Hi friends,

Five years ago, as the threat of the pandemic loomed, I started writing my third thriller. It was an exciting, high-concept book with themes that I was passionate about. As lockdown days bled from one into another, I woke up at 4 every morning to get my writing in before a day of parenting and attempting to entertain 2-year-old Zach with an ever-dwindling roster of crafts. There was rawness, passion and heart in that book. There was an intense feeling of claustrophobia and fear in the lives of the characters that reflected the world outside. I was so proud of it. Despite all of this, I couldn’t make it work. My agent (at the time) and I edited multiple drafts and sent them back and forth until I admitted defeat. She wasn’t going to send the book to publishers. I have always believed that if you try your best, it all works out, but in this case it didn’t. The idea that excited me so much didn’t see the light of day.

I mention the effort that went into that book because, five years later, the story won’t let me go. And, in a move that is either bold or insane, I am rewriting the book from scratch. There is a new setting, new characters, a different twist and a new understanding of plot that I didn’t have back then. I have the old manuscript next to me at all times, and I am going through it systematically to see if there are scenes, descriptions or plot points I can put into the new one. So far, I am able to salvage about 5% of it. All those hours, early mornings and sacrificed time - in a moment in history where time was scarce for me - are being crossed out, line by line.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought. It’s an exciting challenge which has taught me an important lesson.

Failure isn’t a life sentence. It’s just a moment in time. It’s always possible to try again. Something one learns quickly in the publishing industry is that a project doesn’t always fail on merit. Sometimes it boils down to the wrong timing or the wrong market conditions. A ‘no’ seldom means you should stop trying.

Prolific fantasy author Brandon Sanderson speaks with Tim Ferris on his podcast about his regular practice of rewriting and even discarding work. The entire conversation is a masterclass in the craft of writing fiction, and on becoming a commercial author.

If you are looking to work on your own fiction writing,

And if you want to be more creative but don’t feel confident enough to start, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ted Talk on how creative genius is an innate language is always inspiring.

Reading

As far as reading is concerned, I (along with the rest of the literary world) am excited to get stuck into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count.

Before this, I was reading Hedley Twaddle’s collection of essays, Show Me The Place.

I met with my Bad Luck Penny publisher, Karavan Press on Sunday, and she gifted me a copy of Temperature, a collection of short stories by some wonderful local authors.

Zach has just started a new series called Twitch by MG Leonard, which is perfect fodder for a bird lover! Most importantly, he is studying his Sasol Book of Southern African frogs, to help him identify the frogs he catches in our garden on a daily basis. We are beginning to think he is simply catching the same poor frog, over and over! Anyway, the book has QR codes that link to the frog call, which is highly entertaining and immersive for kids.

Until next time,

x

Amy