Well, it's almost Christmas.  A welcome break from the rat race of work and for me, a time for reflection. Christmas has often been the part of the year where I decide what I'm going to do for the next few months and wrestle with big decisions without the distractions of the working year.

The more persistent of you who have been checking the blog will notice that it's been a good long while since I updated it. There's good reason for that. At first because I felt there was nothing to tell, the...
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The Online Oxford English Dictionary has a few definitions of the word “Submission.”

 

One of those definitions is:

 

“The action of presenting a proposal, application, or other document for consideration or judgement:”

 

When your book is sent to a publisher, it’s called a “submission” in line with the definition above - i.e. you’re presenting your manuscript for consideration.

 

There are, however, other definitions. For example;

 

“The action of accepting or ...

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It's been a while since I've posted and that's been deliberate.  In some respects, a lot has happened but in other respects, I'm still where I was before.  After sending my revised book back to the literary agent, I was pleased to see that he liked the changes.  I'd been a bit nervous about it, given that I'd basically reduced the novel by a third to make it more like the length that a Middle Grade (9-12) novel should be.  I needn't have worried though, because the agent pronounced it much im...
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Yesterday I attended an event called "How to Hook an Agent" run by Bloomsbury, the publishers of Harry Potter and the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook.  I and another twenty something aspiring authors got to meet four very interesting and helpful literary agents, two of whom work with Children's fiction.

The day covered how your submissions should be structured and what agents look for. I was pleased to note that I was already doing the majority of things right and was the only person who had ac...
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Today has been a very mixed day in dealing with literary agents.  One of them came back last night saying that she had liked the idea but had not "connected with the voice" which I think means that she doesn't like my style (the precise opposite of the comments the last agent made) so the book wasn't for her.  She was very nice about it and I was grateful she'd taken the time to read it (she got back after four weeks which was good going), but I'd be lying if I said I felt great afterwards.

An...
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Just had an email from another agent asking for my full manuscript and asking me to check in with her before accepting a deal with any other agents.  I must be doing something right - at least I know there's nothing wrong with my first 3 chapters if it can interest 3 agents.  Fingers crossed!
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A chance reading of an article in a writing magazine has led me to do something I've never done before and entered the book into a competition.  The Northern Writer's Awards is for new (i.e. unpublished) authors living in the North of England and winners will be rewarded with prizes ranging from cash to editorial support and contacts in the publishing industry.  The closing date is 31st but I won't hear anything until the summer. I've only really had the confidence to try since letting people...

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