I created this blog a while ago when I was feeling particularly rubbish after having left my previous job and gaining about the same amount of weight that Sharon Osborne has had sucked out of her derrière (which, I believe is a lot).
The first post was basically me playing a tiny violin, lamenting these two events and other none-too brilliant things that were going down at the time. As soon as I pressed 'Publish', I deleted it - but not before one particular person, and I genuinely don't know who, got a chance to read it. That person would have seen what was going on in my little head at the time and boy, it wasn't pretty, so whoever you are - sozzles!
However, I have started up again with the blog because I was rather smugly pleased about the title of it (and let's face it, the background is as camp as Chloe and fabulous!).
In the last five weeks I have been working as an agent's assistant at Lovett Logan Associates, which I absolutely love. Suits me down to a tee and my colleagues are the best (hi, Carina!). Though that isn't really what this blog is about, it's certainly contributed to my life turning around enormously in recent times. That and my wonderful H.
The real reason I've started blogging again is because I'm about to embark on a scary three-month long adventure with regards to my writing. As some of you may or may not know, I am in the process of writing my first novel. It's going very well and it's fair to say I'm nearly finished, which is very exciting. I'm aiming for about 100k words, and so far am at approximately 75k. A couple of months ago, I applied to be one of fifteen course members on a writing workshop run by Curtis Brown and their Creative Dept. This involves sharing excerpts of my book with the rest of the course mates, the literary agents at Curtis Brown / Conville & Walsh and the course itself is run by Anna Davis (the Head of Curtis Brown Creative) and Erin Kelly (author of novels such as The Poison Tree). Not only that, near the end of the course, there is a drinks reception for the course members, agents and publishers where we have a chance to mingle and personally pitch our book.
Not thinking for one second that I stood a chance, I applied with the first two chapters of my book and a one-page synopsis. Considering every large literary agency receives about five hundred submissions a week, you can only imagine how many people applied to be a part of this. I found out on Thursday that I only went and got the bloody thing!!!
At about five o' clock, I received an email from Anna saying that she and her colleague Rufus Purdy had greatly enjoyed reading my material and wanted to offer me a place on the course. To think that someone at Curtis Brown actually believes I can write, or at least that my writing has merit is a huge boost and something I have been dreaming of since being a little girl. Writing is a passion for me like no other. Not even acting could have come close to how I feel about writing. The fact that I'm being allowed to move forward in this way with the only book I have ever felt strongly enough to attempt to write a full manuscript about it, is one of the most positive things that has ever happened to me. Considering 2014 started out - and parts of it continue to be - pretty shitty, one can only hope that this is the start of things looking up and turning around.
So to sum up, this is what the blog will be about. My time at Curtis Brown Creative and how I get on afterwards. It is in no way a guarantee that I will secure an agent - and maybe even a publishing deal - by the end of it, but I would be lying if I didn't hope it was a serious possibility.
I hope you enjoy reading it, as I am really looking forward to blogging about it and making a virtual memory. To start with, I'm going to post the opening few lines of the book to give you a taste! Enjoy!
EG xxx
PS: I would just like to point out that none of this would be possible without my beautiful, kind H. My most loyal supporter and biggest fan - all of which is returned in abundance.
This is a story that starts with a box.
A phone box. A red phone box in Piccadilly, central London, Coventry Street. It has a heavy-hinged door, a distinct human smell one could only associate with London and a slot where your money goes.
On this street, there are two red phone boxes that stand next to each other. One points West towards Piccadilly and the other points East towards Leicester Square.
Our phone box, the one in our story, is the one that points towards Leicester Square. It stands outside a restaurant called TGI Fridays, opposite the Trocadero complex, and is actually one of the oldest phone boxes in London. Due to its shabby exterior, one would be forgiven for thinking it was no longer in use, and they may well be right. However that was not the case in the early hours of a Sunday morning in June 1999…
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