It took me ten years to get published. That's a whole decade
from sitting up in bed with my laptop on my … - well, my lap, I
guess - to signing that all-exciting first contract with Goldmann
Verlag.
I mention this, because I've just been asked as part of a blog
spot I've been invited to take part in. Together with Adrian Magson
and Sue Moorcroft, I get sent a weekly question from writers'
website SpikeTheCat as part of its new Ask The Author
feature. This week's starter for ten: How did I first get published
and how long did it take?
I was introduced to SpikeTheCat earlier this month by its
founder, Richard Hallows, when I gave a talk to the Swan and Penn
literary society in Buckingham. Richard believes a lot of good
writers never get chance to be published and SpikeTheCat is his way
of trying to redress the balance a bit.
As I understand it, it works like this:
SpikeTheCat runs short story competitions, mainly in the
detective or space adventure genres. Writers are invited to submit
entries with a £3 fee per story. The best twelve (ish) stories in
each competition get published (at no further cost to the authors)
in books with names like Someone Has to Die and Adventures in Time
and Space. The best two stories in each competition also get a cash
prize.
Now, I can't write short stories to save my life, so SpikeTheCat
probably wouldn't have helped me much, but I find myself rather
excited by it all the same. It's simple, honest, practical and, I'm
sure, hugely encouraging to those writers who get stories accepted.
Judging by the fact that it gets several thousand hits a month, I'm
obviously not alone in feeling this way.
The other new initiative I want to applaud (and give a massive
big plug for, if I may) is LitFest10. A literary festival, believed
to be the first in the UK organized by a publishing house.
LitFest 10 will be held in libraries across Hertfordshire from
25th March to 27th April. Topping the bill
will be two heroes of mine, Lee Child and Joanne Harris. Other
authors will include Channel 4 "TV Book Club" pick Belinda Bauer,
John O'Farrell and me. I'll be on a crime panel on 15 April. If you
live in Hertfordshire, it would be great to see you at … come to
think of it, they haven't told me where yet. Must chase that
up.