My desktop background, created to inspire me to get on with it
About
Historical fiction has always been my go-to genre -- what’s not to love about the intersection of history and stories?
Bringing alive the voices of the past, taking time to listen to what they have to say, learning what we can from them -- that is why I will always return to historical fiction. And this is also my aim with this novel.
I am fascinated by what the past can tell us and have been ever since I was small. All of my favoured career choices while in the last years of school are a reflection of that: archaeology (until I learned how much science you needed to study that), teaching, and writing.
And so, after a twenty-year-long career as an editor, I made the decision to step into the world of writing. Three years ago, I started working on this novel, throwing myself into it wholeheartedly and somewhat foolishly. I knew nothing of meticulous plotting (and I still err more on the side of pantsing), story structure, or how to show character development. I just knew I had a story I wanted to tell.
By learning as I went, I have developed and expanded my initial idea for The Third Letter, but always sticking to one truth: to write what was in my heart.
Timeline
August 2024
Finalist in the 2024 Page Turners’ Awards Writing Mentorship Award
From March 2024
Revising The Third Letter to make it more appealing to agents
January 2024
First words of the new novel – inspiringly called SECOND NOVEL for now – down on the page
November 2023
Began pondering my next novel, spinning different scenarios and playing around with concepts until one stood out
October 2023
Started pitching agents
August 2023
Long-listed for the 2023 Page Turners’ Awards Writing Mentorship Award (under its previous working title: The Policy of Truth)
June 2023
Started revising
Early May 2023
Was finally able to say that the entire novel was complete
August 2022
Attended Stockholm Writers’ Festival and received feedback on my novel that led me to lop around 20,000 words off the start of it!
Autumn 2021
Undertook a course in Deep POV -- another decision that has helped me inestimably to bring emotions to the page.
Spring 2021
Helped establish the Historical Fiction group at LWS
January 2021
Joined London Writers’ Salon (LWS) -- one of the best decisions I’ve made as a prospective author
October 2020
Opened up Scrivener and started writing
September 2020
Joined London Writers’ Salon’s free Writers’ Hour sessions for the first time with the seed of an idea for the novel