Looks as though stamping my foot in rage worked…Looking back on my blog entry in Jan 2013, it’s clear that I felt very far from publishing the book, and would never have envisaged that a year later, it would all be done and dusted, bar the shouting of reviewers. It goes to show how swift publication can be, once the wheels are set in motion and emphasises the fact that you really do have to be prepared, once the manuscript has been submitted, to throw everything at it. Of course, those writing academic texts have the veritable luxury of not having to pitch to agents, nor having to complete the work prior to acceptance.

Now I am venturing into fiction, I realise the importance of having the whole manuscript ready to go at once, should an agent or publisher express an interest. They will want to sell it now and see it on the shelves within a few months. They will most definitely not want ten thousand words plus a synopsis if they are going to have to wait until you’ve skived off work, used annual leave and waited until your children have left home, before you can finish the manuscript.

As numerous people are kind enough to point out to me, witches are flavour of the month right now. Yes, right now, so if any publisher is interested in my trilogy of novels based on witchcraft trials, then they are interested in seeing at least one completed already (sigh) plus synopses for the rest. So although it’s inspiring to discover that witches are the new vampires, I still have a day job and there are no extra hours in the day. Even my Mslexia Ms blog told me, so it must be true. It’s not always good to be ahead of the trend.