by Angela Cairns
What if one moment changed all your hopes and dreams? It’s what happens to my main character…
She was in my head for years. All I was waiting for was time to write it. Then I realised: if I’d written for even one hour a week for all those years, instead of waiting, a book or three would already be drafted.
So, I made time, one afternoon a week, and stuck to it. The characters that had been in my head, began to come to life. Then, inevitably, they gave me hassle. Tying my individual characters and story threads into a whole, with flow and meaning, was proving difficult.
Help came in the shape of The Writers' Company. I worked my way through all the courses, learnt so much; different writing styles, plotting and speech punctuation to name a few – well, the speech punctuation is still debatable! All were instrumental in crafting my novel Touch.
More importantly, I discovered a group of friends, all of whom brought wonderful imagination and creativity to the class. They critiqued thoughtfully and constructively as they conveyed their inevitable message: “Write it again!” What came out of the melting pot was better, more vibrant. The group also picked me up when I was down, cheered me on when I was flying, and helped me grieve when favourite bits had to be cut…
As I wrote ‘The End’ I thought the job was done! It took a further nine months to edit, proof-read and format.
Published in June, my novel Touch explores Physiotherapist Ellie Rose’s life, before and after tragedy, as she learns to live and love again. I chose the self-publishing route, so am now learning to promote and market as an indie author, it’s hard work, but fun and that’s another story entirely. The sequel is planned, I think I can write more efficiently this time, I want to try.
However, nothing will compare to holding that first author’s copy of Touch in my hands and seeing my book.
Touch is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book. You can also find it at Red Lion Books in Colchester.
