ILLUSTRATION LAURIE HASTINGS/CENTRAL ILLUSTRATION AGENCY
Early this year, I received a call on my mobile at work. I didn’t recognise the number and was chasing a deadline, so my ‘Hello?’ was a bit grumpy. But it wasn’t just another marketing call – it was my agent, and she had news. I listened, thanked her and rang off and then, because I didn’t know what to do with myself, I ran over to a table where several of my colleagues were deep in discussion, threw my hands in the air and said: ‘I’ve sold my novel!’ They all congratulated me, and then got back to their meeting. I made myself a cup of tea and returned to my desk.
What response would have been appropriate? I had been waiting for this day for 20 years, since I first decided I actually would write a book. No, longer – since I was a child. When I went public on Facebook and told my small world that I had a novel coming out, schoolfriends got in touch to say: ‘You always said you would do it and you have!’