As many of you know, I succumbed to Covid in November and I have been struggling with fatigue and brain fog ever since, making reading and writing pretty challenging. My research has all but ground to a halt (although I did finish both Unwell Women by Dr Elinor Cleghorn and Sex Lessons from History by Fern Riddell, both of which have provided some great material for consideration in what I am tentatively calling The Web; my next work of historical fiction) and my ability to retrieve the words I want to use seems fairly impaired at times. I can only hope this period of festive resting will help me to make some significant recovery.
In spite of this, I have dragged myself from the bed to the couch today to put in some effort to collate everything I need for making a new endeavour to engage a literary agent. I have updated by writer’s CV with all the articles I was invited to write as part of my recent publicity campaign for Three with Cameron Publicity, as well as some of the recent great reviews my novel has received.
I am attempting to be brave in making a third attempt to secure a literary agent. Whilst I have received some positive feedback and encouragement, it really does feel like the Holy Grail. What is required is vulnerability and new writers must develop a thicker skin to navigate the rejection and stay committed to learning from criticism (something I also learn from reading some of my reviews, some of which make me groan with the inability to respond!). With Covid making me feel so poorly, I haven’t felt inclined to embrace such vulnerability but today I take the first step towards that again, even if it has mainly been administrative.
In the meantime, I am happy contemplating my characters and chatting with my husband about what I would love to see on the cover of my next book…
Three: The Tale of Brave Women and the Eyam Plague by Jennifer Jenkins 