The manuscript of my latest novel is almost ready for submitting to agents and publishers. I was in the same position two years ago and it took ten months to secure a deal. I’m going to use the same approach as before. I’ve compiled a list of where to send the manuscript and will work through it by sending out submissions in batches. In the last few weeks, I’ve been polishing the opening chapters and was keen to look back to see how the first paragraph had changed during the latest revisions. The essence remains the same but little tweaks have meant the writing is tighter. Here are the paragraphs for you to compare:
July 2023, Slingback Resort
Moonlight slid through the full-length windows and illuminated the trail of their abandoned clothes across the hotel bedroom floor. Night came early in the southern hemisphere and Ashley anticipated the rest of their evening. She wanted to enjoy drinks on the terrace but it wasn’t the right time to suggest the idea. Instead, she straightened the pillow in its white cotton case and rested against it. The air conditioning pumped cool waves across their naked bodies and she longed to share the warmth emanating from James’s skin. Inhaling the briny smell of sex and sweat, Ashley moved closer and placed her head into the nook between his chin and shoulder. A sigh made her slump closer.
November 2023, Three Couples
Moonlight slunk into the hotel room and Ashley noticed how it illuminated the trail of abandoned clothes across the marble floor. James had cracked her open like a nut. She stretched on top of rucked cotton sheets until a tap on her shoulder registered. His index finger commanded that she tuck her head into the nook between his shoulder and chin. She settled into place there, and found the musky smell of him soothing. James sighed as the tension he carried evaporated. It was the same for her. She enjoyed a momentary sense of relaxation but then heat from his body pulsed and she was glad of cool bursts from the air conditioning unit.
Towards the end of each year, Emma Welton at Damp Pebbles invites book bloggers, bookstagrammers and published authors to choose three must-read titles published in that year. There are 50 posts in total for 2021 and currently there’s over 110 individual publications listed including This Much Huxley Knows. Thank you so much to Julie Morris at A Little Book Problem who recommends my novel and says:
This is a book that will have slipped under many people’s radar as it isn’t published by a mainstream publisher and I think that is a great shame because I don’t think I have ever read a book that so clearly describes life from the point of view of a child or captures so brilliantly the joy and pain of being a seven-year-old that doesn’t quite fit in. This is such an individual book, both saddening and uplifting to read and it deserves a really wide audience. I hope including it encourages more people to pick it up.
In other pre-Christmas news, I was interviewed by Melanie at Grab The Lapels in one of her regular Meet the Author posts. The interesting questions generated discussion amongst readers which you can follow here.
We’re away over the Christmas week (all being well) but we still decorated our tree. Doesn’t it look pretty?
If I don’t post again before the holidays, please accept my good wishes for Christmas.
I love writing a blog because I’m never quite sure who my posts will reach. Earlier this year Barbara Conrey got in touch and introduced me to her debut novel Nowhere Near Goodbye. It’s a well-paced, intense and thought-provoking novel which has received many superb reviews. I’d like to welcome Barbara to The Writer is a Lonely Hunter to discuss her book.
About the author
Barbara Conrey is the USA Today Bestselling author of NOWHERE NEAR GOODBYE, published on August 4th, 2020, by Red Adept Publishing.
NOWHERE NEAR GOODBYE is Barbara Conrey’s debut novel.
Previously, Barbara worked in the health care industry before opting for an early retirement, which lasted all of three months. She then accepted a finance position, for which she had absolutely no background, and four years later, she decided to write a book. But not about finance.
Travel is her passion, along with reading, writing, hiking, and exploring antique shops. Her greatest love is Miss Molly, her rescue beagle. There are stories to be told about beagles, and Barbara hopes to incorporate some of them into her books.
Barbara lives in Pennsylvania, close to family and friends.
About Nowhere Near Goodbye
A mother’s love vs. a doctor’s oath.
Oncologist Emma Blake has dedicated her life to finding a cure for a rare brain cancer. Twenty-five years ago, Emma’s childhood friend Kate died of glioblastoma, and Emma vowed to annihilate the deadly disease. Now, Kate’s father, Ned, is pushing her to work harder to fulfill that promise.
When Emma discovers she’s pregnant, she’s torn between the needs of her family and the demands of her work. While Ned pressures her to do the unthinkable, her husband, Tim, decorates the nursery. Unwilling to abandon her research, Emma attempts to keep both sides of her life in balance.
Emma knows she needs to reconcile her past with her present and walk the fine line between mother and physician. But Ned has a secret, and when Emma discovers what he’s been hiding, the foundation of her world cracks.
Nowhere Near Goodbye is a story of family, failure, and second chances.
Q&A
Nowhere Near Goodbye is a great title. Were there others in contention? Why did you settle upon this title?
I also love this title (Nowhere Near Goodbye)! My first title was Remembering Kate because the story was originally about the child who died of Glioblastoma, not the doctor who researched the disease and discovered a procedure that would remove the tumor in its entirety without destroying healthy brain tissue.
Nowhere Near Goodbye was really organic: Emma, the pediatric oncologist who discovered the cure, was (first) Kate’s childhood friend. She was nowhere near ready to say goodbye to Kate when Kate died.
The novel has a gorgeous cover. Can you share the thinking behind this design?
I had seen a book cover that portrayed a window, and I loved it for its simplicity. When I explained to the designer who created the cover what I wanted, I ended up describing one of the most poignant scenes in the book. The only surprise was the African violet that sits on the windowsill. That was the designer’s addition. Unbeknownst to him, African violets were part of the table settings in my daughter’s garden wedding reception and have always been a favorite house plant of mine.
There seems to be an absence of grieving in the novel for the early death of Kate. Does this happen off stage or could it account for the ways some of the characters behave?
The absence of grieving was purposeful because the story was not about Kate. Still, Kate was never forgotten, and it was her death that caused so much good to happen: Emma’s determination to become an oncologist and find a cure for Glioblastoma.
Mother-daughter relationships are put under the microscope in Nowhere Near Goodbye. Was this always your intention?
Yes! I want to put these relationships under the microscope to study what makes us (as both mothers and daughters) do the things we do. Love the way we do.
I find the subject fascinating, maybe because of my relationship with my own mother, where I never realized she understood me until she was dying, and maybe because of my relationships with my own daughters. Writers can mine a wealth of stories just from studying mothers and daughters and the love/hate emotions they inspire.
In reading work by the feminist theorist Judith Keegan Gardiner, she proposes that for women writers the hero is her author’s daughter. What is your relationship to the characters you have created?
I’m part of all of my characters. I’m torn between what I should do and what I want to do, like Emma. I’m irreverent, like Kate. I’m driven, like Ned. I’m feisty, like Miss Maggie.
What’s next for you, Barbara?
Next is Miss Maggie’s story. I fell in love with her in Nowhere Near Goodbye. She entered the story as a sixty-year-old woman who has her own demons to fight, but she always had Emma’s back – even when Emma thought she was against her, Miss Maggie was only trying to show Emma the difference between what she wanted and what she thought she wanted.
Gail’s review of Nowhere Near Goodbye
A remarkable novel of ambition, heartbreak and redemption, Nowhere Near Goodbye follows the journey of Emma who is inspired to find a cure for a rare cancer that killed her childhood friend. Emma is a driven woman who prioritises research commitments over relationships in order to make amends for the misplaced guilt she shoulders over Kate’s early death. Are her sacrifices worthwhile? Only if the promise of a fresh start comes to fruition. A thoroughly absorbing read.
the writer is a lonely hunter 