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Writing Tips Oasis

Writing Tips Oasis - A website dedicated to helping writers to write and publish books.

My Book Deal Moment by Lynsey James

By Novelicious

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

Lynsey JamesMy book deal moment involves Lord Sugar, a Christmas jumper and a lot of screaming.

It’s December 2014, I’m sitting wearing a Christmas jumper with a gingerbread man on the front and about to watch an episode of The Apprentice. Suddenly, I get an urge to check my emails. I’m not waiting on anything in particular, but a little voice in my head tells me I should check. So I log into my emails, expecting to see the usual suspects: Amazon, Netflix, Twitter and maybe Birchbox.

It’s pretty safe to say that I don’t expect to see an unopened email from someone named Victoria Oundjian lying in my inbox, waiting to be read. The subject line: Dear Ava.

At first, I think it’s from a beta reader I sent my novel Dear Ava to a couple of months back. Then I remember I haven’t sent it to anyone named Victoria Oundjian and that in fact, I don’t know anyone by that name! Intrigued, I open the email and read. It’s from an editor at Carina UK! I remember submitting my story to them a few weeks back. A few phrases jump out at me: I enjoyed it … brilliant sparky voice … really grabbed me …

There must be a ‘but’ coming, I think. In every email I’ve ever had about my book, there’s been a ‘but’.

Then I spot it, the sentence I’ve been waiting to read forever: ‘I would love to offer you a two book contract with Carina UK!’

In that single moment, all my dreams come true. Fireworks go off, a choir sings Oh Happy Day, there’s a parade in the street … OK, so none of this really happens, but I do start to scream. A lot.

I run through my house announcing my news to anyone who’ll listen. My dog Dixie follows in hot pursuit, convinced I’m playing a game. Soon, my whole family’s gathered downstairs, huddled round my laptop to read the exciting news. My head spins as I try to take everything in; there’s deal sheets and contracts to look at, things I never thought I’d see in a million years.

As I try to get my head round the fact that someone wants to publish my books, the little voice in my head – the one that told me to check my emails in the first place – whispers ‘you’ve done it’.

Just the Way You Are by Lynsey James.

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