Struggling for Words - 23rd June 2024
So, we’re past the summer solstice, and it’s downhill to winter all the way - at least in the northern hemisphere, if you’re in the south then it’s a different prospect.
Winters here in the English Midlands are so variable, very rarely of the Christmas card scene variety, with snow frosting rooves and gardens. Instead, we often face damp and windy conditions - a bit like summer really. Personally, I find winter better for writing though, too miserable to entice me outdoors, and making my computer quite attractive.
How do they seasons affect you? Let me know in Notes.
I’m published by the incredibly supportive Sapere Books. I joined them in 2018, the year Sapere was founded, and I found it hard to believe at the time that they’d offered me a contract for my second novel. My first had been published by Holland House but by the time the second was ready, they’d ceased their crime imprint, Grey Cells Press, and I had to seek a new publisher. Having submitted my first to lots of publishers and agents, suffering rejection after rejection (and lots who didn’t even bother to reply at all) it wasn’t something I relished again. Hence my pleasure when my submission to Sapere Books was successful.
We hoped I’d get the rights back from Grey Cells Press, which they generously agreed, and so the journey to the five novels in the Inspector James Given series began.
One aspect of Sapere’s approach is to build a community of its published authors, so we meet from time to time, participate in occasional writing retreats, and share our trials and triumphs on a closed Facebook group. In addition, Sapere facilitates a weekly Zoom meet-up, which enables all those unable to make the face-to-face events to meet other authors.
Why am I telling you this? For two reasons, I guess. The first is to show getting a publisher isn’t everything. Getting the right publisher is.
My second reason is that one of the authors posted on the Facebook group this week about his new website, and I thought it would be interesting to share it this week. This will become a regular feature in Struggling for Words and will hopefully introduce authors you might not come across in the normal run of things
This first website belongs to C V Chauhan, author of a series of crime novels, based in Leicester and featuring Rohan Sharma, who is a relatively new and inexperienced homicide detective of South Asian origin.
Take a look at it here:
Chapter 20 of A Handkerchief for Maria is now posted. It’s quite a long one this week, so might need a couple of sittings to get through it. I could have split it, but decided not to. In this chapter, a child is born. To read it, and the previous ones, click the link below.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments.
Next weekend I’m going to the National Writers Conference in Birmingham (UK), the programme looks great, with some good sessions, and it will be exciting mixing with so many authors. I’ll report back after I’ve been.
If you happen to be going, drop me a note at charlie@charliegarratt.com, and we can perhaps say hello in person.