Submission intermission

I'm on a break from Are We Still Friends? while it's out on submission.

It was a painful process but I was encouraged to try again by an agent at the Jericho London Writers' weekend and I promised myself that if I finished before going on holiday to Yorkshire, I could forget about it until September when all the if-you- haven't-heard-by-now-we're-not-interested periods will end.

My initial draft for this blog was about that pain and the impact on a writer's mental health but, having got that off my chest, I felt a more positive blog would be better. Before moving on, though, I will mention how demoralising it is to modify each submission to specific guidelines and try to appeal to an individual you've only met through an online profile, all the while knowing that they will almost certainly not respond. Even if they do, they won't say why they're not interested so you'll never know if your novel wasn't good enough or commercial enough, or whether the agent just didn't love it enough. Can't someone persuade AI to automate email responses to let writers know? It would be more useful than stealing our jobs.

Anyway...positive, positive, positive.

After finishing my submissions, I set sail for Derbyshire. We watched a beautiful sunset in Marston Montgomery then continued north the next day where we established ourselves in the converted barn of my ancestors' farm. From here we explored more of the valley, walked the post route across the moor, saw lots of birds including the resident barn owl who's eluded us for years, and shared fish & chips with family at Saltburn. As ever, we had fun and I came away with more material and ideas for the book that I'm hoping to write.

I also had an idea for a follow-up to Are We Still Friends? After reading an Emma Darwin Substack about using a synopsis as a development tool, I will try sketching it out before taking it further.

So, onwards and upwards as another heatwave begins, and I can relax until autumn.