of my books. So I'm resolved to enjoy this hobby more than ever this year and take advantage of Instagram. It's fun and I've met some lovely people on there. 

As writers, our words and stories paint pictures but sometimes we need to fix that picture in our own heads first before we can convey it to our readers, and with the digital wonders of Pinterest we don't need that pin-board hanging above our desks any more (which is just as well as I don't have room for one.)

Well, these are my most important writerly resolutions. I think some of the Novelistas are planning to share theirs, but we'd love to hear yours, too...

Happy 2015!

Valerie-Anne x
www.valerie-annebaglietto.com 
Twitter: @VABaglietto

The perfect antidote to winter... 

(Yes, really.)

Marrying the man of your dreams might be more literal than you think.

A modern fairy tale for grown-ups, available on Amazon worldwide. 

FREE on KindleUnlimited and Amazon Prime.

Amazon UK 
Amazon US

The Writing Life ... a Constant Spin Cycle! by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

Valerie-Anne Baglietto continues the new series on successfully juggling writing and a busy life (or failing, as the case may be)... 

When I was asked to come up with a blog post about juggling writing with a hectic life, I admit I was daunted. So many other writers have produced amusing, sparkling and informative posts on the subject, I wasn’t sure what more I could add. So I went away (well, I sat down in my favourite armchair with a coffee) and thought long and hard about it and realised all I could offer was absolute, hand-on-heart, painful honesty. Which might make me unpopular, but then I do suffer from foot-in-mouth syndrome, so I hope I’ll be let off.

I’ve been writing professionally for around twenty years - since circumstances led me to give up working as a graphic designer - earning enough from writing to be able to sustain my handbag habit. I’ve mutated from a single twenty-something living with my parents into a menopausal* housewife and mum of three (*not quite there yet, but it covers a lot of excuses for my general behaviour). I appreciate I’ve been lucky. Without a Day Job outside the home, I’ve had time to write indulgently for hours on end, happy and free from guilt, right?

Guilt… 

The arch nemesis in a writer’s life. Well, in mine, at least. And it’s a two-edged sword. Firstly, regret for those times I’m so obsessed with my story and my characters that I can’t focus on my family – an uncomfortable nagging feeling that I’m failing them somehow. Secondly, guilt that I ought to be writing when I’m busy keeping the household functioning as it should.

I don’t know if this all stems from the post natal depression that blanketed me when my eldest was born. I was working to contractual deadlines back then. It all got too much, but even with the attached remorse that my baby was growing up fast and I couldn’t savour it, writing became my therapy. I managed four novels – straightforward romcoms – before I had my third child. I allowed motherhood to take over my life completely at that point because a) post natal depression hit again and I felt swamped, b) I was drained of ideas I felt passionate about, and c) my publishers didn’t want such large gaps between books.

Writing v. Motherhood

A couple of years on... 

I began to experiment with children’s stories. To cut a long story short, they evolved into contemporary adult fairy tales, and suddenly, blissfully, my passion for writing was reignited. So inevitably the guilt returned. The guilt that probably haunts every working parent who wants to work/needs to work/strives to find that perfect but ever-shifting balance between career and family.

The solution was simple if I wanted to write professionally without turning into an emotional wreck. I had to work for myself. I had to become an Indie. My own deadlines, my own rules, my own failures and successes, but with some much-needed help along the way. My first adult fairy tale Once Upon A Winter reached #1 in both the Fairy Tale and Contemporary Fantasy Charts on Amazon UK. I was elated, but I wasn’t complacent. Every Novelistas Ink member will tell you, it’s an uphill struggle, the proverbial treadmill. Achieving success can be easy in comparison to sustaining it.

Do you recognise yourself in any of this?

If it helps to know that you’re not alone and the writing life is *cliché alert* a journey not a destination, then I’m glad and relieved. I would have liked to produce a list of useful tips, as the other Novelistas will so eloquently do, but I failed miserably. There’s enough pressure out there for writers without putting more on ourselves. There isn’t one single approach to how we juggle work and life, because we’re all different. So this is me. And if it’s a little bit like you, then it’s nice to know we share a few traits.

Take NaNoWriMo, for instance... 

I just can’t do it. I once wrote 90k in six weeks, but that was another incarnation of my writing self, long before I had real commitments. I was up till three or four a.m., in Deep Writing Mode. Caffeinated. Hyper. Driven. Consumed. These days, the thought of trying to write so much in so little time turns me off. I’m not a bash-out-a-first-draft-fast person any more. I edit as I go along, so by the time I get to the end it’s more of a second draft. At this time of year, though, it’s easy to feel like an alien if you didn't take part in the NaNoWriMo challenge. For a novice writer, you might feel there’s something wrong with you if you didn't, or if you tried and failed, or if you just didn't fancy it. But there’s nothing wrong with you. Some people thrive and others falter; if you’re in the latter group, whatever you do, don’t get discouraged. Quite probably, it just wasn’t for you. It worries me a little that potentially good writers might feel inadequate if they don’t complete the task. It’s OK to take part, just as it’s OK to abstain.

If only...

I’m also not a big fan of the school of thought that dictates a writer can only call themselves a writer if they force themselves to produce something every day, whether it’s good or bad. I get depressed doing that, although I concede it’s probably useful if you’re working to a tight time-frame. But I can’t rest until I shape my words into something I’m proud of, and quite often there’s no space for such crazy perfection in every single busy day. I can’t stay hunched over my laptop till one o’clock regularly without something suffering; my health, usually. Anyway, the ‘writing muscle’ isn’t something you can only exercise while sitting at your desk. It’s constantly at work; the heartbeat of your subconscious, pumping ideas through your head, absorbing new ones from every experience. It can be incredibly liberating to remember that. A writer’s mind is never off duty, even if it feels as if it is. How can it be, when even your dreams at night can spew up ideas?

Then there are times in my life when I need to ruthlessly detach my mind from my WIP for an extended period, and I don’t allow myself to go near the world of the story except to jot down random notes in longhand. If I don’t maintain such a degree of separation I can’t function (to my satisfaction) doing whatever else life demands of me. This year, for example, I hardly wrote anything for weeks while I tried to get my house in order in preparation for some building work. Junk and memories accumulate, and I’m something of a hoarder; it’s difficult for me to let go. I knew that if I allowed myself to go near my story, I would weaken to the temptation, and never tackle the hard stuff reality was demanding of me.

On a smaller scale, and more frequently, it’s the same with family life; those days when I can’t succumb to my creative self because subsequently I’d be a crappy wife and mum. Some people can juggle lots of balls brilliantly, sadly I’m not one of them. I’m in awe of those who can, but I’m just not organised enough. Admittedly I’ve got the luxury of setting my own deadlines, but it’s worrying to think that many writers can’t just switch off when they might need to.

So, to recap - the message I’m trying to convey is that you have to find what suits YOU. 

Experiment.

Be flexible.

Relax.

Don’t get stressed over other writers’ habits; although by all means read about them, take advice, share tips.

In the end, though, you have to work to develop your own pattern, because there isn’t a right or a wrong method. And habits will be different at various points in your career. For instance, one day I wouldn’t mind working with a traditional publisher again (big or small), at least partially, but at the moment I need to be flexible enough to drop everything if my young family needs me.

So, finally (yes, this is the last paragraph, yay!) if you’ve read this far, thank you, and please remember one thing even if you forget everything else about this post – as writers we’re ALL mad and sane, each in our own wonderful, unique way. Let’s celebrate our differences, admit to them, learn from them and ultimately grow to respect them.

Valerie-Anne's latest release is the full-length novel FOUR SIDES TO EVERY STORY.

Mystery and magic in the sleepy Cheshire village of Fools Castle, where a lively young fairy-godmother who normally gets things very, very right, suddenly starts getting them disastrously wrong.

A modern, grown-up fairy tale perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Cecelia Ahern.

Amazon US - view here
Amazon UK - view here

www.valerie-annebaglietto.com
Twitter: @VABaglietto
Facebook: Valerie-Anne Baglietto Author

Blists Hill and the RNA Conference 2014 by Juliet Greenwood

Fellow Novelistas Cheryl Lang,
Valerie-Anne Baglietto and
Johanna Grassick

This year was my third RNA Conference. My first was many years ago in Durham as a new writer, wide-eyed and bewildered, and astonished that everyone was so friendly and writers weren’t all impossibly rich and glamorous and Hollywood and looking down their nose at me! I never thought then that in my next Conference (two years ago in Penrith) I would be giving a talk myself as a published author. This year, I enjoyed meet up again with all my lovely friends in the RNA, meeting all the new ones made online, and learning more about the changes taking place in the publishing world.

Juliet Greenwood and
Annie Burrows
in costume at Blists Hill

With fellow Novelistas Annie Burrows and Freda Lightfoot, I also had the chance to go to the author’s event at Blists Hill, the reconstructed Victorian village in Ironbridge. We all had a great time with plenty of interesting chats with visitors passing by on their way into the village. In my costume as a suffragette, I found myself part of the exhibits when I went to look around. The policeman on his bike looked slightly confused and pedalled away quickly, but I had some interesting conversations about brick throwing and universal suffrage with the visitors. It was a glorious summer’s day, and I definitely felt myself entering the world of ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’. My glorious hat with the ostrich feathers is now safely packed away – all ready for its next appearance!

The hat!

D is for...Discipline by Annie Burrows

Annie Burrows is writing a series of short articles about the things she's learned since becoming a published writer.  And presenting them in alphabetical form, for some obscure reason known only to herself.  This month she's reached the letter D... 

  

I get a variety of responses from people when I tell them what I do for a living.  From those who are thrilled, saying they have never met an author before, to those who roll their eyes and say, "Oh really?  I wouldn't mind writing a book, if only I had the time."

My answer - If you want to write a book you have to make the time.

It isn't easy.  When I first decided to write, I had to start making Difficult choices about how to spend my time.  Not only "free" time, either.  I deliberately chose jobs that wouldn't tax me too much, so that when I did have "free" time I wasn't so drained that my mind wouldn't function.

This meant taking reception work, cleaning jobs, or driving jobs, so that even when I was on the clock for someone else, my mind could still keep working over plot points.  Then, when I did get home, and had fed the family, and generally tidied up after them, I could go and write down what I'd been Dreaming up all day (when I should have been answering the phone/unloading cartons of sweets/stocking up shelves with greetings cards). 

 Some of my best ideas have come to me while I've been stuck in traffic jams on the M56 with nothing to look at but the tailgate of the lorry in front of me.

(Trucks to the right of me, trucks to the left...here I am stuck in the middle of the queue...with apologies to Stealer's Wheel)

D also stands for Determination.  It took me over ten years from deciding I could write a book (ok - rather in the manner of those people who annoy me so much now by assuming it is easy) to actually getting a publishing contract.  And during those years I went through a huge spectrum of feelings about my ambition.  From belief and hope, to despair and self-loathing.  There were times I couldn't even walk into a bookshop, and see all those titles sneering at me from the shelves by people who'd managed to do what I couldn't.  It simply hurt too much.

Eventually, I went on a writing course (what - didn't I do that first?  No.  I was just as deluded as all those other people who assume they could just sit down and write a bestseller without any training at all.)  By then I was starting to wonder if I was flogging a dead horse.  What if I really didn't have what it took to be a published author?  Was there a good reason why all I was getting was rejection slips?  I finally decided to fork out some of the money I'd earned delivering sweets to village post offices, to go along to my local college and see if I could learn anything from a qualified teacher of writing.

And then, if I got yet another rejection I decided I would send my next manuscript to the Romantic Novelists Association New Writer's Scheme.  Because I discovered that they would have a published novelist read my work and actually tell me what they thought of it (unlike publishers, who were just sending back standard rejection letters which gave me no clue where I was going wrong.)

You can see where I'm going with this - even after ten years I just wasn't prepared to give up.  I was going to do whatever it took to see one of my own books on the shelves of W.H.Smith with all those others.

Well - going on the writing course did the trick (so my tutor said).  Mid way through my second term, Mills & Boon finally showed some interest in a manuscript they'd had so long I was sure they must have forgotten all about it.  Eventually it got accepted.

 

So I never needed to send anything to the New Writers Scheme after all.

But at least I had a plan B.

And if plan B had failed, you can be sure I'd have thought up a plan C, then a D, then...

(And yes, you may have spotted several other things in this article that begin with D - each of which a writer needs.  Which D do you find you need the most?)

Annie's latest book, Portrait of a Scandal, is available from Amazon UK