There is a long way to go

The first pictures of our baby look decidedly human, which is comforting. When we went for our twelve week scan the other day, we could see a heart beating, a little face, two legs and two arms waving.

But there is still a long way to go. Our baby is still only six centimetres long and though it looks somewhat like a little baby, it has a lot of growing to do. Hopefully, the rest of its body will one day be in proportion to its forehead, for example.

In a similar way, I made it to the end of my first novel, Wild Rose, in July 2010. It was 90,000 words long and aimed at the young adult market. Having submitted it to three literary agents with varying degrees of success, I started working informally with Shelley Instone
at the Eve White Literary Agency in November 2010. Shelley recommended that I edit the manuscript significantly to aim it at a younger age group and therefore to be no longer than 50,000 words.

The first time I saw the manuscript finished and printed off, it looked somewhat like a book. But there was a good deal of refinement to be done. The manuscript needed to be reduced - a bit like a sauce - so that it retained the essence of the story in a much more concentrated form.

Even this week, almost a year later, I have been making changes to two sentences in two separate chapters and if a publisher is found there will be more adjustments to make.

So while the book shrinks the baby grows. But for both, from the form they take at first, there is a long way to go.

You work away in secret for ages

I don’t know many people who advertised the fact that they were trying to get pregnant. Perhaps so as not to be off putting at mealtimes, or not to raise grandparents’ already hyperactive hopes, my husband and I only told a few people that we were ‘trying’, mainly because they assumed that we already were. Squeamish as I am, I’d rather present a pregnancy as a fait accompli than discuss the process with anyone. Not only would it be embarrassing, but the pressure to succeed would be that much greater.

In a similar way, the only person who knew I was writing a book was my husband, David. The idea for Wild Rose came up over an anniversary dinner at AJ's On The Creek, Chincoteague Island, VA. I bought a notebook the next day and started writing. That was in 2008. I worked on the book at weekends and during holidays from my job as a secondary school teacher. For a long time I didn’t tell anyone that I was writing a book. As with trying to have a baby, if nothing came of it I wanted to deal with the disappointment myself. I was also happy to work away alone, enjoying the process and not thinking too much about where it would lead.

Common wisdom suggests that you shouldn’t tell people that you’re pregnant until you reach the twelve week stage, the chance of miscarriage is reduced and you have had a scan to check (for the first time, alarmingly) that you really are pregnant and that everything is alright. Reaching the twelve week mark was a great relief and I was excited about being able to tell people. In a similar way, though I found out I’d been signed by Eve White Literary Agency the same week I found out I was pregnant, it took me some time to tell people. I wanted to make sure that it was official and I had photographic evidence on her website before I announced it proudly on Facebook.

So, now that both secrets are out, I hope to be able to share some of my experiences of the Book and the Baby with you here.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I’ve heard authors say that writing a book and getting it published is like having a baby. As I’m having my first baby and hoping to get my first book published too, I’m going to test the theory. I’m currently twelve weeks pregnant and my first children’s novel Wild Rose is shortly to be submitted to publishers by my agent, Eve White. I hope you enjoy following the progress of both.