2016
The road to publication can be long with many a winding turn
I couldn’t take part in the proper 2016 trend on social media. I’m not cool enough for TikTok, I’m not even cool enough to stop using the word ‘cool’ when, of course, I mean ‘dope’ and ‘sick’.
So instead, I’m looking back at my writing folder from 2016. This was an agonising time for me, between starting to become a serious writer and getting a publishing contract.
Back then, I didn’t know if the ‘getting a publishing contract’ bit would ever happen and when it did, it was in an unexpected way. Looking back at 2016 though, I can see now that I was laying the groundwork for it to, perhaps, maybe, possibly, happen?
Aspiring writers! Hearing about the authors who resigned from the day job and seemingly got published the very next day is both encouraging, demoralising and, quite possibly, not exactly how it happened. Just know that they’re the exception and it can take a long time. In my case, enough time for you to stop being fortysomething and to be 50+ instead.
Here are some of things I did that might be of use to you.
Faber Research Course
I’d already completed a Writing a Novel course four years earlier. That was when I first shared my guilty secret of writing with anyone, so much easier to do with a group on online strangers!
Although the formal tuition part of any writing course is the main attraction, for me it wasn’t the whole picture. Just like real-life school isn’t just about phonics and the periodic table, online writing school is about meeting other students who love writing and reading as much as you do. You’re probably all interested in different subjects and genres; you get exposed to POVs and ideas you’d never come across on your own.
Variety isn’t just the spice of life, it’s an excellent seasoning for all aspiring writers. This may not feel like it when you’re thinking of what feedback to give to some guy’s auto fiction about foot fetish soft-porn but believe me, you’ll learn something from it.
Of course you don’t have to sign up for what can be an expensive writing course to meet other writers in 2026. There are places writers can meet up for free online, even here on Substack.
https://substack.com/@creativeconfidenceclinic
https://substack.com/@inwriting/posts
Takeaway Synopsis – Jennifer Kerslake
I was lucky enough to win a professional assessment with Jennifer, who was an editor at Weidenfeld and Nicolson at the time. This was for the first 10,000 words of the novel that became Happy Families. As you can see, its original title was Take Away. It was also, at one point, called The Family Li. This is a terrible title. What was I thinking!
But more importantly, the experience of getting feedback from Jennifer was incredibly helpful and there was one comment she gave me that made me completely re-think the narrative voice and tone of the novel. Not quite as drastic as when Richard Curtis rewrote Four Weddings and a Funeral as a comedy instead of a grim drama, but almost.
You can often online draws from editors offering to critique opening lines as part of a draw or competition and once again, they’re right here on Substack
https://substack.com/@honesteditor/p-183246804
Commit to Finishing by Nikita Lalwani
I hope Nikita won’t mind me reproducing this in full. I think I saw it in a newspaper somewhere and saved it to remind me of what I still needed to do. It’s good advice and that final paragraph is something to think about when the rejections pile up. Congratulations on those rejections! I’ve met lots of artist who have no rejections because they never submitted. I think we all know what happens if you never submit.
If you come across a writing tip that seems especially relevant to you, why not print it out and stick it up somewhere you can keep an eye on it and it can keep an eye on you.
Mass Observation Diary/Textbroker
As an unpublished, largely unread author, I was determined to make sure someone would look at my writing, even if it was after I was dead. So I made sure to submit to the University of Sussex Mass Observation Diary each year. It’s an archive of one day in May every year where people are urged to record what happened. I’ve been doing it ever since.
Textbroker was a service where companies put up short writing contracts and you bid for the opportunity to get paid about a penny a word to write them. That’s how I ended up writing copy for an architect in Cornwall. It worked well for the both of us; they needed cheap copy as a start-up and I wanted to write something with a captive audience. Also how else would I learn about the Marraum school of architecture? That Faber course on research was coming in handy!
I just checked out the architect’s current website. They clearly use a professional copywriter now and it looks good!
Shamefully, Textbroker also offered more peculiar gigs, including writing an article about the Hatton Gardens robbery for somebody’s homework? Of course, AI can do that for you now. I also wrote reviews for dodgy products sold online. 'This T-shirt was exactly what I was looking for with excellent sleeves and neckline. That kind of thing.
I’m not proud but, you see, it was my very first experience of getting paid for my writing and I was thrilled! See my Invoice 001!
Interview with Amy/Amy notes were where I drilled down with my main character to learn a bit more about her.
Write Now 2016 application was where I submitted to the Penguin Random House programme for seeking out and publishing writers from under-represented communities. As well as submitting directly to agents, the discipline of finding the competitions and mentorship programmes may be the incentive you need to push towards a deadline. I was almost immediately rejected when I applied for this. Yet another rejection to put towards my one hundred!
Les Vieux was a French poem that just took my fancy. I couldn’t find a translated version so I used my A-level French to do it myself and it appeared in my second novel – Love Letters – a mere eight years later! So you never know when something that catches your eye will become useful later on.
But I wasn’t a complete writing nerd in 2016, I did the normal things too!
Thanks for reading this far. Just one fun recommendation this month and it’s a daily quiz to see how much you’re like everyone else or maybe, more unique? You can only do it once a day so it won’t prove too distracting!