My Publishing Journey: Nikki Smith

April 2, 2020 | By Nikki Smith | Reply More

I will have just turned 47 when my debut novel is published. It is a cliché to say that I’ve always wanted to be an author, but it’s true. My parents instilled a love of books in me from an early age and as there are 5 years between myself and my younger brother, I remember reading to fill the time whilst my mum dealt with a new baby.

Things may have turned out very differently if there had been iPads and internet back then! The Folk of the Faraway Tree, The Famous Five, What Katy Did – I gobbled up anything I could lay my hands on, borrowing paperbacks from my parents’ bookshelf when I got a bit older – captivated by the delights of Stephen King, Dick Francis, Virginia Andrews, Roald Dahl and John Wyndham.

I used to love writing stories for people to read and spent hours over my English creative writing essays – I can still remember the plot for one of them. I ended up doing a degree in English Literature and when I left University, I tried writing a novel. It took me about a year whilst working full time. I finished it and sent it off in great excitement to various agents. Incredibly, I did get one agent request the full manuscript (I had no idea this was a ‘big thing’ – which just shows how naive I was). Then one by one, the rejections rolled in. And I felt like a complete failure. Something I wasn’t used to. It really hurt.

And I didn’t have the confidence to continue. I gave up, thinking that getting a novel published was something I would never be capable of, not realising that it was something that I had to work at, over and over, rewriting the pages again and again until they shone. I assumed that being an author wasn’t something I was destined for. That it was only something that ‘other people’ did.

That if I didn’t manage it the first time, I might as well give up. A career in finance followed. Then two daughters. Then back to finance. I didn’t hate the various different jobs I had (most of the time!) but I certainly didn’t love them, either. I still used to write – little notebooks full of words about various things that interested me, the odd short story, but I never showed them to anyone else.

Then a few years ago I was contacted on Facebook by someone I hadn’t seen for over 20 years asking if I’d ever done anything with my writing as she still remembered the stories I’d read out in class at school. It was one of those now or never moments. I decided I wanted to try and write another novel. And I had an idea about what it was going to be about – something that had crept into my head after I’d had my two daughters (hence the title of my novel; All In Her Head).

But I didn’t know where to start. I researched creative writing courses and signed up for a six-week online Curtis Brown Creative course. I learned a lot. And I loved it so much that I decided to sign up to another longer course that ran for three months using some money my Grandmother had left me in her Will.

I got up stupidly early and wrote before my daughters got up. I wrote after work until stupidly late. I finished a book – or what I thought was a book; but what I now know was actually a ‘first draft.’ This time, instead of rushing in and submitting what I’d written, I worked on it after the course had finished, rewriting and rewriting. I researched agents and followed authors who I liked reading on twitter.

I saw a competition offering one person the chance to be mentored by the lovely Amanda Reynolds. I sent her my first three chapters and a few days later she phoned me to say I’d won. It was the most amazing feeling to have an author I admired say that they liked what I’d written. She helped me refine my first three chapters. I rewrote the rest of the book again. And again. And again. And then I submitted it to agents.

A couple of weeks later I had an email from the amazing Sophie Lambert who said she liked it. I went to meet her in London and was absolutely thrilled to be offered representation. We chatted about my book (which I naively thought was finished at this point!!) and then I went home and rewrote large chunks of it again, polishing the story that bit more. After working together for a few months, Sophie submitted it to publishers and I was fortunate enough to get a pre-empt offer from Orion for a two book deal.

Although I would have loved to have been published after I left University, I hope having to wait until I was 47 has made me a better writer and that my broader life experience is reflected in my writing. I’m certain I wouldn’t have been able to write about the subject of my debut novel if I hadn’t had my daughters. And I have learned the value of resilience & persistence – something I hope I’m teaching them.

—

Nikki Smith studied English Literature at Birmingham University, before pursuing a career in finance. Following a ‘now or never’ moment, she applied for a Curtis Brown Creative course where she started writing this book. She lives near Guildford with her husband, two daughters and a cat who thinks she’s a dog. All In Her Head is her first novel.

Social media links

Twitter – @mrssmithmunday

Instagram – nikkismith_author

Website – https://nikkismithauthor.com/

Facebook – @nikkismithauthor

ALL IN HER HEAD

Alison is more alone than she’s ever been.