MY PATH TO PUBLICATION
CHARLOTTE RIXON
The author of suspense novels and now a love story describes her long and difficult journey to getting a book deal – and why she wouldn’t have it any other way
'Id always wanted to be a writer, ever since I could read. I loved reading and making up stories and it just felt completely natural to write my own. It was very instinctual, rather
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than a conscious decision.
‘I wrote several “novels” as a child, all painstakingly typed up on my electric typewriter (still my most favourite Christmas present ever!). I even sent one of these books off to Penguin when I was about 12. They replied very nicely saying that perhaps I’d like to read some of it out to my class at school (needless to say, I didn’t do this!).
‘I started writing again seriously after I left university. I joined a creative writing forum (this was back in the dark ages of the internet when such things were quite new) and “met” a lot of other aspiring authors on there. You could upload your work for critique, and it was such a supportive, encouraging place. I didn’t know anyone who worked in publishing and so I had no connections, but through the forum I met lots of other writers. They were mostly unpublished, but a few already had book deals and were really kind, mentoring us and educating us in the mysterious dark arts of publishing.