Doors Opening

My agent contacted me today with some potentially exciting news: an organisation had contacted her to see if I was interested in being involved in their writing projects. The organisation is called Fiction Express, and it aims to encourage young people to develop a love of reading. Over a half term, they release a chapter of a new book each week, and the young people involved have the chance to read and vote on where the story will go next. 

From the writer’s perspective, it sounds like an intense experience, but I have been involved in short story competitions this year that have also required very tight turnarounds, so I’m up for the challenge. I also believe, at this stage in my career, that it’s important to say ‘yes’ to any opportunity that comes my way. This is the first thing that I’ve seen in addition to my own personal novel projects where I believe I could earn enough to cover my living costs for the year. 

It’s great that my agent has passed this on to me, and I feel again so incredibly grateful that she decided to offer me representation. I’m officially on the DKW website’s list of authors, which is a big confidence boost as well. I think that the organisation may have approached my agent because of that profile, so it’s excellent that even though the novel may not yet have interest from publishing house editors (only three rejections so far), having an agent is opening doors in other ways. There have been times when I’ve weighed up the advantages and disadvantages of going for traditional publication versus self-publication, and this is one of those moments of definite ‘advantage’ for the traditional route, something I didn’t know about until now. 

 Anyway, I’ll finish by taking the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!