Talking ... about rejections

The talk I was supposed to give last week to a creative writing class was postponed because the class tutor had the Flu. In a way it did me a favour because I had a croaky sore throat myself (not that I'd wish the poor woman the Flu, of course!) ... and I'm now due to give the talk tomorrow.

It's quite timely. One of the things I always stress when giving talks to any group of writers or would-be writers is the importance of anticipating rejection, not taking it personally, treating it as part of a writer's life and taking it on the chin. And so on. Of course, we all know it isn't always easy to follow that well-worn piece of advice! - but it's important to recognise that rejection goes with the territory and that it's possible to recover from it.

I'm aware that, because I've had a small degree of success over the years, some of the people listening to me spouting this stuff might think, "It's all very well for her to talk!" Of course, I tell them about all the rejections I had before I finally had a novel accepted - and about all the short stories I've had rejected over the years, and still get rejected now - and I like to think that this gives some of them a bit of hope: I did get lucky along the way, and it could happen for them too.

But I certainly never got complacent! I often quote Graham Greene's very depressing statement that 'For a writer, success is always temporary. Success is only failure delayed.' ! Of course, there are those writers who find success easily, and go on to be successful for the rest of their lives ... but these are the minority. For most of us, we're only ever as good as our last contract, and those contracts are increasingly difficult to secure.

My recent writing career hasn't exactly gone swimmingly. I had an agent briefly last year, who having been enthusiastic about my work and professed herself optimistic about getting me a good publishing deal, worked hard with me for a few months and then abruptly left the agency, informing me that none of the other agents there were interested in handling me, and leaving me wondering if it was something I'd said! So I was back on my own again, unagented as I'd been throughout most of my writing life, and (to be honest) thinking maybe I'm better off that way.

As some of you know, I've recently had a stab at writing a serial for one of the women's mags. This was my first attempt and I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but the editor was really helpful and encouraging, and I tried my best to follow her advice - ending up doing two complete re-writes. I can honestly say it was the hardest thing I've attempted to write - and I've just heard that the third version hasn't been successful - so that's the end of the road with it. Maybe I can eventually adapt it and try it elsewhere, but for the moment the thought of doing that is quite overwhelming and I'm just going to sink back into the comfort of writing some more of my new (as yet unsold) novel!

I found writing the serial a tremendous challenge - and quite a humbling experience, not that I needed one! - reinforcing my admiration of those writers who do write them successfully. Of course I'm feeling disappointed, but (always looking for the silver lining), I'm now in exactly the right frame of mind to talk to the creative writing class about coping with rejection!

Today I've visited my ex-colleagues at the hospital where I used to work, and as always, found myself wondering if I wished I was back there. The answer is always NO - although I still miss them all, and have some great memories of my years there, I know I'm happy with my life now. I refer to myself as a full-time writer but in fact, I think it's important for those of us who aren't MEGA successful (!) to have lots of other things in our lives as well as our writing, so that the disappointments don't feel like the end of the world.

And yes, I'll be telling the creative writing class that, too!

Here's one of the other lovely things in my life!

Thawing out!

Himself and I are just back from a short break in Tallinn (Estonia). Don't ask why we decided to go away in February to a place where the February temperature never gets above freezing point - especially as I hate the cold. If I just say 'Air Miles' and 'Free', you might begin to understand, but I still can't quite work out why we opted for February! However, we bravely decided to look on it as an 'experience' and an 'adventure'. When we arrived in Tallinn, our taxi driver told us it was currently Minus 5 degrees ... and trust me, it got colder! And at night ... more like minus 14.

However, Tallinn was very pretty, and we decided that visiting this sort of place in the winter has a lot to recommend it (can you hear my Positive Thinking ticking over?). For one thing, it wasn't crowded! (most tourists have more sense, and go in the summer!). And for another thing, the snow-topped roofs did add a certain charm to the place. OK, I give up, I can't think of any other reasons! We went out wrapped up in so many layers of clothes we could hardly walk. Whenever we went into a nice cosy cafe to have hot chocolate, which I can assure you was often, it took ages to get all the top layers off - but every cafe and restaurant had cupboards or coat-stands, as everyone there is wearing loads of clothing!

Me, dressed very fashionably, Tallinn-style!

On the third day we went on a day-trip to Helsinki ... 50 miles across the FROZEN sea: yes, frozen all the way across! We could hardly believe it, but the ferry just ploughed through it. It was even colder in Helsinki but we just had to say that we popped over to Finland for lunch!

And this is the interesting thing, coming at it from a UK point of view: no matter how bad the weather, they just keep going. There was heavy snow yesterday morning and we wondered if our flight home would be affected - but no, all planes were still taking off as normal. Nothing stops, nobody turns a hair. Of course, they are totally used to it, and it would be ridiculous if they threw up their hands in shock at the snow, when they have it throughout the winter - but it was certainly a contrast with the fuss we all made this winter. It felt positively balmy here when we returned to Heathrow last night!

In future I will definitely be more appreciative of our very temperate climate. I enjoyed the break but I would hate to live in that sort of climate, I'm sure it would make me very miserable.

Just to add to the whole thing, I wasn't feeling in the best of health - have had one rotten virus after another since Christmas and just before setting off for Tallinn I completely lost my voice! Some people might have felt it was a blessing, but my throat was so painful too, and I felt quite rough into the bargain. Fortunately my voice is back - husky but audible - which is a good job as I've got another talk scheduled for this Tuesday. And luckily it's only a small one, to a creative writing class! They might have to strain their ears!

I seem to make a habit of having something wrong with me whenever we go away. It's becoming annoying now: as soon as we get the suitcases or passports out, my body seems to start plotting how best to upset me. I'm not going to let it beat me. But what with my regular asthma and thyroid medication, and all my anti-sickness, anti-headache, anti-everything-else-that-might- strike tablets, I do seem to get some suspicious looks when my hand baggage goes through the security check. At Tanninn Airport they actually had dogs climbing over all the baggage on the carousel, sniffing it for drugs - as well as sniffing around everyone as they walked through! Never seen that before. I did worry that they might find something to bark about, in my 'medicine supplies' - but thankfully we got through unscathed. If I carry on like this, nobody will want to come on holiday with me!

The best that can happen ...

I've got a short story in the next Woman's Weekly Fiction Special (due out on 5 February) - and flicking through my copy, I'm delighted to see that my 'blog friend' Teresa Ashby has got no less than THREE stories in the same issue - fantastic achievement, Teresa, not that it's anything too unusual for you!! - and Geraldine Ryan from Strictly Writing, and Lydia Jones - all bloggers whose blogs I enjoy reading - have got stories in there too. Exciting to be in such good company, and if I've missed anyone else who's in there, give me a shout!

Well, I'll tell you something about this story. The title is 'The Worst that can Happen' and it's a humorous story about a girl who always fears the worst. The idea came from something I always used to say to my daughters when they were children, and were worried about something: 'What's the worst that can happen?'. It was meant to make them realise that even if they'd lost their homework or got into trouble at school, they weren't likely to be expelled or thrown into prison for it! But they'd often reply dramatically: 'The teacher will kill me!' Fortunately of course it was never as bad as that!

Facing up to the worst possible scenario can make us feel braver sometimes ... but it can also have the reverse effect. As a parent, it presents us with horrible possibilities that have to be put out of our minds, otherwise we'd never manage the job. We'd be forever wrapping our kids in cotton wool, scared to let them out of our sight, afraid every childhood fall means a fractured skull and every sniffle is the plague. These fears are part of being a parent, of course, but we can't let ourselves focus too much on them.

And just as you get to the point where your kids are all grown up and you think: hooray, they're adult, they're settled down, married or whatever, they're safe - I can relax ... (not that you ever, entirely, stop worrying about your children - as every mum knows!) ... along come the grandkids, and all the old anxieties return! Is he OK, is he too hot, too cold, sleeping too much or not enough, is he crying because he's hungry or has a pain, or just because he feels miserable? I'm re-living all this now along with my daughter ... but, of course, the pleasure and joy of seeing little Noah growing up far outweigh any of the natural concerns of parenthood/ grandparenthood! I wouldn't change it for the world!

Here's Noah with me at Christmas, and a couple of pics from recent weeks.

Believe it or not he'll be 5 months old next week - where has that time gone? He smiles, laughs, rolls over and is almost sitting up on his own. He loves his bath and has already been taken swimming ... and best of all he loves bouncing on his feet in his new Christmas-present bouncer - so much so, that he now wants to bounce on our legs whenever we hold him on our laps: his poor mum has bruises! He's absolutely gorgeous and a credit to his lovely mum and dad - not that I'm at all biased, obviously!

Having brought up three gorgeous daughters, we never had any regrets about not having a son ... but now we've not only acquired the three nicest sons-in-law we could have asked for, but also a (literally!) bouncing baby boy. And that's why, despite the title of my story, I've called this post 'The Best that can Happen'!

Enjoyment: the whole point of reading

I've just been reading an excellent post over on Sarah Duncan's blog (http://sarahduncansblog.blogspot.com/) about individual tastes in reading, and why some people think it's shameful to admit to liking 'certain types' of book. It's so true - I know a lot of people look down their noses at anything that could be classified as 'light' fiction - whether it's romantic, or just easy beach-reading stories, or 'chick-lit' ... my books have been referred to in all those ways, and sometimes accompanied by a definite sneer!

Coincidentally, I mentioned this at the talk I gave on Monday. By the way, it was very successful, thank you to those of you who asked, and who wished me luck! I was staggered by the size of the audience ... we worked out that there were over 160 people there - there weren't enough chairs in the hall so about a dozen were standing in the aisles! Don't get too excited, they weren't just there to hear my pearls of wisdom (!) - it was a meeting of a new U3A group and obviously they had other business to attend to at their meeting, but as I was their first 'professional speaker' (as I was introduced ... no pressure there, then!), it was very rewarding for me!

I often bring up this subject in talks: the fact is that most of the very successful authors out there write genre fiction (romance, crime, paranormal, chick-lit etc) rather than 'literary fiction'. And I always point out that 'literary fiction' is a very new concept (and actually I think the term is meaningless!). The New York Times apparently published an article a while back in which it was pointed out that the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow fiction has only recently been invented, and that in fact, Charles Dicken wrote crime novels and Jane Austen wrote chick lit. Nobody sneers at them, do they! And their novels are certainly considered 'worthy'.

I write the type of books I do because they're what come naturally to me - what (I hope) I'm good at. If anybody ever asked me (as I once read that another author was asked) why I don't write something 'better', I'd find it hard not to say that it was an incredibly rude question! - but I'd also have to say that I write the best books I can ... maybe they're not 'good' enough for some people, but presumably those people won't buy them or read them. And my consolation is that, if they're 'good' enough for an editor to have accepted them for publication, then that's good enough for me!

Because a book is easy to read, it doesn't mean it's easy to write. If that were true, we wouldn't have such brilliant books published for children who are only just learning to read. I had a lovely message on my Olivia Ryan website today from a 19 year old girl who has reading and writing difficulties, had never read books before, but had read my 'Tales From' books and enjoyed them so much, she wanted to know if I'd written any more books. Of course, I told her about my Sheila Norton books! - but her message meant so much to me, because surely this is what it's all about: the enjoyment of reading.

And of course, the enjoyment of writing, too. I'm having a good time working on my attempt at a serial ... a steep learning curve, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it! I'll keep you posted. And next time, I'll also update you all on how my lovely little grandson Noah is progressing!

Happy writing ... and reading! (whatever you enjoy).

A double dose of blogging!

What's this ... two blog posts in two days? Surely not!

Well actually it's three posts in two days, because yesterday I took up an invitation from Julie over at Julie's Quest, to contribute to her blog. You can see my 'bit' on : http://jlpwritersquest.blogspot.com/2010/01/thanks-julie-and-talking-about-talking.html

It was an honour to be asked to contribute, as I've always enjoyed Julie's blog. And I finally got around to it yesterday because I've been stuck at home feeling a bit poorly this week - so (every cloud has a silver lining) - I haven't felt like doing anything other than writing. Which is great in lots of ways: I've finished, and submitted, the first part of my serial (fingers crossed), written another chapter of the new novel (not even at the fingers-crossing stage with that yet), and for once in my life, caught up with all the e-mails, blogs, forums etc that I often get so behind with.

But of course, being laid low with a bug isn't a pleasure so - having got rid of the snow and having got my car back on the road (another story, for another time!) - I'm itching to get back to some sort of normality.

Meanwhile thanks again, Julie, for giving me 'space' on your blog.
PS: The post has just arrived - one of my SAE's ... but NOT a rejection (quite) ... an invitation to re-write a short story for a second time: they still like it but want more changes! OK - back to work ... hope it's worth it!

Letters to the Editor

I had a letter published in the Daily Mail yesterday. (Yes, I admit it, I'm a Daily Mail reader - I know, I know!!). It wasn't anything earth-shattering: it was just in response to an article in there last week about the re-publication of the 'I-Spy books' so popular with those of us who were children in the 1950s and 60s. The article only told half the story; the original books were issued in conjunction with the old News Chronicle, and were part of the culture of the 'I-Spy Tribe' - the kids who joined were called Redskins and earned feathers for their headbands by completing the books. Simple pleasures, eh! I found an old black & white photo I took of my friends from primary school when we were all members of a Redskin patrol - holding a pow-wow in my back garden - and sent it to the editor with a brief letter about it all. I didn't really expect it to be published, especially as it finally appeared (with the photo) almost a week after the original article, with my reference to it edited out so it seemed a bit 'appropos of nothing'!


I don't write to newspapers very often, but strangely enough, only the day after I'd sent that letter, I was being urged by other writers, on Facebook and internet forums, to write (again to the Daily Mail) in response to a reader whose letter appeared in the 'Debate' section of the letters page. He'd written in defence of self-publishing, which was fair enough - I've nothing against it, and who knows, might well end up doing it myself one day! - but he took the opportunity to have a sour-grapes-type dig at mainstream publishers, declaring that a lot of books published by them are rubbish and used an expression along the lines of 'formula type books like chick-lit'.


My books are often referred to as chick-lit; my editor doesn't agree; I don't know, I don't really care what anyone calls them as long as they enjoy them! And - well, what a stupid comment. If there's a 'formula' for writing them, I wish someone would tell me what it is! We all know that getting a book accepted by a mainstream publisher these days is incredibly difficult, no matter what genre. I decided NOT to retaliate to that reader's letter; it was ill-informed and best ignored ... if we'd all rushed to defend ourselves I think we'd have looked hysterical and 'protesting too much'.


But you know what? I actually started off my writing career at the age of nine-and-a-half, with a letter to the editor of 'Essex Countryside' magazine. It was in response to another reader's letter about a bird he'd seen in the fields, which he couldn't identify. My Dad (who taught me all I knew, back then, but have sadly mostly forgotten since, about nature in general and birds in particular), suggested I looked through his bird book and tried to identify it from this guy's description. Whether my diagnosis was right or not, I decided I'd write up and give him the benefit of my nine-and-a-half-year-old's wisdom. I was overjoyed that the letter was published, and decided there and then that I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up. In fact I did nothing of the sort, but that's another story!


Since then, I've only occasionally felt moved to send a 'reader's letter'. A previous one published in the Mail (several years ago) was in response to someone who'd written that 'mature people' shouldn't wear trainers, have holiday romances or eat microwave meals (amongst other things!). Isn't it amazing how some people think they can decide what other people should do! And a letter to one of our local papers about my hospital's no-smoking policy was given almost a full page and a huge headline ... they obviously didn't have much news that week!).

I know writers who have really got their career off the ground by writing letters to newspapers and magazines. It's a good way to get writing, and publishing, experience - and some magazines pay for readers' letters so it can pay off, in more ways than one. I certainly look for names I recognise in the letters pages of writing magazines, for instance - so it does get your name 'out there', too. But if you get embroiled in serious issues, I think you need to be prepared for retaliation. And with some people, like the writer of the 'mainstream publishing is crap' letter, it's just not worth the aggravation!

Next Christmas?! - and serial possibilities

OK, so Christmas was over much too quickly for my liking but it surely is over now - isn't it?
The tree's been taken outside, the decorations have been taken down, and we've even found the usual remaining bauble hidden under a chair and the red-nosed-reindeer that I forgot was sitting on the windowsill in my study. We've swept up pine needles for the second time and finished the last piece of Christmas cake. It's over.

So imagine my surprise when I had an e-mail from one of my favourite magazine editors the other day, offering to buy the Christmas story I'd sent her in August! I'd assumed by now that they didn't want it, and I'd planned to submit it elsewhere during the summer. I guess they're keeping it for next Christmas! I know they like to plan ahead, but this is amazing, and makes me think that maybe we need to submit Christmas/winter stories even earlier in the year in future!

So that's two short story sales since Christmas - a lovely start to the new writing year. I've now written about 15,000 words of the first draft of my new novel, (regardless of whether or not it ever sees the light of day), and have also been approached about writing a serial.

Hmm. Hands up if you write serials? I've tried before, but I must admit I gave up ... I found the length very awkward - to say nothing of needing cliff-hangers at the end of each part. I guess I just need more practice. I'm so comfortable writing 2000 word stories, and 100,000 word novels - I 'feel' my way through those lengths of story almost instinctively now. But now I've got the opportunity to try a serial again, I've got the urge to rise to the challenge. It won't be easy, and it'll certainly get in the way of getting on with the novel ... but after all, I'm fortunate to have no real restraints on my time any more. Should I give it a go? Any tips from successful serial writers out there?

Well, the weather is giving me the perfect excuse to stay indoors and write. Warm and snug, with my cat purring away on my lap and a nice hot cuppa on the desk ... I'm SO grateful I don't go out to work any more. Like Christmas, it was good at the time, but it's over now! Good luck with all your writing and may all your snow be melting soon!