Time to Start Again...

The sun is shining, welcoming in the new tax year, and it's time to reset the dream to earn enough from writing to pay the living costs (after things went somewhat askew last year). I have a few things to share that make me feel somewhat optimistic about my earnings in the next twelve months...

The most significant first: my agent is happy with the latest draft of my novel, so she will be pitching it to the editors at the big publishing houses soon. Hopefully, this one will have more success than the last one, but it means that I should learn its fate before the end of 2025.

Since my last blog, I’ve also made a little more progress with my new novel project, which is now at 15,000 words. However, I received a message from my agent today which will stall it in the short-term (though I should still be able to complete a draft this calendar year) while I redirect my attention elsewhere...

After a long wait, Fiction Express have been in touch about the prospect of me writing for them again (in September). They would prefer to move away from the Shakespeare concepts that I’d previously pitched to them. Instead, they’ve given me a new theme to explore, meaning I’ll be spending the next few weeks developing a story outline that will hopefully appeal to their readers in Spain and Latin America. The best part about this news (if I can pitch a story they like) is that it will be a source of guaranteed income for this tax year – about a third of what I need.

In other writing-related (albeit non-profit) news, I’m involved in a discussion panel on Wednesday, which is connected to an anthology in which I’m published, Microbes to the Rescue. It’s a free online event involving discussion of three stories and the aims of microbiology more generally. Free tickets for the event are available here.  The anthology itself is available here.

It's a busy start to the new tax year!

Drafting (and other updates)

Many people think that the process for publishing a book jumps from writing ‘the end’ to hitting the printers. The real process is more laborious, because first drafts are rarely the finished product. My current novel is now in its fourth draft, with different ideas being tried and tested along the way. Sometimes new ideas work, sometimes they open new opportunities, and sometimes they take the novel in a problematic direction, and they need to be unpicked. I sent the latest draft to my agent today, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it might be ready to pitch to publishers soon...

Last time I updated the blog, I mentioned I’d been busy researching and outlining for a new YA project. I also started to draft it last month (and completed the first three chapters). Now that draft 4 of the other novel is with my agent, I can return my attention to the new project. I’m hoping to get a good chunk written before I hear back from my agent – perhaps even a full draft.

The dream remains to earn enough from advances/royalties to cover my living costs while I’m developing a new novel. I’m not there yet, and sadly, I don’t have any updates in terms of getting work as a private tutor, either. I signed up to an agency that I used before, but they’re still processing my details. Today, I started a Facebook page for a bit of self-promotion. Hopefully, I can establish this before the end of this academic year, as it should be something a bit more flexible to cover my living costs in future.

Winning Short Story: Living Space (and other updates)

It’s been a while since I posted an update. The good news is that I have something positive to share: my short story ‘Living Space’ came first place in a Fiction Factory Flash Fiction Competition. It has been published online, and you can read it for free here.

In other news, I’m working with my agent to edit the YA novel that I drafted in September last year. It is now in its third draft, which is a much quicker editing process than running it through a site like Critique Circle (where it takes about six months to run a single draft in weekly chapters). I’m not sure how many more drafts will be required before we pitch the novel to the publishing houses, but I’m hopeful that the next step will occur at some point in 2025.

In the gaps while I wait for feedback, I’m also slowly moving towards bringing a new YA novel (a thriller) into fruition. It is still in the planning stage currently, but I’m hoping to be ready to draft at least a few chapters later this month. I’d like to have this novel ready for my agent to read while we wait for news from the publishers about the fate of the current one.

It’s nice to have a little prize winning coming in, but the quest to earn enough money from writing is still very much in the works. In the meantime, I’m exploring part-time work. I started a teaching assistant job (two days) in December, which is helping me to cover my living costs. The downside is that it doesn’t give me enough flexibility, so I don’t expect to continue the job after the temporary contract expires in July. My next move will be into private tuition for students wanting a boost with English (ages 11-18), including A Level. I’m happy to offer online tuition, so do pass on my name if you hear that anyone is looking for tuition!

Blood of the Giants: Published Novella

My time with Fiction Express draws to a close. All five chapters are available for readers of the site.

It’s been a blast. One of the nicest things has been interacting with readers in the forum, which isn’t an experience I’ve had with my writing before (beyond receiving feedback to improve). Each week, I’ve posted topics for them to respond to (an opportunity for them to practice their English skills), which has involved them commenting on an element of that week’s chapter. For example, in the final week, I asked them what they thought happened in a conversation between two characters, which is alluded to in the last chapter but not shown. Many of the responses were fun to read, especially the ones where the students wrote out their own conversations, showing a great understanding of the characters! It’s been encouraging to know that readers have enjoyed the reading experience and to see how they have engaged with the story.

At some stage in the future, the novella may become available to purchase through Amazon. I’ll post a link in this blog if that does happen.

The big question for me now is what happens next. I’ve finished a draft of the YA novel that I’m sending to my agent later this month. When I receive her feedback, I will be moving into a stage of revision with that story. In the meantime, I’m outlining a couple of other ideas for Fiction Express. I would love to write for them again at some stage, although I know it won’t happen soon – they already have writers booked in for the next two half terms, meaning the earliest I could possibly write for them is in March. It’ll be back to Critique Circle in the short term with those projects, to hopefully get some feedback to make them attractive to the Fiction Express editors.

The reality of the tax year 2024-2025 is that I won’t earn enough from writing to cover my living costs. I’m not likely to be booked in for Fiction Express again, and the new novel, still in its rough first draft, is only at the beginning of a journey towards the editors at the big publishing houses – an advance is likely to be years away, if it happens at all. As such, I’ve applied for a part-time (ten hour) teaching assistant role this week. I’m hopeful that I can find a balance with a job like that which allows me to keep pushing forward with my writing projects.

The good thing about the Blood of the Giants novella is that it is my longest publication to date (at 12,500 words) so hopefully it is a sign that I’m moving in the right direction for the publication of a longer work. I’m grateful for the opportunity and for everything I’ve learned from the process.

Upcoming Activities

With the summer drawing to a close, here’s a roundup of everything that will be keeping me busy from September onwards…

The first is that I will be working with Fiction Express at last. This commissioned writing partners me with school students (mostly in Spain and Latin America) to write a story in five chapters. The students vote at the end of each chapter to determine where the story goes next. It’s a fun way to help them develop their English reading skills, and I’m excited to begin.

Another thing that I’m going to be doing (on a voluntary basis) is working with Grimm & Co. This is a charity that helps young people develop their creative writing skills. My agent recommended that delivering some writing classes could be another good thing for my overall portfolio, and it’ll be good to be around my target audience again. One of the things I miss from my teaching career is interacting with the kids.

The biggest project I have on the go (which will hopefully make some progress concurrent with Fiction Express) is the latest novel draft. I’ve reached 25K, so it feels like it’s taking shape. My rough estimates for completion put it somewhere in the 50-75K range, although I can’t say with any certainty while I’m still relatively early in the process. It’s still a first draft, and I expect I’ll need to make big changes (as always) once it’s finished. My hope is to have a full draft by the end of October – that’s when I’ve arranged to send what I have to my agent for feedback.

In other news, the story that was published in print is now freely available online here. It’s in a collection with lots of other short stories about how scientists are working to reverse the ongoing climate crisis, so it’s well-worth a read.

Short Story Successes (and Other Updates)

 Last week, I received an exciting package in the post: three copies of a book in which my winning story ‘From the Ashes’ has been anthologised. It’s the first time I’ve ever been paid to feature in print media (rather than published online) and it feels amazing to have my words in a physical form. I can clear a shelf on one of my bookcases and hope that one day I will fill it with a range of published stories.

Another success came through via email a few minutes ago. My story ‘Observation’ has been selected as first prize in another competition and has been published. You can read it online for free here. 

When the small prize comes through (£100), it'll be my first fiction earning for the current financial year. I’ll still be a long way from matching my living costs, but I’m hopeful that writing for Fiction Express this year will help with that. My first story will feature there in September, a novella called Blood of the Giants, which is loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. It's starting to feel ‘real’ (after a very long wait) since they have sent me a proof of the digital cover!

In other news, I’ve sent the openings of both novel projects to my agent. We’re meeting up in London on Friday to chat about them, and hopefully then I’ll have the clarity I need to develop a full draft before the end of the year.

Small steps, but each one is a hopeful sign!

Why I Don’t Give Up

Since the last blog was a bit bleak, I thought I’d counteract it with some truths this time.

How many times it took me to pass my driving test: 4

I cried in the car after every failed test. The woman who failed me on my second test went on to pass me on the fourth.

How many Cambridge colleges interviewed me before I was accepted: 2

After the first one, I entered what was called the ‘pool’. They liked me but not quite enough to offer me a place, and another college fished me out to give me a second chance.

How many attempts it took me to pass my PGCE (teaching qualification): 2

I took a year out to work as a teaching assistant before I finished the course successfully.

How many times I applied for a teaching job at the school where I eventually worked: 3

I first applied early in my PGCE and was (understandably) passed over. I applied again later, after my year as a teaching assistant, unsure whether they would give me a second chance. The third application turned my temporary contract into a permanent contract.

How many times I sent out a query to an agent before I finally got representation: 34

That’s if my records (which go back over two decades with three different novels) are accurate.

So, the fact that the main publishing houses in the UK looked and passed over the first novel I worked on with my agent is consistent with how my life has progressed so far. And hopefully there will be more success with the next novel.

I’m currently drafting proposals and opening chapters for two different novels. One is probably best described as a Young Adult Speculative Psychological Drama (same target age as the last novel, but a very different genre) and one is Adult Crime Fiction (if YA fails, the rationale is to try an entirely different market). I’m still in the early stages (4000 words with the Crime novel, 1000 with the YA novel), but hopefully I can finish a first draft of one of the two complete before the end of the year.

Drafting is always a pleasurable part of the process.

I also had a small piece of good news that I'm on another longlist this week. The judging process isn't finished, so perhaps the short story can go further...