Minimal progress while away for a few days

71. Thursday 30 April & Friday 1 May

I was in London from Wednesday to Sunday. I did very little in terms on working on my novel, but I did make some progress, hence writing this as one day. I met Narissa on Friday, which was mainly a catch-up but we did talk about our writing. She had read through my 500-word synopsis and gave me feedback. I also made notes on information I think is relevant/important to incorporate into agent emails. I’m still impressed with myself for reading the whole novel in one day (except the first three chapters, which I’d worked on the day before).

                I realise that reading it in one day meant it was easier to spot inaccuracies and it obviously kept me in the world of the story and more focussed. My plan for next week is to work on my synopsis and a template of sorts for agent emails. If any more friends read it and give feedback, I’ll also make any changes where necessary.

                It’s currently with Chris G (reread!), Chris W (whose chapters 1-3 feedback I’ve already had), Sarah S (who read up to chapter 10 and told me she was enjoying it and was excited to read more) and Fiona. I always want to ask people if they’ve read more, what they’re thinking, etc, as they go along, but that would be annoying, so I’m sitting back, waiting and hoping at least one of them will read it over the next week and be able to give me some feedback.

                As for my reference to a template for agents. Every email I’ve written to agents (for my previous two novels) has been different, usually based on what they’ve written in their agent bios. However, I generally find it easier to have a basic framework that I can copy and paste sections of. For example, the information about my book is probably going to be identical for all cover emails.

                My plan for this template is:

Dear

The one-liner (mine is actually two sentences, 32 words)

Comparisons with two other books or TV/film (I’m currently thinking Janice Hallet or Thursday Murder Club and Only Murders in the Building)

About the story and why I wrote it/how it relates to me

About me

Why that particular agent and/or agency

Sign-off

                I’m hoping to keep it within 300 words, but I haven’t even written a draft version yet.

In other news, I had appointments and errands in London, but I also managed to meet up with three friends, plenty of walks and it was good to have a few days of sunshine and full-on spring colours. It is far more behind here, both temperature and greenery, than I realised, though the top two photos below, are from when I set off at 6am on Wednesday ... 1.5 degrees C and foggy. The two London photos were not taken so early in the morning!