‘God, are you taking the p***?’
Knowing I needed to read God’s Word and actually digest it, my vicar had just presented me with a beautiful study guide. All I noticed was that it had been published by Hodder who incidentally, had just turned down my sequel. Hence the rude question.
The vicar laughed. ‘No, not me,’ he answered, looking skywards.
As a published author it has been an excruciating lesson of patience to get from paper to page. I started on a begging blanket outside Pemberton’s in Hay on Wye and ending up in high street bookshops one year later. To say ‘all did not run smoothly’ throughout that year is an understatement. In the name of publicity, my husband almost left me, the publisher moved into media management and my first agent dumped me.
Read all about it on The Story So Far on my website.
It was all so wonderful at the beginning. A small publisher invested enough faith in me to publish my first book, and then he followed the path of very little marketing. I stepped in to help promote sales and discovered the dream of writing books is all about selling apples. Every spare hour God sent was suddenly spent writing articles or attending literary events to raise the profile of my novel. It worked and the book sold out resulting in a second edition being endorsed by the BBC and Daily Express. I even addressed the London Book Fair wearing my wedding dress (which worried me because fitting into my frock again after ten years of marriage and two kids meant I must have been a fat bride).
Married to Albert tells the tale of loneliness through the eyes of a modern military wife (what it’s really like to live behind the wire…). However, growing up, I sipped from the cup of Monty Python and Blackadder so the prose is packed full of irony, tears and situations readers can identify with. At least I succeeded in making my name known even if I have made very little money. What small payment I did receive from my small publisher - enough to buy an Ikea sofa - I shared with the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
Two years later, trying to make the move from independent to large publishing house is nigh on impossible and requires divine intervention. One minute I have letters of interest, the next nothing.
Fortunately, my new agent is not worried about finding a larger publisher for me – like the ‘big guy’ above, he tells me it will happen but I must be patient and patience is something I lack. Passion I have, in spades! I want to write. I love to write. According to amazon.co.uk, my book has the power to heal, touches lives and makes readers laugh out loud but if someone doesn’t pick up my sequel soon, I am destined for a career of part time ‘pay the bills’ shop work.
So I’m fed up. I have given my ‘talent’ back to God. Jesus is now in control and every time I want to pick up the phone to nag said agent I say to myself, ‘Stop right there girl, Jesus directs this show… but quickly please!’
Meanwhile, as the checkout tills loom closer, I busy myself with chapter plans for book 3. Oh yeah, and help with playgroup/junior church, run a house, keep two young kids happy along with their dad - my now loving husband. See, I am blessed.
