Writing about the Romans in Britain

I have just finished editing my novel, ‘The Barbarian’ set on Hadrian’s Wall in AD170. There’s been a lot of research done on Romans in Britain and the wall itself. This novel idea came to me when we visited Birdoswald Fort a couple of years ago, absolutely fascinating! I didn’t appreciate it when we lived up there in the 1970s. Now I am sending it to publishers, fingers crossed.

Ever hopeful

I have just received another email from an agent turning down ‘Holloway 8632’.  I am disappointed.  I have however sent out ‘An honourable Man’ to parties who may be interested and am still waiting to hear back.  I have found it a struggle to write recently, I think it’s a combination of fatigue and lack of time.  I need to set aside some ‘writing time’ each day if I can.  I

Waiting

I have approached several publishers with Holloway 8632, and now it’s just a matter of waiting..

Meanwhile, I have finished the first review of my next book which is now entitled ‘An honourable man.’ I am now going to put it away until after Christmas to try and get some distance form it.  I am taking bits of it to my writing group for feedback.  the writing group has been going for over ten years and it is a really valuable tool in my writing process.  The other members provide very constructive comments.

One finished, one sent

I have spent the last week or so sending out my Novel ‘Holloway 8632’ to publishers again, hoping that there may be more interest due to the success of the film ‘Suffragette.’

I have now finished the first draft of my novel about Indians in the first world war.  It is as yet untitled.  Now the revision process begins.

Suffragette Film

I saw the film Suffragette last night at the cinema.  It was very moving and I thought it was great.  It starts in 1910, which is when my novel is drawing to  close.  It has inspired me to send out my novel again to publishers, but I may need to do a bit of work on it first.

published in paperback

I am now very excited as my novel is available in paperback from lulu.com.  In about 6 weeks it will be available in paperback through amazon. With the current interest in Meryl Streep filming ‘Suffragette’ about Mrs Pankhurst, I will try to work up a script again for the novel.  Script writing is hard, so I’ll see how I get on…

BBC

I have just received an email from the BBC saying that my script submission is not of the appropriate quality for them to proceed with. Unfortunately, they are unable to provide detailed feedback.  I am disappointed, but it was a good exercise for me to undertake

Interview

I have just been interviewed by Steven Bumfrey on Radio Norfolk.  The interview went on for almost half an hour – I was surprised.  I found myself gesticulating as I was talking – great Radio!!  We talked about magistrates and the prison system, as well as the suffrage movement and my novel.  He was a very good interviewer and I felt completely relaxed.  I did make a mistake though – I said Black Friday was in 2010 instead of 1910…  Interestingly, he said he thought the novel would make a good tv series or one off drama.  I replied that I’d sent off my submission to the BBC writers’ room…. So watch this space.

  

I’ve now got to wait ’til 4pm so that I can have a listen to the interview on iplayer.  

 

The interview will hopefully generate interest in the magistracy too.

Publicity

I have been told that more sales are needed before my book is brought out in paperback.  I’m struggling to thing of ways to promote my book.  It seems writing it and getting it published was the easy part

Reviews

I’ve got two great reviews on Amazon for my novel.