Tag Archives: the diary of an unpublished author
Dealing with criticism as a writer
Recently I submitted two short stories to my Creative Writing tutor. Sometimes when I submit my work, I have a feeling in my gut that she’s going to like it. When she opens her mouth to tell me what she thinks, I’m waiting for her to confirm my suspicions and tell me that I’m brilliant. […]
Writing a novel: the beginning
In the interest of being honest and open, and sharing my entire writing journey here on my blog, I suppose I should say that I have started working (mainly thinking) on a new novel! It’s really exciting, but something in me hesitates to talk openly about it, simply because it is still all so new […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #10: Back to University
Dear Diary, It’s been a while since I’ve written to you. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve written anything at all. Since self-publishing my book last summer, I’ve been in a bit of a slump. Stuck in a limbo of what now. I’ll be the first to admit that self-publishing was never my […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #8
Dear Diary, This one is all about rejections. Dum, dum, dum. I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t received any rejections from literary agents in the quest for a book publishing deal… Don’t worry, people will tell you. [Insert famous author name here] received hundreds of rejections before they finally got published. That’s all well and good, and […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #7 (or how to apply for literary agents)
Dear Diary, It’s coming to that time of year again. Nope, I’m not talking about mince pies and Christmas lights and terrible but wonderful festive films. (Although, yes that is true too. Can we talk about how great Arthur Christmas is for a minute?!) I’m talking about the time of year where I bear my […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #6
Dear Diary, Today I’m going to talk about motivation. Perhaps it will start off about writing, but I think it will end up being about life, as inevitably everything does. The two are intrinsically linked, you see – writing and life. In many ways my writing is my life; it is, quite honestly, the most important […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #5
Dear Diary, This one’s all about redrafting. I’ve got mixed feelings towards the process, mainly because on one hand it’s inexplicably important and so completely necessary, and on the other it’s inexplicably hard work and so completely soul-destroying. I’ve started to lose count of the amount of times I have gone through and edited my […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #4
Dear Diary, Let’s talk for a moment about rejection. What does it mean, exactly, to have somebody tell you that your work isn’t good enough? That it’s not exactly what they were looking for, that they don’t feel passionately enough about it to offer you representation. That they couldn’t find an agent who felt strongly […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #3
Dear Diary,
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #1
In which Beth decides to begin chronicling the ups and downs (mainly downs) of her illustrious writing career.
Forever on a Lilo 