My first experience of Crimefest!

I've taken a while to write this post. Mainly because it took me a while to recover from Crimefest!

Crimefest is an annual International Crime Fiction Convention held in Bristol, where readers, bloggers, writers, agents and publishers all gather (mostly in the bar I found out) to enjoy four days of brilliant panels, interviews and award presentations.

Being a newbie I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was excited to be going (and surprisingly nervous). I knew a fair few virtual friends from my Facebook and Twitter would be there, and I spent a lot of time with my eyes down, checking out people's names and madly shouting 'ooh, it's you!'

I had met up with my lovely friend and fellow writer, Libby for this experience, and together we navigated the hotel floors (badly sometimes) to reach the panels we wanted to see.

A surprise lift companion caused an 'oh my God' moment and I'm not sure I recovered from that for a while. But, Ian Rankin was delightful, and helpful as it turned out - and was also happy to have a picture with Libby. I wasn't brave enough to ask for another picture - it was my first few hours of being there - I hadn't had a drink yet! His interview the following day was a real treat too - as he read the first pages of his brand new, yet-to-be-published book!

The panels we attended were extremely well organised, spot-on with their timings and well moderated to give each author a chance to participate in the discussions. It was difficult to choose which panels to go to as there were two or three happening at any one time. There was a lot of scooting between rooms and floors and even though it was simply laid out, I still managed to become disorientated and wasn't sure where I was half the time.

We managed to meet some of the authors following their panels and get some books signed - I wanted to get far more books than I did, however, I did come away with some corkers and had some fab ones in my goody bag! I also have a great list of new-to-me authors, and actual-new authors to try, which is really exciting.

I also need to thank a lovely lady who gave me one of her books so that I could swap it for what appeared to be the last available proof copy of Anna Mazzola's 'The Unseeing' - she obviously sensed my desperation... I didn't get her name in my excitement - but THANK YOU! I had enjoyed the Deadly Dames panel with Anna Mazzola, Chris Curran, Caroline Kepnes and Janet Laurence with Quentin Bates moderating, so much, and the way Anna talked about her research for her debut historical crime novel, The Unseeing, was so fascinating I just had to have it!

Other highlights of my Crimefest experience include: meeting the wonderful Susi Holliday (SJI Holliday) and getting a quick pic :)

Meeting author Caroline Mitchell and having a chat during the CWA Dagger announcement ceremony. I have to thank her for her patience during the many attempts at getting the 'right' photo! I went for the somber look in the end - thank goodness there was wine.

Also the brilliant Making A Murderer -  a case for and against. This was entertaining and fascinating, the excellent defence - Steve Cavanagh, and prosecution - Neil White, were clever and witty, as was the amazing Judge - Sophie Hannah. And I sat next to the author David Jackson - lovely to meet him in the flesh! 

I really enjoyed the audible panel - very interesting how authors and narrators approach their roles. Fascinating to hear that Mark Billingham, who now narrates his own novels, alters some of the story to fit the audio version - a great discussion ensued about the pitfalls of certain narratives being extremely challenging in this format.

Oh, and I finally found some courage to ask for a picture with Mark - woop-woop!

Dark hearts, troubled souls - this was a fascinating panel with an amazing line-up of authors: Ann Cleeves, Ann Holt, Paul Hardisty and Kati Hiekkapelto - moderated expertly by Tim Adler. A real delight to be in such talented company, and the insights to what an author's responsibility may, or may not be, was a lively discussion and resulted in some great questions from the audience. 

And I managed a sneaky group photo at the end of this panel:

Haha! How great is this? :) 

Another great panel - and one that made me laugh the most, was Sending Shivers Down the Spine - absolutely brilliant and I felt the audience found out a lot about each of the author's personal fears - clowns being one, well - except for Alexandra (A K Benedict) who delighted in freaking everyone out with the things she loves - hysterical. The other panellists were the lovely, and very funny Jenny Blackhurst, clown-hating Mason Cross and the delightful Kate Ellis. 

I can't begin to cover all that happened, each panel, each wonderful person I met - but I will say - the crime writing community is bloody amazing and I hope I'll meet more of the talented authors and the inspiring bloggers who work tremendously hard, in the future. Great to finally meet Liz Barnsley, Liz Loves Books too, as well as other fab bloggers - I aim to join you all in the bar next time because you rock it! (According to all the stories and photographic evidence).

I had a thoroughly fantastic time, very tiring - but brilliant. I only did two days this time (I know - what a lightweight!), but will most definitely be doing the full four next year.

Here are some more pictures of the panels to leave you with:

Will look forward to next year! 

A spot of reinvention...

“What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Over the weekend I spent some time changing my name on all my social media platforms.

Some people asked, 'why?'

There are numerous reasons writers choose to use pen names, or pseudonyms - some reasons can be found HERE 

My aim as a writer now, is to write psychological thriller/crime novels. In the past I have written short stories under Samantha Bacchus - and these have been a different style and genre, aiming for the Women's magazines. I've also self-published my own collection of short stories for the same market. This is a reason some authors decide a pen name is best, because they write in differing genres. 

I love my name, don't get me wrong. What's not to love about having the God of wine as my surname? But is it a name that can be spelt and pronounced wrongly?

Yes.

Every day I get phone calls for Mrs Batch-us as well as weird and wonderful variations of spelling on letters: Bachus, Backus, Bachous. Etc, etc.

Now, I'm not saying that by using my maiden name: Carrington, that there will be no spelling errors! I'm sure there will be. But, less so I hope. And going back to my old name will be a fitting tribute to my late parents. 

When future readers search my name, I'm hoping Carrington will be easier to find! 

And yes, for those of you of a certain age - I did get a lot of Dynasty-related jokes when I was at school, and the sound of the theme tune seemed to follow me around. 

It still resides in my head...

Anyway, my reinvention has begun. Or rather, I've gone back to who I was. This time travelling lark can be quite fun - I feel younger already!

A Spot of Editing Over on Jan's Blog

Today I am guest blogger on the lovely Jan Baynham's Blog, talking about my editing process.

Jan has been doing a weekly series inviting writers to share how they approach the editing stage of their work. I've really enjoyed reading how others deal with this stage of writing!

Make a cuppa and pop on over to Jan's :)

Happy Sunday!

Good things are happening!

Family-wise 2015 wasn't a good year - mainly because it was the year my Mum died. And the start of 2016 threatened to go the same way as it began with bad news: a death and a serious accident, plus a number of mishaps that caused distress. I'm hoping it's the last of the bad news, and certainly things have begun to look up!

Hopefully, very soon I will be able to share exactly what has caused the upturn!

But for now - I'm doing a happy dance and looking forward to the rest of 2016.


Watch this space...

How I Got My Literary Agent - Part 2

Ok, so part two is being written much later than I'd planned ... Better late than never.

So - London baby!

The agent meeting was scheduled for 9th June 2015. So, three weeks of panicking... er... I mean preparing!

I used that time to research the Internet, again, to find out what I could in terms of the type of questions I should ask. There was a lot of information, mainly relating to what to ask when you get "the call", but little about if you were actually meeting an agent - FACE TO FACE. It was a bit stressful thinking about it actually. The only relevant blog post I found was by Dean Crawford -  The First Meeting With A Literary Agent - and I hung onto every word he'd written!

I chose questions from various other blog posts to make up a comprehensive list of things I needed to cover during our meeting (safe in the knowledge that I'd probably forget to ask most of them due to nerves!) There is a lot of information on this topic. Some I found helpful were: THIS ONE and the advice from The Writers and Artists site

Once I was happy with that, I stressed about what I was going to wear...

More than that though, I suppose I was worried about the outcome of the meeting. What if Anne didn't like me? Was she really interested in representing me, or just having a 'chat'? She'd only seen 15k of my novel - would she really want to sign me now, or wait until the novel was complete? Questions plagued my waking moments and infiltrated my dreams. It was a long three weeks. 

The big day arrived. I travelled with my daughter and sister - who dragged along her husband - and they were going to go off shopping while the meeting happened. They were key in keeping me calm. And that worked, mostly - well up until the point of nearing the station that is ...

After an embarrassing 'I-didn't-recognise-you-from-your-photo' moment on the platform of Paddington station, I relaxed. She was normal. Didn't appear scary. All was well - for the moment.

After a short taxi ride, chatting as we went, we settled in the lovely Waterside Cafe, Little Venice, and enjoyed a bit of sunshine before heading in for some goodies.


We talked about the part of the manuscript Anne had read and after what felt like minutes, she handed me an agency agreement (obviously not filled out - but one I could take away and read) Wow. I immediately relaxed when I realised she WANTED TO REPRESENT ME!!!! 


For the rest of the time we discussed all the things that I'd listed as things to ask - without needing to ask them! Just as well at that point I think. It was such a relief to know someone believed in me and my writing enough to want to represent me, and I was truly elated. It was one of those moments I didn't think would actually happen, rather one that I had merely dreamed of. 

Of course though, this was an unfinished manuscript - there were risks to taking me on. But, Anne said it was a risk for me too, so if I was willing to take the risk, so was she. Brilliant. My dilemma now was in that I'd still got the manuscript I'd originally queried Anne with, out with other agents. So, we agreed I'd get back to her in a week with my decision.

The. Hardest. Week. Ever.

It was a strange one. How do you inform other agents that you have an offer of representation - but not for the book you queried them with? Anyway, after a long week of emails and nail-biting, I got back to Anne with my "I'd love to accept your offer" email.

And then the hard work began. I had a novel to finish - and then had to hope to God that she loved it!

There was a certain amount of pressure when writing the novel because this time it was definitely going to be read. When I believed it to be finished I gained valuable feedback from some of my writer friends and edited accordingly. Then I sent it to Anne. And oh, my, God, that was a tremendously nerve wracking time!

More of that another time. I am due to write a guest post for the wonderful Jan Baynham's blog - all about my thoughts on editing and the editing process. So, please keep an eye out for that, and the other guests on her blog who will be doing the same!

Thanks for popping by :) 

How I Got My Literary Agent - Part 1

When I was in the querying trenches last year I spent many hours trawling the internet for success stories: 'How I got My Agent' posts on blogs, articles explaining the process, blah, blah, blah. Each one I read either gave me hope, or sent me into a spiral of despair. Either way, I couldn't help myself - I had to know what to expect.

But, nothing prepares you for the reality of the process. The waiting. Oh, dear God, the waiting.

Now, patience has always been an issue for me. And that is a problem if you are aspiring to become a published writer. Because there is no getting around the fact that whilst you do hear of stories where a writer has got an agent and a publishing deal within a week - these are rare.

However, despite having read other blog posts where the author clearly states - be patient, don't send your work out too early, be prepared for the long-haul - I actually pretty much ignored that advice. And it cost me a few lost opportunities. Possibly ones that would've ultimately been dead ends anyway, but I'll never know.

Having 'finished' my first ever novel in July 2014 - I set about 'polishing' it. I had some friends read it, had a few keen, aspiring writers in my writing group read it and give critique - and altered my manuscript with their feedback in mind. I thought that was good enough. I then put together my submission package: cover letter, synopsis and first three chapters (or whatever the agency had specifically requested in their guidelines) and sent it out to my chosen agents. Then I waited.

I didn't wait too long for the first rejection. Same day in fact. "Thanks for thinking of me. I've had a look but it doesn't feel right for my list." OK. Not a bad rejection, I thought. But then when nine more appeared in my inbox in the weeks and months that followed, my spirits dipped. In that first batch of ten I did get an encouraging, "I'd be happy to see anything else you write in this area", so that was a light at the end of the tunnel. But I'd read that if you don't get any requests for your full manuscript there is something wrong - either with the story itself, or your submission package.

It turns out, there were issues with both of these things for me.

In my eagerness to get my manuscript out there, I'd failed to write a compelling cover letter, and more importantly, sent my manuscript out before it was really ready.

I went back to searching the internet for guidance on cover letters and completely rewrote mine. It's very important to tailor the letter for the agent you are querying. Take time to find out about them, make the letter personal to them, create a good hook/elevator pitch, write an interesting paragraph about your story, tell the agent why you are the one to write this, give a brief writing biography, and above all FOLLOW THEIR GUIDELINES. Get the submission package right, and you're halfway there. Of course, a good cover letter will only get an agent's interest, it won't make them love your work. Whilst there are many reason's an agent won't take on a new client, if your sample material isn't well written you'll get a rejection. It's simple.

With my basic cover letter sorted I took another look at my manuscript. Having given up my job I didn't have much money in order to have it professionally edited. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised I had to do something to get it into better shape if I was to stand a chance of getting to the next stage. I did a lot of research, found some good services, including the The Writers' Workshop who offered great editing packages, but I hesitated due to my lack of funds. Then I hit the jackpot...

Twitter is an amazing place - I love it. I've found a lot of very supportive writers there, some I consider my friends despite not having met them (yet). And it was here that I found Kate Foster. At the time, Kate was nearing qualification and was offering her editing services free. Wow - now there was a stroke of luck! I contacted Kate and she agreed to take my manuscript and help me get it into shape. She was amazing. By the end of October that year I felt much more positive. Not only that, but confident that my manuscript was now as good as it could be.

So, at the beginning of November I chose nine agents (and two publishers) to send my brand new, shiny submission package to.

Out of the eleven submissions I received two personalised rejections, both of which had some really positive things to say, and FIVE full manuscript requests. I was bloody elated I can tell you.

Of course, the waiting game became unbearable once I knew I had my full manuscript in the hands of agents. The constant refreshing of emails, the Twitter-stalking, the daily "please let it be today I hear something" mantra - all the things I never thought I'd do, made life a bit of a nightmare for my family and writing group. However, they are the ones who kept me going, as well as my online writer friends who were lovely enough to encourage, support and answer my questions about the process.

Anyway, during that time I continued to submit my novel to more agents to prevent me going crazy waiting for the responses. More rejections followed, but because I'd had the full requests and was confident in my approach, these were easier to take. My first rejection of the full manuscript came in the April 2015 - five months after the initial request. It hurt. Badly. But she had some great feedback which I could take forward. I had a lovely email from the editor of a small press saying he was taking my manuscript to the acquisition meeting, which was brilliant news, and another small press then requested the full. So amongst the rejections there was also some positives.

Now, just to muddy the waters, I had begun to write my next novel once my first was out and about and in January 2015 I saw that the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award was open for submissions. I decided to enter my new novel as I thought it was more 'crimey' than my first. So I sent the first 3000 words and in May I was longlisted. See previous blog post Here for all the details. This was a totally amazing experience and I can now look back and know that it was the reason I got my agent.

Anyway, back to the story - my second 'rejection' (although this was a different sort) came in May. Now, this was from the agent that had been the first to request my full manuscript back in November 2014 - and it was a mixed rejection. I had no idea how to handle it - because although she had said it was promising and in 'some ways' impressive, she didn't like my main character (pretty damning!) and felt the novel to be too bleak. So, gutting really - but... BUT... she said she'd be happy to talk to me about me and my writing or to see anything else I might write in this area. Wow. I didn't know whether to be sad or elated, so I chose elated. This was big. Huge. Someone was interested enough to want to TALK to me!

I took a while to reply, had to wait for the shaking to subside.

Then I told her about my second, as yet unfinished novel, that had been longlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. She came straight back to me asking to see this work-in-progress, and said we'd then "take it from there". I think I was almost sick with excitement and nerves.

I sent the first 15,000 words of 'Portrayal' - and the next day I had an email.

She didn't have the same reservations as she'd had for my first novel - and was keen to meet up.

So, a trip to London was planned...

More in part two!

Thanks for reading :)

Longlisted for CWA Debut Dagger Award!

Every year for the past 15 years, the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) has recognised new talent with its competition for unpublished writers. The Debut Dagger, as it's known, is an award judged by a panel of top crime editors and agents.

I decided to take a stab (!) at the Debut Dagger Award for 2015. I had a finished manuscript and my work-in-progress. I would've loved to have entered both: you only needed the opening 3,000 words plus the synopsis, but with a fee of £25 I hesitated, then decided I would only enter one. But which one?

For a couple of weeks I trailed the internet, read past winning entries and numerous blog posts relating to the award. It was Rebecca Bradley's blog interview with previous shortlisted author Helen Giltrow which ultimately led to my decision to enter Portrayal, my WIP. Helen's advice about having a gripping opening clinched it. Rebecca's two-part interview with Helen can be found Here and Here.

So, Portrayal - a story of secrets, revenge and people who aren't what they seem - was entered, with no real hope of it getting anywhere.

But... an email received at the end of April from the CWA Director Lucy Santos informed me otherwise.

I was totally shocked, felt a bit sick, but managed a bit of a dance!

Then I thought it must be a mistake and awaited an apologetic email to explain the error.

But it didn't come. And I'm absolutely delighted to have been longlisted for this prestigious award along with the other ten longlistees.

You can check us all out HERE

The shortlist will be announced at CrimeFest on 15th May. Unfortunately, I will not be there to hear it, but will find out shortly afterwards via email. I would, of course, be thrilled if I was to make the short list, but I'm already amazed to have got this far and I will celebrate the fact for ages to come!

Good luck to all longlistees!

I am now busy, busy, busy, finishing the first draft of my manuscript.

I would like to thank all those who have wished me luck and supported me on my journey so far.