The pen thief

We've all heard about how the pen is mightier than the sword. I'm sure those words were very comforting to many a tonsured scribe in centuries gone past when faced with a huge, sweaty, chain mail wearing knight.

What I'm not so sure about is how one can ever redeem oneself if one has stolen a pen - the writer's tool of choice - from someone who makes their living from writing.

Besetting sin...

It may not be mentioned among the ten commandments, but to the fledgling writer, no sin is more damaging than procrastination. I foolishly thought that once I'd pushed through imagined barriers and achieved the incredible - actually finishing a writing project - I was clear of the dreaded thing. I imagined that I'd outsmarted it, that I knew how it worked. Never again, I vowed, will I let its tentacle-fingers trap me in my chair, while its seductive voice whispers Just check your email...

Well, more fool me. Procrastination, my friends, is alive and well.

The great agent hunt

Yes, I've finished the novel. And polished, tidied and trimmed it through multiple drafts.

That was just the beginning.

I'm dedicating my first post to my search for an agent because this is the area which has, I think, devoured the most hours of my time in recent months.

Sometimes when I'm talking to a friend, they'll ask how the writing is going, and when they hear that I've finished my latest novel they immediately ask whether I'm planning to send it to publishers.
"Oh no no no, you can't do THAT," I say, and watch their eyes glaze over as I attempt to explain how the publishing industry really works these days.