The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn’t require any.
– Russell Baker
The Joy of Getting a book deal…
It’s what we do, right? Writers – write and mostly when we’re not writing we dream of being published. Properly published; so we have deadlines, an editor and a contract. It may look like we’re doing the grocery list, getting our hair done, making the dinner, in fact we are dreaming of getting our book out there!
So what does it mean, exactly, when that book deal comes our way? Is it really as good as we imagined?
I’m here to tell you, yes. I’m here to tell you that no matter how hard it is, no matter how early you have to get up in the morning, no matter how your hands/eyes/back hurts, it is worth every single drop of sweat. Yes, and the blood. And the tears!
It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
– Ernest Hemingway
We’ve all put our time in the trenches, it’s a bloody business, killing characters, deleting pages, even scrapping books that no-one seems to think are as good as you thought when you started. Sometimes you wonder if it’s all worth it.
So, for all that here’s some joys of getting that book deal:
That mug you got for Kris Kringle
You know the one, that said ‘Writer at work,’ or ‘Keep calm, keep writing,’ can be taken down and used. Actually, no, it can be flaunted, as you move around your house, because, now you are a real writer, you can enjoy using a mug that reminds you of the fact. Of course, now I hear that JK Rowling only uses pottery…
That whole sitting and staring into space thing?
Well, now you can do it and call it research! Now you can feel properly writerly as you while away hours on end, your mind turning cartwheels in your imagination.
Anyone for chores?
Ditto with the hovering, dishwashing, kitchen tidying, ironing – a writer can’t be expected to abandon the creative act of doing nothing for mere chores, can she?
Google moi?
Ebay? Amazon? Actually, these are all research aids!
Unexpected generosity:
So, with the book deal, they actually throw in your very own editor. Well, I mean, it’s up to you to keep her in a job, isn’t it? Now, you’re actually doing your bit for the economy by leaving in a couple of spelling mistakes.
Shout it out!
You can tell people you’re a writer.
Before my publishing deal, only a handful of people knew I wrote. Even less knew that I produced full-length novels. The worst question for any aspiring writer is ‘any sign of that book being published?’ You just want to cringe and somehow it takes a little of your soul every time you have to answer in the negative. But when you get a publishing deal?
You can’t wait for people to ask you, you can’t wait to talk about it, because suddenly, it’s as though you’re a different person. And of course, if like me, you beavered away quietly, to them you are a different person. They are seeing a side to you they didn’t know was there. So, when you get that book deal, shout it out good and loud, you never know, many of these people may even buy your book some day!
The best thing, the very best thing?
Getting that phone call to say they want your book. That is just gold. You know that your baby is destined to make it out into the world and maybe be loved as much by others as it has been by you.
And, if you haven’t got that book deal yet? Keep writing, keep editing, keep believing.
Thank you so much Faith for this enjoyable post. Congratulations on your book deal and good luck with My Husband's Wives.
Better to have loved and lost, than never loved.
Paul Starr, Irelands leading cardiologist dies in a car crash with a pregnant young women by his side.
United in their grief and the love of one man, four women are thrown together in an attempt to come to terms with life after Paul. They soon realise they never really knew him at all.
The love they shared for Paul in his life and which incensed a feeling of mistrust and dislike for each other, in his death turns into the very thing that bonds them and their children to each other forever.
As they begin to form unlikely friendships, Paul's deaths proves to be the catalyst that enables them to become the people they always wanted to be.
About Faith Hogan
Faith Hogan was born in Ireland. She gained an Honours Degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dublin City University and a Postgraduate Degree from University College, Galway. She has worked as a fashion model, an event’s organiser and in the intellectual disability and mental health sector.
She was a winner in the 2014 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair – an international competition for emerging writers.
Her debut novel, ‘My Husband’s Wives,’ is a contemporary women’s fiction novel set in Dublin. It will be published by Aria, (Head of Zeus) on 1st of May 2016. She is currently working on her next novel.
Follow Faith on Twitter at @gerhogan or like her on Facebook or, if you’re really interested, you can catch up with her on www.faithhogan.com
– Russell Baker
The Joy of Getting a book deal…
It’s what we do, right? Writers – write and mostly when we’re not writing we dream of being published. Properly published; so we have deadlines, an editor and a contract. It may look like we’re doing the grocery list, getting our hair done, making the dinner, in fact we are dreaming of getting our book out there!
So what does it mean, exactly, when that book deal comes our way? Is it really as good as we imagined?
I’m here to tell you, yes. I’m here to tell you that no matter how hard it is, no matter how early you have to get up in the morning, no matter how your hands/eyes/back hurts, it is worth every single drop of sweat. Yes, and the blood. And the tears!
It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
– Ernest Hemingway
We’ve all put our time in the trenches, it’s a bloody business, killing characters, deleting pages, even scrapping books that no-one seems to think are as good as you thought when you started. Sometimes you wonder if it’s all worth it.
So, for all that here’s some joys of getting that book deal:
That mug you got for Kris Kringle
You know the one, that said ‘Writer at work,’ or ‘Keep calm, keep writing,’ can be taken down and used. Actually, no, it can be flaunted, as you move around your house, because, now you are a real writer, you can enjoy using a mug that reminds you of the fact. Of course, now I hear that JK Rowling only uses pottery…
That whole sitting and staring into space thing?
Well, now you can do it and call it research! Now you can feel properly writerly as you while away hours on end, your mind turning cartwheels in your imagination.
Anyone for chores?
Ditto with the hovering, dishwashing, kitchen tidying, ironing – a writer can’t be expected to abandon the creative act of doing nothing for mere chores, can she?
Google moi?
Ebay? Amazon? Actually, these are all research aids!
Unexpected generosity:
So, with the book deal, they actually throw in your very own editor. Well, I mean, it’s up to you to keep her in a job, isn’t it? Now, you’re actually doing your bit for the economy by leaving in a couple of spelling mistakes.
Shout it out!
You can tell people you’re a writer.
Before my publishing deal, only a handful of people knew I wrote. Even less knew that I produced full-length novels. The worst question for any aspiring writer is ‘any sign of that book being published?’ You just want to cringe and somehow it takes a little of your soul every time you have to answer in the negative. But when you get a publishing deal?
You can’t wait for people to ask you, you can’t wait to talk about it, because suddenly, it’s as though you’re a different person. And of course, if like me, you beavered away quietly, to them you are a different person. They are seeing a side to you they didn’t know was there. So, when you get that book deal, shout it out good and loud, you never know, many of these people may even buy your book some day!
The best thing, the very best thing?
Getting that phone call to say they want your book. That is just gold. You know that your baby is destined to make it out into the world and maybe be loved as much by others as it has been by you.
And, if you haven’t got that book deal yet? Keep writing, keep editing, keep believing.
Thank you so much Faith for this enjoyable post. Congratulations on your book deal and good luck with My Husband's Wives.
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| Amazon UK |
Better to have loved and lost, than never loved.
Paul Starr, Irelands leading cardiologist dies in a car crash with a pregnant young women by his side.
United in their grief and the love of one man, four women are thrown together in an attempt to come to terms with life after Paul. They soon realise they never really knew him at all.
The love they shared for Paul in his life and which incensed a feeling of mistrust and dislike for each other, in his death turns into the very thing that bonds them and their children to each other forever.
As they begin to form unlikely friendships, Paul's deaths proves to be the catalyst that enables them to become the people they always wanted to be.
About Faith Hogan
She was a winner in the 2014 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair – an international competition for emerging writers.
Her debut novel, ‘My Husband’s Wives,’ is a contemporary women’s fiction novel set in Dublin. It will be published by Aria, (Head of Zeus) on 1st of May 2016. She is currently working on her next novel.
Follow Faith on Twitter at @gerhogan or like her on Facebook or, if you’re really interested, you can catch up with her on www.faithhogan.com
Great pos. I would love to say that I am an author.
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