Book Proposals

More than a week since my last post but I do have a good excuse.
I’ve been working on my next book proposal. I wish you could just say to an editor - “This is my idea for a book….. Yes, isn’t it great? Good, I’ll start working on it and expect my advance soon.”

However, publishing doesn’t work like that, at least not for me, and while I don’t like writing proposals I admit they are a good exercise. A proposal focuses on your idea and makes you think about how you are going to present it and the structure of your book. It also shows you if your idea is strong enough to carry a whole book. The proposal doesn't always reflect the exact structure of the finished book, but it does provide a framework to work with in.

My proposal is finished and emailed it to my agent who has sent it out, so now I wait and wait. Instead of sitting at my computer constantly checking emails for a response I decided to do some food styling to occupy my mind and more importantly earn some money. For the last week I’ve been in a photo studio and I am back there again next week, so don’t expect much posting. I have rediscovered just how much a job cuts into your writing and thinking time, and I have admiration for those who hold a full time job and write.

Today I am making dinner for friends and testing two recipes for the next book. Unlike last week I am thinking about what flavours go together in a dish, rather than simply considering how it looks.