Tag: waterstones

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  “A Reading from Chapter 6”

  https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js This is a short reading from my upcoming novel. In the clip, Patrick fondly remembers a time at Eva’s apartment back when he and Eva were still interns at the tech-giant, SMART. The novel is in the typsetting phase with the publisher’s at the moment so there’s lots going on behind the scenes with…

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  “Treat courtesy of Nielsen Book Data”

  Got a big shock today. A nice shock. Visited the local manager of Waterstones in Hereford, a very friendly guy called Billy, to ask about a possible launch event for my novel ‘A More Perfect World’ when it comes out at the end of April this year. He asked me what it was called and…
• “Preparing the submission package”

  WRITING A SUBMISSION PACKAGE was a huge job in its own right. After the manuscript was finished I was faced with writing cover letters, synopsis’ and sending out a submission package to agents and publishers. I trawled the internet, Mslexia and the Writers’ and Artists Yearbook systematically sending out email cover letters or filling in…
• “I was shocked Draft 4 of my novel contained 98 sub-drafts!”

  THE FOURTH DRAFT was another kind of slog but definitely more enjoyable. I felt much more in control, most of the writing was now in place and I knew where things had to be tightened up and where certain details were missing or unnecessary. New sections were written. People had generally responded well to my…
• “I couldn’t go anywhere near the book for two months (between draft 3 and 4)”

  I couldn’t go anywhere near the book for two months. It was toxic, my mind just heaved at the thought of it. I got giddy. But I had to do something. So after avoiding my ‘Novel’ folder on my computer for weeks I tentatively wrote a 6,000-word outline of what happened to the three main…
• “Utterly unprepared and ill-equipped for what happened next (draft 3)”

  THIRD DRAFT. My partner and I had been planning some time off after completing a five-year community media and heritage project. It had been very well-received but we both of us felt exhausted. I talked about kick-starting the novel again. My wife thought about doing an art course. But then Covid hit and a good…