I am delighted to welcome author Amanda James to the blog today to talk about her path to publication. Her novel, A Secret Gift which was published by One More Chapter on 30th October. First, here's a little about this heart-warming read set in Cornwall.
Three years ago, Joy Pentire lost her firefighter husband
and she still hasn’t returned to the woman she once was. But then she meets
Hope, one of the residents at the nursing home where she’s a carer.
Hope has a secret gift that she wants to pass on.
And Joy’s life is forever changed.
Surrounded by the community in her Cornish hometown, Joy’s
unexpected inheritance soon leads to new opportunities, new friends, new love,
and the part of herself she’d thought forever lost … her joy.
Welcome to Books, Life and Everything, Amanda! Do tell us about your path to publication.
I asked my parents for a typewriter as a Christmas present
when I was eight, and wrote short stories and poems. This continued into my
teens and early twenties. But I wrote just for me, I never took it seriously
and I certainly never even considered writing a novel, until I many years
later. Well, you don’t, do you? Novel writing was not for people like me. I was
just an ordinary working-class girl from Sheffield. But a few friends and
family read my stories and thought I had something. In the end I started to
believe them, and went for it! What did I have to lose?
My path to publication has been long, windy, bumpy, and at
times has almost disappeared over a cliff edge. When I first placed my delicate
and naive foot upon it in the early 2000s, I thought all you had to do was
think of a great idea for a book, write it, and then it would be snapped up by
an agent and sold to a publisher. Then of course the book would be in
supermarkets, book shops and later possibly made into a film. Imagine my
surprise when my first novel was rejected…and rejected…and yes, you’ve guessed
it. These agents were quite correct in their assessment of my offering. It was
a mess. The writing style was all over the place and it was clear I had a lot
to learn about plotting. However, the idea was a good one and after a
significant rewrite, I eventually got it published many years later.
Now, even though those agents were right, they aren’t
always. Nor are publishers. I learned this from listening to the success
stories of others, and trying to find out more about honing my craft. Besides,
I am nothing if not as stubborn as an ox. I kept on writing both novels and
short stories, and eventually in 2010 I had a short story published in an
anthology for Born Free. This landed me on stage, reading an extract to over a
thousand people at Hay on Wye Festival, next to Virginia McKenna. I thought I’d
arrived! But still the path of agent, big publishing deal and world domination
evaded me.
The next year, at last, I had my first novel published by a
small publishing house. It wasn’t the one I’d had rejected, though this one was
rejected about fifty times before it was accepted too! I now have thirteen
novels published and have had two agents and quite a few publishers, as I’m
impatient for my books to do well. I’m not getting any younger and I’m still on
the quest for that elusive big deal and world domination. Joking apart, the
main thing in the end is having people read and enjoy my books. It’s wonderful
to get a great review from a stranger. This support and the love of writing is
the reason write. I write too, because it’s part of who I am.
For anyone thinking of trying to get published, I have some
advice. Over the years I have had so many rejections I could paper the walls
with them. Yes, seriously. The key is to believe in yourself, improve your
craft, and have the strength to get back up after a rejection has ripped out
your soul and trampled all over it. If you can do that, you’ll get there in the
end. 😊
Thank you, Amanda for sharing. I guess the messgae is to never give up!
About the Author
Amanda James has written since she was a child, and as an
eight-year-old, she asked her parents for a typewriter for Christmas. She never
imagined her words would ever be published however. Then in 2010, after many
twists and turns, the dream of becoming a writer came true when she had her
first short story published for a Born Free anthology. She left teaching in
2013 to pursue her dream full-time.
Originally from Sheffield, Amanda now lives in Cornwall and
is inspired every day by the wild and beautiful coastline near her home. She
has many suspense novels set there, but her last few books have been uplifting
in nature with a twist of magic. She loves writing feel-good reads and has
decided the world needs more joy in it right now, and her plan is to write many
more novels in that genre. Amanda can usually be found playing on the beach
with her family, or walking the cliff paths planning her next book.
You can follow Amanda here: Twitter | Facebook
Book link: Amazon UK
Thanks to Amanda James, One More Chapter and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for the author interview and a place on the tour.
Check out these great bloggers!
Comments
Post a Comment