How Jane got to be on the shelf…

While you’re here I thought you might be interested in how I got published. Every writer has a different story to tell, and for those of you who are thinking about maybe putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, this is mine…

Back in 1996 I spent a lot of time at dinner parties and on friends’ sofas talking about the possibility of maybe, one day, I mean who-knows-how-life-will-turn-out-really, but if I had more time then, perhaps writing a book. After listening to me tell this story and make excuses one time too many my boyfriend at the time encouraged me to stop talking and start writing and so in the days when laptops were far from portable unless you were a bodybuilder, I bought my very first computer and on Saturdays I resisted the call of the shops and started bonding with my keyboard at the kitchen table.

By the summer of 1998 I had played a great deal of Solitaire and FreeCell, tinkered a little, procrastinated a lot and had written the first draft of my very first book, Life’s Just A Phase I’m Going Through, yet despite the fact that I was a television researcher for a living, I hadn’t looked into what happened next.

It only took a few calls to publishers for me to become familiar with the word ‘unsolicited’ and to realise that most would only look at submissions that came to them through an agent and so, after finally reading a few books on “how to get published” I bought my very first copy of the Writers’ & Artists Yearbook, and after reading up on literary agents, made a wish list.

I wrote a synopsis and sent it off with the requisite three sample chapters to a select few and tried not to take an unhealthy interest in the post. No news was surely good news. I’d read the articles, six figure deals, bidding wars based on a couple of chapters…optimism ruled. Then slowly but surely the letters of thanks-but-no-thanks started to arrive and I realised that I wasn’t going to be retiring to a beachfront property in LA any time soon.

Burying myself in my day job I pretended not to care and then, after a trip to New York in November 1998 - during which I announced categorically to one of my best friends that I was definitely, well probably, or at least thinking about, well-maybe-one-more-book-and-then-we’ll-see, giving up on the whole writing thing - I returned home on the red-eye to find an envelope from Blake Friedmann. I must have read the letter from Carole Blake at least ten times. Not only was she in the top three of my agent wish-list but she was interested in looking at the complete manuscript. And by mid-December 1998 I had a literary agent. Many celebratory drinks ensued.

One of the first pieces of advice Carole had for her newest client was not to give up her day job as the publishing process could take time. I nodded sagely pushing daydreams of enormous advances and loft apartments to one side, and continued to work at the BBC where I was promoted to Assistant Producer, giving me less time to write, but also less time to wait under the letterbox for news from publishers.

After a bit of a rewrite, Life’s Just A Phase I’m Going Through was sent to a selection of editors but no one was that interested. In the post “Bridget Jones” market, most publishers had signed up their new young female writers and I was just too late for the first wave of the so-called Chick Lit revolution. A flood of rejections ensued and while many of the editors had a few positive comments and all my friends and family rallied round with tea and biscuits and told me not to take it personally, I took it personally.

Yet, each time I punched holes into a “I like it but I don’t really love it” letter and filed it away for posterity, my skin thickened and it was only a few weeks before, taking on board the constructive criticism, I became more focused and determined to write my next novel. I can’t really explain it, except to say that not writing was simply not an option. Filing the rejected manuscript under my bed, I started again and realised how much I’d missed actually writing something over the past few months of waiting.

In the summer of 1999, I took six weeks off work between contracts to start writing my second book, Name & Address Withheld. Six weeks of being a writer really agreed with me and my enthusiasm was greater than ever. By the end of my time off I had a full synopsis, character biographies and couldn’t wait to start writing the novel, yet suddenly I was back at work and there was no time. Real life had got in the way.

In February 2000, I left my job at the BBC and moved back home to focus on writing before Carole forgot that I existed. In just over two months the first draft was complete but despite my rent-free existence, I had run out of money and with no trust fund, rich husband or mystery benefactor to help me out, it was time to change things around once again.

In a perfect moment of serendipity a chance opportunity landed in my lap through a friend of my brother’s and I started working as a part-time PA in Mayfair, London. While I have to confess that initially I wasn’t overjoyed at the prospect – going from Assistant Producer to PA had not been my game-plan, I soon realised that it was the perfect means to an end, that I could bluff my way as a PA, that Excel spreadsheets weren’t as scary as they looked, that my boss and I had a great understanding, and most importantly, that it enabled me live independently in London, while leading a double life.

Writing at weekends and in the mornings before heading off to work at midday, another round of “it lacks that special something” and a couple of drafts of the manuscript later, in December 2001 I signed a contract with the hot new North American publishers on the block, Red Dress Ink. My contract was for two books and so, after much celebrating, general pinching of self and a few final tweaks to the manuscript for Name & Address Withheld, in April 2002 I started writing my next novel, Lost & Found.

Name & Address Withheld hit the shelves in the UK and North America in December 2002 and was well received on both sides of the Atlantic. It has since been published in Australia, Italy, Greece, Poland and Sweden.

I finished writing Lost & Found in March 2003 and it was published in November 2003 in the UK, January 2004 in North America and February 2004 in Australia. It has also been translated into Italian and more foreign language editions are to follow.

In June 2003 I signed a new contract with Red Dress Ink for three more books and my third book, Technical Hitch - the novel approach to love, marriage and living together - was published in 2005 and nominated for a Quills Award.

In 2006 Like Mother, Like Daughter, my fourth novel, was published by MIRA in the UK and by Red Dress Ink in North America and shot to number 11 in the Heatseekers chart. My previous titles also continue to be translated and published abroad and I am building up quite a collection of books I can't check for typing errors myself.

2007 was a two book year for me. Confessions of An Agony Aunt - a re-packaging of Name & Address Withheld, complete with author extras and a brand new short story - was published in March. My next novel, The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter, reached the bookshelves of North America and the UK later in the year, introducing a whole new word to the English language. Romancipation: the freedom for women to love whom they choose whilst retaining their own space and identity. Arguably the final stage in women's liberation.

The novel received good reviews and after giving a number of radio interviews, I hit the road (or rather I got on the tube, bus, train and into my car) to do some reading aloud in book stores. After months locked away in my writery tower, it was a process I thoroughly enjoyed.

I currently have three novels in various stages of development and in a shock move not all of them are romantic comedies. I am also still daring myself to write a screenplay and then of course there is the fantasy stand-up (or as I get older, more likely to be sit-down) comedy career, oh and my radio DJ moment .as I have learned over the years, never say never.

In the meantime, I have been trying my hand at being a columnist. Check out my efforts in Tales From The Doghouse.