Time to Start Querying

Hi all! I thought I’d drop a quick post about some of the steps I’ve taken recently on my writing journey.

Last week, I finished the first draft of my time travel novel. The plan (Ha! What plan?) is that it will be the first in a trilogy, so the story is far from over for my MC, Lydia Harding. It took a bit longer than I wanted, but at least I can say I’ve ticked off the first of my writing goals for this year. I am a bit of a stickler for planning, but this novel was pantsed from about chapter three. I honestly have no idea how I managed to complete over one hundred thousand words without a plan, or losing my mind but, somehow, I did. It goes to show that sometimes sticking to what one knows is not always the answer.

Now it’s time to return to my first novel, The Whitney Heir. I managed to get an extra beta reader and they were so helpful with their feedback. Changes have been made and it’s as polished as I can make it, so it is finally ready to query. I participated in Kiss Pitch on Valentine’s Day and I have three likes from agents/editors. My initial research suggests they are all well worth a query, so I’ll keep you posted as to my progress.

I’m also editing my second novel (title still to be confirmed), which contains characters from The Whitney Heir. I’m hoping to have some pages ready to be critiqued soon and the nerves about revealing my work to others will start to set in once again. I hope I’ve learned to handle criticism more constructively following my experiences with The Whitney Heir.

As you may have noticed, I love the research aspect of my writing. Fortunately, my mum loves that stuff too. We regularly go to museums and historical presentations as part of our mum and daughter time. Yesterday, we attended a History Wardrobe presentation about the gothic movement and it’s influence on literature, architecture and, in particular, fashion.

The ladies at History Wardrobe do a fantastic job of mixing history and hilarity. If you get chance to see one of their many varied and highly enjoyable presentations I can say you will not be disappointed. I have drawn so much inspiration for my novels over the last 10 years I have attended their events.

I have run out of stockpiled book reviews due to my unfortunate difficulties with reading. I’m off work this week so I hope to try to get some decent hours of reading in. Then I will be able to post more book reviews.

In the meantime, I hope to post later this week about Georgian Hospitals. I hope you will find the article as enjoyable as I did the research.

Images are taken by me of items from the collection of History Wardrobe.