Tea and Tales Podcast
Clare Draycott
Writer
S2: E2 Part 1&2
I sat down to write my first novel when I was eight. It was about a family of mice who lived in a tree - I had done zero research, obviously - and owed a lot to Beatrix Potter. I worked really hard on it all day, but having failed to finish by bedtime I promptly abandoned the attempt. I have much greater staying power nowadays.
Writing a novel has always been an ambition of mine, but I got ME when I was seventeen years old and for many years I was too exhausted to do anything at all. I remember trying to write some short stories in the late 90s, but one hour of writing put me in bed for five days. Having found a partial treatment in 2001 and regained some health, I started writing with serious intent at the end of 2014. I am about to start querying my second novel and have just started writing my fourth novel. I write every weekday with an online writing group and I absolutely love it. I would consider it a huge privilege to be able to write for a living.
1. What genre(s) do you write?
I write contemporary commercial/book club fiction and historical fiction, although I’m concentrating on contemporary fiction at the moment.
2. Are there any other social media links, websites, or other places to learn about you that we should add?
3. What is your favorite part of being a writer?
I’m one of those strange people who loves every part of writing a novel. From the research to the outlining, from the outlining to the drafting and then the editing, I love it all!
4. Are you going the self-publishing or traditional publishing route? And why?
The plan, at the moment, is to get an agent and be traditionally published. This is partly because I want the chance to work in collaboration with an agent and publishing house. Writing is so solitary, that such collaboration appeals to me. Also, I have had ME for 36 years and I have limited energy. I feel it would be best for me to put all of the energy I have into the writing. All of my friends who self-publish either invest a lot of money in cover art, proofreading, etc, or put in a lot of their time and energy into doing all of those jobs themselves. While I’m happy to promote my work through social media, I really only have enough energy to write books.
5. Are you a part of any writing communities?
Besides Pitch to Published, I belong to Jericho Writers and Mslexia, both of which are based in the UK, but can be joined by people all over the world. Mslexia is for women only.
6. If you could give any advice to a new writer/author, what would it be?
My main piece of advice would be to write what you want to write. Don’t worry about what seems popular now, because publishing is so slow, by the time your book is published the market will have changed - a number of times - anyway. The other thing I would advise is to join some sort of writing community, whether that’s online or where you live. Building up a writing community is hugely helpful for reasons we will talk about in the podcast, but it has made a huge difference to both my experience of writing and my productivity!