Deborah McKinlay “I can say now that the lean years focussed me on what I really wanted – in that nothing-to-lose way that is often motivating. But I am in no rush to repeat them. I hope, if you’re still battling through, that you find yourself with a packet of smoked salmon in your grocery basket when you least expect it. I did.”
[in an interview with ‘We Love This Book’, March 12, 2014]
McKinlay [above], a published non-fiction author and journalist, wrote a novel The View from Here. After a struggle to find an agent in London, she sold it herself to a small New York publisher. Struggling for grocery money, she continued to write. Now describing herself as “not only mid-career; I am also mid-life – too old for a girly agent pal,” she returned to the agent trail in New York, feeling the American characters in her new novel That Part Was True would be more attractive to a US agent. She found one, who promptly sold the novel back to the UK where it is published by Orion.So, a circular trail. I took two lessons from Deborah’s experience:- don’t give up, and be true to yourself.
To read the full interview with Deborah McKinlay at We Love This Book, click here.
To read a review of That Part Was True in The New York Times, click here.
If you agree with Deborah McKinlay, perhaps you will agree with:-
Vanessa Lafaye – on weaving together fiction and historical fact
Roddy Doyle – snappy dialogue is the best way to keep the momentum going
Amanda Hocking – write a lot, but read even more
‘That Part Was True’ by Deborah McKinlay [UK: Orion]
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
The lean years make you focus: I agree with… Deborah McKinlay #amwriting http://wp.me/p5gEM4-155 via @SandraDanby
I agree too but…am still waiting to find my smoked salmon!
I liked reading about her. ‘That Part was True’ is now on my TBR list – which incidentally is totally out of control now! SD
Seems like you get what you aren’t looking for…and it’s always what’s right. I’m not familiar with this author, thanks for the intro!
I was new to her too 🙂 SD