Meeting my agent!

I haven’t posted on here since last weekend because I’ve been busy, busy, busy! It was an exciting week for several reasons! I went to London to stay with my friend Sarah and met her lovely baby son Daniel for the first time. But that wasn’t the only meeting I had – while I was there I finally had the chance to shake hands with my agent for the first time!

I sent The Watchers to Aitken Alexander because they represent my writing tutor Bernie McGill. I sent it off with no great hopes, knowing the doom and gloom stories and telling myself sternly that I should prepare for the worst. Luckily Gillie was very enthusiastic about the sample chapters of the book, which encouraged me to finish writing it!

We had spoken on the phone but it’s great to get the chance to meet someone in person, especially when they live far away. Gillie is lovely and made me feel at ease. She could see I found the whole experience a little unreal at first and apparently I’m not the only new writer to feel this way. After all, writing a book is such a solitary experience. It’s just you and the computer screen. It feels strange sending it out into the world and giving it a life of its own!

We had a very pleasant lunch and a good chat. It’s fantastic getting a chance to talk to someone who knows so much about the whole publishing industry. She gave me some advice about a couple of chapters which need ‘trimmed’ so that’s what I’m working on this weekend. They’re small changes but I can already see the difference – how tightening some paragraphs increases the pace and flow of the action.

Alas, I think I have procrastinated enough! Back to the grindstone!