It’s Friday

Having completed the judging for the SWWJ, I was able to get back to The Pile of full manuscripts this week but I am still behind! I will catch up soon but once one becomes an agent and has clients to look after, reading material for clients becomes a priority above reading submissions. As I only have one pair of eyes I’m looking for a reader or two (email with CV and rates if interested please).

Last week I made it to the RNA Summer Party in London where the Joan Hessayson New Writers prize was awarded to Allie Spencer. Watching the line up of debut authors waiting to hear the results announced reminded me when I was in that line-up back in 2005, and also how successful some of my fellow nominees have become with their literary careers since then.

Back in the office, Lelsey Cookman’s Murder in Bloom was published on 18th May and I’ve been watching it doing well on amazon. I was asked to do some one-to-one appointments at the RNA Annual Conference in July, so sent off my bio etc for the programme. Feedback from publishers has started to come through from my early post-Book Fair submissions, some of which is encouraging, and a large print sale of my own latest short novel to Linford Romance/Ulverscroft.

I’m looking forward to spending a couple of days away from it all over the bank holiday weekend. The weather forecast is looking good.

Busy judging

As had been pointed out by one of my clients, I’ve not blogged for a bit. Usual excuses I’m afraid: have been busy. And especially busy in any free moments going through the entries for this year’s Society of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ) novel writing competition, The Clemence Dane/Pat Garrod Cup.

Since the Book Fair most activity has been focused on follow-up with publishers, so while I did manage to catch up on a number of submissions, I’m still about a month behind so please bear with me, but do chase me if you’ve queried me before mid April and not heard anything. Emails do occasionally go astray.