TLC – no not Tender Loving Care!

In May 2011 I sent my first three chapters of Fail Better to The Literary Consultancy for critique. This was a ‘free offer’ to Cumbrian writers with experience of writing and with a low income! How did they know? I waited ages to get it back but when I did I was SO delighted. I wish I could quote everything from the covering letter.

Here are some snippets:

- ‘I’d like to say that I enjoyed reading this extract very much. The complex character of Judith was, at times, reminiscent of Ripley in Patricia Highsmith’s novels; not entirely likeable but definitely compelling!’

- ‘The pace is very strong indeed ..... and there is a solid and worryingly plausible story at play.’

- ‘You ask about genre. Reading this extract, it seems to me the best way to describe it in a pitch to an agent or publisher is to emphasise the pace and story alongside the psychological elements.’

I am now (October 2011) going through the rite of passage of reject letters. In re-reading the whole of the critique from The Literary Consultancy (TLC) I am administering some Tender Loving Care (TLC) to my writing ego.

Thank you, Zoe Strachan for your encouraging words along with constructive critique.

Cambridge Literary Festival

By March 2011 I had become preoccupied with agents and publishers. I chose my birthday present – a weekend at Cambridge Literary Festival in April. My reasons for that choice included:

·         To hear eminent authors speak - I saw/heard P.D. James, Nicola Upson, Dame Antonia Fraser and Robert Goddard

·         To attend a workshop on getting published by Nicola Morgan – that was fab and I later bought her book  www.nicolamorgan.co.uk

·         To attend a workshop on e-publishing – interesting and comforting

·         To soak up the atmosphere – it was lovely and not snobby at all

·         To see whether there were any ‘stalls’ selling stuff (another story for another day, my friends) – there was a book shop and I bought a beautiful blue leather notebook which will record my progress through the next book

·         To see Cambridge as I had never been there before – stunning and well worth a visit

·         To stop and see my sister Georgie on the way back – we spent a happy hour in her garden in the afternoon sunshine

It was a perfect weekend except for a huge shiny milk tanker rolling backwards into my beautiful car on the way there. Nobody was hurt and the driver’s boss paid in full for the repairs with no fuss or argument.

Blurb and synopsis

My mind was straying, some might say, ahead of itself in March 2011. I tried to write the blub for the back cover and a synopsis suitable for sending to agents. Looking back I realise how TERRIBLE they were. I read my first effort to my writing buddy Lizzie Gates http://authorgym.wordpress.com  and she sort of said, ‘Ummm!’ which spoke volumes. Lizzie, it moved me on and version 5 is just about there.

The synopsis changed several times as I slowly began to understand what was required. I tried to condense it to two pages but I didn’t know that the synopsis didn’t have to be double-line spaced to send to an agent. Thanks to Nicola Morgan (@nicolamorgan on Twitter) for advice on that point. It still isn’t perfect and every time I submit to an agent I revisit it and make more changes. I have approached four agents so far and they all have slightly different requirements. Hey ho – back to the drawing board.

By the way, the back cover blurb now goes something like this:

           

If Judith decides to be your friend, she’ll make it happen. She’ll find out what  you do and where you go. She’ll make sure she’s there too.

Do you think it is creepy enough?