What happens when an editor receives a submission?

Welcome to my world. I’m a writer and history nerd obsessed with the lives of women in the nineteenth century. This is my website where you’ll find lots of random pieces about writing, nineteenth-century women and my journey towards publication. As a writer I’m represented by the brilliant Lucy Morris at Curtis Brown. Lucy took…

I am currently on Submission. Or, more accurately, Mrs Wood is on Submission. Whenever I think about what’s happening in the ether, I hear this weird mash-up of both the theme from Jaws and Here Comes The Sun. A discomfiting medley indeed. But there is no time, nor need, for glibness. Because submitting my novels…

We all know that if you want to write a novel, you have to WRITE a novel. But sometimes writing is the last thing you want to do. Sometimes our brains go on strike. And sometimes life is too full on to give it the attention it requires – can I just mention here the…

Last night I had the absolute privilege of speaking alongside my agent, Lucy Morris, with the current cohort of Curtis Brown Creative’s Three Month Novel Writing Course. I was completed the Six Month course with CBC back in 2014 so it felt like not just an opportunity to connect with other writers, but to close…

OR, HOW DOES THE SUBMISSION PROCESS WORK FOR UK AUTHORS IN THE US? I googled the arse out of this when my UK agent suggested a US agent might want to take my book out in the US. Was the process the same? Was it quicker? Was it – GOD FORBID – slower?? Would I…

When my book was about to go out on submission to Editors, I spent a loooot of time Googling book deal stories. I wanted to read about those overnight pre-empts, the five way auctions, the clamouring of Italian publishers. But I also wanted to read about the slow-burners: the ones who waited months for the…