CTS Writes

A little something I’ve been keeping under my hat this last couple of months…

In January I was shocked and thrilled that my debut novel, The Haunting of Hester Dowden, was long-listed for the Mslexia novel award. This one meant more to me than most competitions, as it was my friend, the wonderful Emily Howes, winning it with her gorgeous novel The Painter’s Daughters – the untold story of the Gainsborough girls – that inspired me to start writing about my late great grandmother, medium Hester Dowden, in the first place.

I found myself suddenly with two weeks to wrestle my 186,000 word second draft into something almost manageable. While I didn’t get further than this (138,000 words was never going to be short enough for any shortlist) I had both a much-needed confidence boost and a manageable manuscript to push on and edit properly.

Now at 119,000 words, my late great grandmother has started to find her way out into the world in the hope of catching the eye of a literary agent.

Thank you Mslexia for seeing something in my writing, and helping me believe in myself and my words.