This time last year, I was busy using Lockdown to write a new novel and getting on really well. This year, Lockdown 3 has been very different. I have been in school almost full time, working with those students who were entitled to keep coming in. I also volunteered to be on the Test and Trace team, and helped with the swabbing and testing of staff and students for weeks. So it’s safe to say that writing and submitting have taken a back seat over the last two months.
But now it’s the Easter holidays and I finally have some time to get back to my “other job”. I shall spend the next few days identifying the next round of agents to approach, preparing the letters and meeting the submission requirements for each. Plenty of work, and for no rewards yet. I know it’s only been three months, but, well… it’s lucky that I actually enjoy my job as a Teaching Assistant. And if it is my destiny to remain as just that, then it might help to remember the following…
Things I will never have to worry about if I don’t get published.
1. People telling me that they didn’t like my novel.
2. Doing my own taxes.
3. Making awkward small talk on book tours.
4. Teenagers ‘shipping’ my characters in inappropriate ways.
5. Terrible film/tv adaptations that completely change the story.
6. Returns.
7. Writer’s block.
8. Being asked for J K Rowling’s autograph.
9. Being informed of mistakes in my novel.
10. Saying the wrong thing on Twitter.
Ahh well, shouldn’t get maudlin for at least another year!
M J Schofield 