The Writer That Never Gave Up
At a character workshop led by actor, Mark McGann, with the Golden Egg Academy in Bath
How does it feel when your lifelong dream finally becomes a reality?
Exciting. Emotional. Overwhelming. Incredible.
Picture those X-Factor contestants being chosen to go through to the finals. Tears would fill their eyes in disbelief. I used to think it was for TV. Now I understand that they were tears of happiness. All those years of hard work and struggles resulted in the outcome they had always dreamed about. I did exactly the same thing when I received the publishing contract. Although unlike those contestants, I never once thought that my life would end if I didn't get published!
I knew I wanted to be a writer ever since I was 12 years old. After school, I’d sit at the typewriter and create magical stories that were always set during modern day, but would either have a historical or mysterious twist - featuring three of the main characters who are also in HEXED. In 2000, I wrote SPELLBOUND. It was set in a holiday village, with the main characters working as Redcoat style entertainers. The girls I worked with at the time encouraged me to send it to a publisher. I hadn’t a clue what publishers were looking for, so as you might imagine, it was rejected with short standard slips saying, ‘This isn’t for us.’ In 2007, I signed up to Cornerstones Literary Consultancy. I was assigned an editor who worked closely with me on SPELLBOUND. The title changed a few times. TWINKLING STARS, THE BEWITCHING HOUR and then GIFTED. Two years later, Cornerstones advised me that they couldn’t take GIFTED any further. It nearly reached the point of being submitted to agents, but the journey ended there. I wallowed over this for a week. That dream I so wanted since I was twelve years old was ebbing away. I needed to find someone else who could help me. So in July 2014, I came across The Golden Egg Academy. They were fairly new at the time. They were described as ‘offering industry-led creative writing courses including editorial support and workshops with links to agents.’ By that time, GIFTED had become HEXED IN TIME. It was rejected in the first instance, but I was advised why and what needed work. They would reconsider it once I had amended my story according to their notes. In April 2015, HEXED IN TIME was accepted by The Golden Egg Academy. Between then and now, I have attended writing workshops at Scholastic, including a character-led session in Bath by actor Mark McGann (who picked up that I’d acted before!) my story has gone back and forth for edits with my Mentor, Tilda, until it was finally submitted to agents as HEXED in 2021. It was rejected by all of them. It was time to realise that perhaps HEXED wasn’t the one. HEXED was my trial piece. It was time to move on.
I wasn’t having it. I’d spent half of my life and a lot of money on this story. So I sent it out to a bunch of Independent Publishers. It was The Book Guild that offered me my first big break and welcomed HEXED with open arms.
SPELLBOUND'S journey to becoming HEXED was exciting, difficult and a struggle at the same time. The story changed a great deal, but in a positive way. The Butlins-style holiday camp setting became a 17th century themed holiday village and the characters went from ‘redcoats’ to costumed performers. That much I wanted to keep the same. I wanted to include my love for performing in the story. I haven't thought about what I might earn through book sales. It's not the money I care about. It's the story I'm finally getting to share with you and the characters I developed a close relationship with.
I guess my point is - don’t give up. As with any dream or ambition, it doesn’t happen overnight. Nobody else can make it happen for you. It takes hard work, perseverance and a thick skin. I started seriously at 20. I got there at 43. If you can keep bounding back after tripping up, you're on the right path!
