I’ve always loved
reading romance and writing is something I’ve done since I was a child. I live
and work on a farm in Wales, a far cry from the glamour of my stories, but that
makes slipping into the world of my characters all the more appealing. When I’m
not writing or working on the farm, I love nothing more than to visit grand
historic house or ancient castles.
Book number two!
Finally achieving
my long awaited dream and getting ‘the call’ was an amazing moment. I was going
to be published! In 2013 I had entered my latest completed manuscript into
Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write competition and had made it to the Top
10 – the public voting round. This fantastic achievement, lead to an even
better one and in January last year, I was offered a two book contract. But
after the elation and the celebration came the doubt. Lots of it! I was at that
point, working on a new story, but suddenly that story went from being just
something I was writing for fun, to being the second book of my contract.
Writing was no longer something I did if I wanted to or could fit it into the
busy life of running a farm. I had to
write the book.
So what did I do?
Probably what most authors who are about to be published for the first time do
- panic! The story idea and the characters I’d developed were suddenly under
the spotlight and doubt circled overhead like threatening storm clouds. Instead
of asking myself what was different about the story which led to publication to
the previous eight completed manuscripts I had languishing on my computer, I
wobbled. Thankfully, with encouragement from my editor and a fantastic group of
friends, The Write Romantics, I managed to overcome this.
Add to this, the
fact that everything about becoming published was new and there was so much to
learn – and of course the small matter of deadlines. I felt like a very small
fish which had been set free into a massive pond. It was thrilling and
terrifying all at the same time, but I wouldn’t change it at all. Through
working with my editor and making the revisions to that story, I learnt so
much.
So what was
different with the competition entry which brought about my dream come true? It
was the story I had to tell, the story from my heart. All of my previous
manuscripts were written with a ‘checklist’ of what to do and what not to do
and I thought it was necessary to adhere to completely. Of course there are
certain boundaries within all genres, but learning to work within them and
still allow you, the author, onto the page is what matters.
Thankfully I made
it through those days of self-doubt and my second book; Claimed
by the Sheikh, for Mills and
Boon Modern is out now.
For anyone who is
having those ‘second book wobbles’ all I can say is don’t panic, enjoy the
moment of knowing you are writing for real, but never lose that writing for fun
feeling. Once I’d told myself this, everything settled down.
If you have tips
on how to deal with that second book, I’d love to hear them!
Links:
Amazon: Claimed
by the Sheikh
Thank you, Rachael and good luck with book number two!
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