How it Started

When I began writing this story in 2018, I immediately fell in love with the characters, the story, and the setting. Of all my projects, (and I have a few) this proved to be the book of my heart. Writing it seemed easier than my previous projects. Words poured out as though they were coming from a hidden compartment somewhere deep inside me. And in three months the first draft was complete. Then I let it rest whilst I focused on another project. Six months later I picked it up again, and then came the revisions, edits, more revisions, more edits …

That took months.

Feb 2020, I was ready – at least I thought I was. Since #WMPitch and #PitMad were coming up, I tirelessly worked on my pitch, and also had lots of help from the writing community who as soon as they read the pitch, were equally excited as I was.

June 2020
I pitched it…
and
WOW, just WOW!

June 2020 #PitMad

I was BLOWN AWAY by the excitement and the support from the writing community. I couldn’t believe I’d written something that so many people thought was worth a look, a like, a retweet, or a comment!

Here’s the pitch!

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS

• “Omg I have chills. #NEED”
• “GOOSEBUMPS! This gave me GOOSEBUMPS. I cannot wait to read this, oh my gosh.”
• “Is it wrong to be mad at a pitch because I’m like… and then what happens???? (I’m mad. Which means I need this book.)”
• “I never knew I needed these 2 comps put together! This sounds fantastic!”
• “This! It’s got a Cinderella mystery man and an academic setting with some royalty intrigue afoot. But I love this so much and this is one YA Contemporary that needs to be boosted too.”

A few months later in Aug 2020, I received THE call.

Finally, a fabulous agent wanted to represent me… a dream come true! Years of writing. Years of querying. Years …

It finally happened!

And in September 2020, I accepted her offer and we got to work. Unfortunately, right at the time I was starting my revisions I lost someone very dear to me, my biggest advocate who had been with me every step of the way, my best friend, my everything…my mother.

Heartbroken, my writing could have gone either way. Either stop writing forever. Or write the best book I could to make her proud. I chose the latter. I poured my grief into rewriting this story and worked extensively with my agent to transform it from a YA Contemporary to a YA Contemporary Fantasy.

In Jan 2021, my agent decided to leave the business and in Feb 2021 I dove into the query trenches, my revamped book in hand.

Incoming… March 2021 #PitMad.

I was excited and nervous.

What if I get zero agent likes? What if the tweet gets no traction at all? June 2020 could have been a fluke.

And now I would find out….

March 2021 #PitMad

I tweaked my original June 20 pitch and went for it.

And here’s the tweet:

A few highlights…

• “Agents & editors… YOU NEED TO BE SNAPPING THIS UP! IT’S ONE OF THE MOST GLORIOUSLY MAGICAL AND PERFECT YA FANTASIES I HAVE EVER READ. TALK ABOUT BEING SWEPT OFF MY FEET.”
•  “I said it before, and I’ll say it again…this book needs to be out…like now!”
•  “This sounds like the next Disney hit!!”
•  “I would read this in a heartbeat. A great match for all of the cross-cultural Cinderella’s out there. Let me know when I can buy this!”
• “This sounds so beautiful!! Can’t wait to see the Disney adaptation of this.”

Once again, I was BLOWN AWAY by the support from the writing community.

And 11 days later, I received THE call.

Offer of Representation from a fabulous agent!

7 days later I accepted.

Soon after signing, my agent and I got to work …

More on this soon.

*I’ll update this page as and when I have more to share*

Thank you for reading!