Friday 14 March 2014

Things are looking up

It's been a good few weeks.

The incessant rain seems to have finally decided to stop. We've even had some warm weather. Foggy mornings, and hazy sunshine have replaced the floods.

I am making very good progress on The Cross and The Curse, the sequel to The Serpent Sword. I am up to 34,000 words on the first draft and adding another 3,000 or 4,000 words each week. I am guessing it will be about 120,000 words when complete, so I'm about a quarter of the way through. I have written a synopsis for it, which I didn't do at this stage for The Serpent Sword. It was a real challenge, but something very worthwhile, as it has really helped me to focus on the plot. Writing it has even thrown up some twists and turns that I had not expected when I was just dreaming the story up in my head. The best thing was that my agent liked the synopsis.

Oh yes, did I say agent?

That's right. The biggest news of all is that I am now represented by a literary agent! Robin Wade, of Wade & Co Literary Agency, is now my agent! He plans to pitch The Serpent Sword to senior editors of major publishing houses at the London Book Fair in April. I am over the moon, as this is a huge step and one that I believed would take a lot longer. Having a reputable literary agent with a proven track record means I can knuckle down to writing book 2 and hopefully, await good news when my book gets sold to an editor. Agents sell books to editors for a living and act as the first gatekeepers in the traditional publishing world. Robin's acceptance of my book is a huge vote of confidence in the quality of my writing. He thinks it is good enough to be published and I am now closer to getting that elusive book deal.

So that makes two of us who think it should be published. I hope a publisher soon joins the exclusive club of fans of my work!

4 comments:

  1. congratulations Matthew! Excellent news.

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  2. Congrats mate, it's a huge vote of confidence in your writing. I know rejections hurt like a Seax through the heart and you must be floating up towards Waelheall right now :)

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    1. Thanks, Carl! I am hoping that Woden smiles on me as my agent pitches my novel to publishers!

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