Last week, thanks to a fantastic article in The Atlantic, I found out that one of my books had been taken from a piracy site and used by Meta to train their AI. Seeing your book on a piracy site hurts a lot. It takes years to write a book. There is a huge amount of sacrifice. Of sleep, time spend with loves ones, and time spent with Netflix. Querying is hard and tough on your mental health. After all of that, your book can then die on submission. Then you have to write another book and start the whole thing from the beginning.
Authors do not earn a lot of money. At last count the average was seven thousand pounds a year. If you worked out the hours we put in, it is below minimum wage. You have to really love it to be an author. The highs are liking nothing on earth and the lows are crushing.
Being an author is as hard as any other career. Yes, it has a huge amount of benefits. Working from home, being creative and seeing your work out there in the world. But the work can be tedious. Reading the same book multiple times. Editing it so many times that you want to give up. Then you market it while writing your next one. It is the dream, it really is. Don’t get me wrong, but there is a lot of work involved. If you cannot afford books you can go to the library. Authors get paid when you borrow our books. There is also the Libby library app if you are not near a library. My two books, Where The Light is Hottest and Ember are both on kindle unlimited. I hate to be downer and I know how lucky I am. I feel privileged and happy every day, but please stop stealing our work. Especially if you are a trillion dollar company. We can only write if our books sell. Publishers will not give us contracts if they think we have no readers. Publishing is a business like no other. It is all about the bottom line. Thank you. Please share any comments below.
Yes I did. I began writing as a five-year-old with my Petite Children’s Typewriter and throughout my childhood wrote self-illustrated pony stories. I love horses, so wanting to become a writer was mixed up with my other longing to work with horses. I guess writing pony stories nicely mixed the two. And I did go on to work with horses – on a Thoroughbred stud, riding racehorses (when I was young and thin) and then in a riding school. After I married a farmer I even ran my own riding school for a while, interspersing that with writing.
What books did you read growing up?
Haha! Pony books, of course. But also pretty much anything. I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child, and Alan Garner’s. My dad used to take my sister and me to the local library once a week and I read my way through the entire children’s section. I particularly loved their good selection on myths and legends of various cultures. As I got a little older my tastes matured, and I read all of Georgette Heyer’s novels, all of Dick Francis’s, plus authors like Mary Stewart, Jerome K Jerome, and Tolkien, plus I’m proud to say all of War and Peace. You name it, I read it.
What was the idea behind The Sham Engagement?
I was asked to write a Regency era novel set in London, with balls for the heroine to attend. I have Asperger’s Syndrome so balls are not my cup of tea. I decided it would be nice to write a heroine who felt the same. So I made Elenora autistic in the days long before it was even thought of. This reflected my youth as I didn’t know I was autistic until my sons were diagnosed and my childhood and teenage years were difficult. On the other hand, that’s probably why I read so much.
You also wrote the Guinevere series. Do you think you will write more?
If you read the Guinevere series you’ll know I can’t write any more books for that. It has the sort of ending that doesn’t suggest any more. However, I am at present working on a prequel. I haven’t quite decided if it should be a genuine prequel or a total standalone series not connected to the first. I loved my Merlin so much (and so did my editor) that I wanted to write his story, so that’s what I’m doing. King Arthur having been my Aspie obsession since childhood, I don’t actually have to do much in the way of research. I’ve been doing that for the last fifty plus years.
Can you tell us about your publishing journey?
Long and slow! I think I must have had over a hundred refusals before I won the Dragonblade Write Stuff competition in 2021 and a three-book deal. A long time ago (1983), pre-children etc, I had a short story published in Pony magazine, and only this morning someone who specialises in republishing old pony stories and has back copies of Pony sent me a scan of my story. I’d long ago lost my own copy, you see. That was an exciting moment for me, and the story wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I also had an article on living in France published in Smallholder magazine, but those two were my only successes until that win in 2021. Since then I’ve won a few prizes for short stories, and one of mine that was shortlisted for the Bedford Prize is in their 2024 anthology.
What’s your writing routine?
I write every single day unless we’re going out for some reason. I start at breakfast time and keep going through the day with a few breaks here and there. I have to write as much as I can because I can be rudely interrupted by random vertigo attacks which render me unable to even stand up without being overcome with dizziness. It’s horrible, and I definitely can’t write while that’s happening. So when I’m able, I’m writing all day long.
I do intersperse writing with other things so I don’t get stale. At the moment I’m teaching myself Ancient Greek, so spend maybe up to an hour a day on that. As I’m getting older I decided it might be a good idea for my cognitive reserve. Plus I love it. I’ve already taught myself Latin, which is very useful.
Who are your favourite authors and books?
I love Stephen King, Harlen Coben and John Grisham, also Nicci French, because I’m very fond of a thriller. I just reread Shogun and loved that. I think I could probably say that my favourite author is usually the one I’m reading at the moment. I’ll read most genres if they’re well written and can’t abide books that aren’t. Life is too short to read badly written books so I DNF them. As I tend to buy my books on Bookbub for my kindle, I do get a few that I just bin.
What’s your favourite thing about being a writer?
Being my own boss, being able to write whenever I like, being able to write whatever I like. Living in a world I’ve created myself, seeing it unfold in front of me in technicolour. Letting my imagination run wild and free. By the way, the worst thing is doing the publicity. Hands down. So difficult.
Your first six books were a retelling of the Arthurian legend. Can you tell us how you approached them?
I’m a discovery writer (so much nicer than saying I’m a pantser) so I just sat down and wrote. I don’t plan at all, although, saying that, I had a vague structure of Arthurian legend to follow. And I knew as soon as I began book one where book six was going to end, just not how I’d get there nor how many books there would be. Because I’ve researched the Arthurian period for so long it’s as real to me as my own world, so it was easy to sit and write what it’s like as my characters move through it. Very little research was required, although every so often I had to look up what their underwear was like or what did they use for a baby’s nappy. That was fun. Rabbit skins, by the way, for the latter, only my research didn’t specify if that was fur side in or out. Think of having to clean the fur side!
What’s next?
The book, or series, about Merlin. He has a nice selection of legends I can draw on, some of which were mentioned in the Guinevere series, so I have a vague structure for that as well. Right now I’m about 27,000 words in and he’s just a boy. I write very quickly so should have the first draft done by mid-March. And I love doing revisions. Someone once suggested that I am a planner in a way, and that my first draft is my incredibly detailed plan. Maybe they’re right.
I also have some ideas for some more Regency era books. Just waiting to hear if they’ve been approved. I might end up simultaneously writing two books which I’ve never tried before. It’ll give me time to let one rest while I work on the other. Always a good idea. I don’t like to be without some kind of writing to do. I think I’d be lost without it.
Your debut, The Cuckoo Sister, was a top 10 bestseller. Did you expect it to be so successful?
I came to publishing with my eyes fairly wide open, due to having both worked in film and TV (which has crossovers in terms of how it works) and then at Cambridge Literary Festival as the events coordinator. I knew nothing was certain with publishing so the top ten listing for The Cuckoo Sister was amazing! Obviously I wanted it to be a success and had dreamed about it, but making the top ten was fantastic!
You are known for tackling brave subjects and writing complex characters. How do you come up with your characters? Where do you get your ideas?
I read a lot-of everything. From books to magazines, to online forums, chat groups, newspaper articles. and often snippets of ideas or characters will come from these. Everyday people in extraordinary circumstances is what I like to write about and so inspiration for this can come from all sorts of places. I observe people, I listen into conversations (much to my daughters’ embarrassment!) when out and about and it all slots into the jigsaw when I’m putting together an idea. I’m like a magpie, stealing shiny things!
What was your publishing journey like?
It was strange because it happened during Covid. I had just started approaching agents in March 2020, having been longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and then my plans to focus on that got somewhat waylaid! I hadn’t sent The Cuckoo Sister to many, when my now agent, Marianne Gunn O’ Connor, responded and wanted to develop the book with me. I liked how she worked and her vision for the book so we worked on various edits before sending it out. I was on submission for about six months and I wrote The Silent Friend at that time as a way to keep sane! Boldwood then picked up both and offered me a three book deal. So it was quiet and fairly uneventful!
Describe your writing routine.
I recently moved to full time writing after juggling working for Cambridge Literary Festival as well as writing and parenting, so now my routine is a little less harried! I work from home and start the day turning the kitchen/diner back into my office! Then I usually work on admin and social media while I turn my brain from mum to writer. I then work from mid-morning to the school run on whatever stage I’m at. At the moment it’s the first draft stage for book five, so I’m aiming for 1000-2000 words a day. Once the children are home I might be able to do a little more work, or it’s back into family life.
Your fourth book, The Man She Married, is out now. What is it about?
The Man She Married is about Beth, who wakes up after a car accident with 5 years of memories missing. She doesn’t remember leaving Australia nor meeting or marrying Rob, the man at her bedside who everyone says is her husband. She goes home to recover but cannot shift the feeling that something isn’t right and that she ought not to trust Rob. But-with her own mind so unreliable, can she trust herself? The book is about strength in adversity and the power to start over again.
Does writing get easier the more books you publish?
Yes and no. The worry of a first draft can be alleviated by knowing that you’ve done it before so you can do it again, and skills and techniques that you’ve learned as you’ve developed as a writer make it easier to some degree. Yet each new book is a new idea, new characters, a new plot and developing these and bringing them to life in a way that readers will connect with, is a new unchartered challenge every time.
What is your favourite thing about being an author?
I love that I get to create all these stories in my head and then share then with the world. I wanted to be a writer from a young age so the fact that I get to do this for a living is still amazing to me!
And your thing you dislike?
The required self-promotion! I am too British, and I find it difficult to overcome the cringe factor!
What books have you read that you love?
Too many to list but the latest advance copies that I’ve loved include The Rush by Beth Lewis, set in the Canadian gold rush of the late 1800s and 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon which is set in the UK when a alarm is sent that a catastrophic nuclear strike is due in 59 minutes. We follow the main characters as they decide what to do with that time. Both brilliant, both out this summer.
What’s next?
I am working on book five for Boldwood, which is about the intensity of female friendship and what happens when it goes wrong.
Hi. I’m Laura, I live in a village in Leicestershire with my husband, our two children and our cat. I’m pretty obsessed with reading and writing, and as well as writing novels I help run a Facebook book club called The Bookload.
Did you always want to be a writer?
I did, from about the age of six. I wrote and illustrated my first book about a witch at that time. It was about two pages long. I didn’t realise that illustrator was a separate job (and only usually required for children’s books).
What do you consider your big break?
I think getting my first offer of publication, because it had been such a long time coming.
What was your publication journey like?
Long and rocky. Which I think is true for most people. I finished writing my first book in 2010 and my first book was published in 2018. It wasn’t the same book but the first one did also get published. I’ve had three agents and two publishers and a huge amount of rejections.
Did you ever believe The Last List of Mabel Beaumont would do so well?
I really had no idea. My confidence was on the floor because I’d been trying to get another book published for four years at that point. My expectations were low, I was just over the moon to be published again. When she started to take off, it was amazing to watch. I think she’s exceeded everyone’s expectations for her.
What has changed since selling so many books?
I think I just feel more comfortable in describing myself as an author and spending so much of my time writing books. It’s really hard to believe in yourself if it feels like no one else does. Now I have an agent and an editor I can go to with questions or for support and that makes a huge difference. Also, people say really lovely things about my books all the time and it’s often so unexpected. Even though I know I’ve sold a lot of copies I’m still always surprised when anyone’s read them!
What advice would you give to other writers?
I think just to keep going if you possibly can. Obviously there can come a point where it’s not the best thing for you, but up to that point, keep writing, keep submitting. It’s all about finding the right match and it can take a long time. Rejections don’t mean you’re not good enough, they just mean you haven’t found the right person yet.
How do you become, and stay, successful as a writer?
Ask me in ten years’ time! I have no idea whether my success will last. I was so delighted when I got my first three-book deal but then I had another years-long rough patch, so nothing’s guaranteed. I am contracted to write quite a lot more novels for Boldwood Books, which I’m very happy about. But whether or not they’ll sell well remains to be seen. I just keep writing the best books I can. That’s all I can do.
What are your writing ambitions now?
We writers are very good at moving goalposts. Now I’ve sold more books than I ever thought I would, I want to be in a supermarket, and sell more foreign rights, and of course have a TV or film made of one of my books. There’s so much to aim for and I’m very ambitious.
What’s next?
My latest book, The Many Futures of Maddy Hart, came out in early February, and my next comes out in May. I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to tell anyone the title yet, but it’s about two women in their early sixties who meet by chance and are shocked to find that they’re identical. And after that, many more books! I like playing around with speculative ideas and coming up with interesting hooks.
I became a writer in 2002. That was the year I began a four-year break from full-time work at the British Embassy in Berlin to look after our children, then aged eight and ten, so my diplomat wife could work full-time. She took over my job in the embassy. I’d begun my first novel, Eternal Life, in 1986. That was when the British Embassy in Vienna, where I was then working, got its first word-processor. I thought: ‘wow – you can edit your work before printing it! That’ll make writing much easier.’ Of course, it didn’t. But although I made some progress with my writing while I was working full-time as a diplomat, in Vienna, Moscow and Berlin, I found taking a break from full-time work transformative.
In the four years from 2002, I started writing for the Financial Times, sold two treatments to a film company, attended writing courses, and wrote two novels. When I returned to the Foreign Office full-time in 2006 as Director of Overseas Territories (Saint Helena, Bermuda, the Falklands & Co), then as Ambassador to Ukraine, I continued to write.
Unfortunately, the Foreign Office hated me trying to publish fiction and be a diplomat at the same time. They even threatened me with disciplinary action if I persisted after a bust-up in 2014, when I was working as British Consul-General in Istanbul. I started publishing excerpts from my romantic comedy The Cheat on-line. They objected to the rude words! It was a difficult situation.
I’m a bit manic, to be honest. Every morning, after a bit of yoga, I walk my partner to her work, then sit down until lunchtime to write. In the afternoons and sometimes in the evenings I focus on writing-related jobs, including organising book tours and social media – I have a website, a podcast, and post on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Linkedin. My “Lessons in Diplomacy” videos on TikTok have the best response – I work hard to publish good stuff for my 5,000 followers! Linkedin yields most speaking opportunities, including talks about “Lessons in Diplomacy”. I always make time to attend schools and universities, in particular, to discuss the book and answer questions.
You have written non-fiction and fiction. What is your favourite?
I love both! Creating characters and stories in fiction is a thrill. I love to work late into the night on a scene, then review what I’ve written in the morning, and find that characters, apparently independently, have led the story into unexpected places. Writing Lessons in Diplomacy was a different experience. The months of painstaking research, scouring my records, fact-checking and – above all – choosing the most fun, enlightening stories to illustrate the “life lessons” that make up the book, was rewarding. Like other writers, I sometimes worry that I’m putting too much of myself on display. When the publishers urged me to include even more Russian honeytrap stories about my travels to Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and elsewhere from 1992-95, I declined. But maybe if there’s ever a Volume 2 I’ll go further.
I loved Lessons in Diplomacy. What are your hopes for the book? Do you want to help people become diplomats?
The aim of Lessons in Diplomacy is three-fold. I wanted a book about diplomacy that was fun to read, opening up the truth about diplomatic life to the non-expert. Too many of us have a stereotypical view of upper-class twits swanning round the globe. Diplomacy is changing fast, including many more women and other under-represented groups becoming diplomats and ambassadors.
The book is also designed as a collection of life lessons from diplomacy. It’s not for nothing that the book includes chapters on “How to craft a career”, “How to drink wine and know things”, and “How to know people”. The skills and attributes that make a good diplomat can be applied to many – perhaps all – jobs and careers. I hope people find it useful.
Finally, I hope the book is a breath of fresh air for anyone studying politics or international relations. Many academic textbooks about diplomacy are written by great academics who have never been a diplomat. Others are written by great diplomats who have never written a book. I’m hoping readers will find Lessons in Diplomacy both useful and a great read.
You have lived an exciting life. What made you go into diplomacy?
My parents’ life was a lot more exciting than mine! They moved in 1951, as young adults, to northern Nigeria, and later to Lesotho, in southern Africa. Living in different countries instilled in me a deep interest in what made countries tick, as well as a restless desire to travel. Diplomacy was an obvious job choice, and I had great fortune in getting into the Foreign Office – on my second attempt. But as I say in Lessons in Diplomacy, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The jobs I did before the Foreign Office – in the Department of the Environment and the Treasury – were some of the most exciting I ever did – far more so than most Foreign Office jobs!
Germany, Berlin, 08.04.2003
Leigh Turner, author, with his children Owen and Anna preparing cakes. Working on a novel set in the Foreign Office. Job Swaps.
(c) Stefan Boness/Ipon, www.iponphoto.com
I loved how you took some time out to be with your children. Do you wish more men would do this?
The four years I spent looking after the children full-time, while my wife took my job in the British Embassy in Berlin, were the best four years of my working life. I was able to form a deeper bond with my children, to look at the world in a different way. I encourage all men to take seriously the option of some time out to help raise their kids. I recognise that not all parents have jobs that allow them to stop work for four years; or enough income for one parent to support the family. But do explore the options! Many women thought a man taking time off to bring up children was fabulous. But many men were hostile. They seemed to feel threatened by what I was doing.
Who are your favourite authors and books?
I’m an eclectic reader. I immensely enjoy modern thrillers such as Lee Child or Vince Flynn. But I also love romantic thrillers – I recently enjoyed books by Sophie Kinsella and Mhairi McFarlane. And I have a soft spot for the classics – I’m nearing the end of a “read all books by Dickens” campaign, and love anything by Anthony Trollope. I’ve written a lot about Trollope on my rleighturner.com blog – although he’s a 19thC writer he has a lot to tell us about relationships, gender and power.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Persevere, and train your writing skills! Submitting books to agents and publishers is a cruel, unrelenting slog. But you have to keep doing it in the hope that one day, your painstakingly constructed work will see the light of day. There’s also the option of self-publishing, which I have tried, and which can work brilliantly. But it’s worth trying for a “traditional” publishing route first, if you can, to give your book the best chance.
I’m also a huge fan of honing your art. Writing courses are great ways to get feedback on your work, and mutual support. I go on courses regularly, and am even teaching on one in September 2025, in Lesbos, Greece. Details of the Lesbos course, and on other writing courses I’ve attended, and recommend, are on my blog.
Writing groups are also terrific. I’m in a virtual group with five writers from the US and Canada that meets every month. Their comments on my work have helped me improve my writing. They’ve also strengthened my self-belief – invaluable!
What’s next?
I’m currently working on a trilogy of romantic comedies I call the “Diplomats in trouble” series. I’m excited about it, although, as always, it’s not yet certain it will ever see the light of day. My hero Angus is a protagonist many test readers, mostly women, love to see try, and fail, and try and try again, to find love and a meaningful relationship in the chaos that is modern life. Watch this space.
Leigh has also written extensively about Russia’s war on Ukraine, in his book “Lessons in Diplomacy” and on his website.
One of the things I like to talk about (within the context of writing, at least!) is rejection. Simply because my publishing journey is chock-full of it! And the more authors I chat to (and I talk to them a lot on my podcast, The Rejected Writers’ Club) the more I realise that all of us face rejection all the time. Talking about it normalises and neutralises it – it’s not something to fear or be ashamed of, but it’s something to be embraced as part of the writing life.
The first kind of rejection I faced was self-rejection. I have always wanted to be a writer, but every time I managed to write something I would read it back and be appalled at how awful it was. Every attempt ended up in the bin.
But then my father-in-law died suddenly at the age of 56. He was a lovely man who I wish I’d had longer to know. His death taught me that we may not get as much time as we think we will, so if there is something we want to do, we need to hecking well get on with it.
From then on, I didn’t let myself reject myself (can you tell I’m a writer?!). I still thought (and think) my first drafts were awful, but I no longer let that stop me. I love telling stories and even if they don’t come out right straight away, that’s okay. That’s what editing is for.
Rejection then came from other people. I submitted my first novel to 113 agents and received 113 rejections. There were a couple of full requests in there, but they all ended in the same way. No one wanted that story.
So I wrote another one. And another one. And another one.
I didn’t query quite as hard again – mainly because I am soft and squishy and couldn’t handle such a solid wall of no’s again – but I did make sure to send my stories out to people I thought would connect with them. I got a whole load more rejections, until one person said yes.
Now, I want to pause here and say something that I absolutely didn’t listen to but that I really hope you will if you’re a writer looking for an agent and (let’s be honest, we all are) feeling a bit desperate: having no agent is better than having one who doesn’t get you. I promise this is true.
I signed with an agent and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them as a person, but they weren’t the right fit for me and my stories. I was writing gentle YA while they wanted something plotty and loud.
Parting ways with my first agent was one of the most painful moments of my publishing journey. I see it as a rejection, as it was a split that they initiated, but it was the right decision. I couldn’t see that at the time, but looking back I can see that we weren’t the right fit at all.
I was totally gutted by this, but it didn’t change my dream; to be a published author. I ditched the stories I had been working on and dove into edits on a crime novel with a bi detective with PTSD at its heart, fell in love with her cold and confusing partner, and solved a murder. I sent this story (which would eventually become the first in the Martin and Stern series – Shot in the Dark) out into the world and I was blown away by the response. Relatively quickly, I signed with my lovely agent – Saskia Leach at Kate Nash Literary Agency – and signed a three-book deal with Canelo Crime.
It was a whirlwind, especially coming off the back of such a mountain of rejection. And that rejection doesn’t leave you. The sting has lessened over time and I’m not quite so afraid of opening my inbox anymore, but the years of hearing no again and again don’t magically disappear just because I can go point at my book in my local Waterstones.
Those years of rejection taught me resilience. They taught me to be sure of the stories I want to tell and to make sure I’ve got people on my team who have the same vision. They taught me that sometimes I’m going to have to fight for my stories and that sometimes I will fail, but that I will write another story and try again.
My journey to publication was long and winding and painful, but it was 100% worth it in the end. And not just because I have two (two!) books published, but because I’ve carved out a space in the world for my stories. I spend time doing something I utterly love. I’ve met incredible people along the way and have had so much more fun than sadness.
Funnily enough, it didn’t happen until I was in my late teens. I have always been a lifelong reader, but it wasn’t until I was in college in Canada that I finally realized that publishing was actually an industry (we don’t have a publishing industry in Pakistan). I started to look – really look – at how the industry worked and that started inspiring me to write my own book. I started seeing myself as a published author.
You live in Lahore. How does that inspire your writing?
Lahore is in every aspect of my writing. I think, feel and breathe Lahore. There’s a popular saying in my part of the world ‘One who has not seen Lahore has not been born’, so you can quite imagine the kind of impact this city has on my writing. Lahore features heavily in all my books, and it wasn’t until I started writing Someone Like Her, which is partly set in London, that I realized how easy it was for me to write about Lahore, because I really struggled to bring London to life in my novel. Having said that, I have a very complicated relationship with my city. Just like in any relationship, there are good days and bad days, but I would be lying if I said that the city didn’t inspire my writing. Lahore is the very essence of me. Lahore is like for me as Paris was like for Ernest Hemingway – a moveable feast.
You have written four novels now. Do you feel like a veteran now?
Hardly. If anything, I feel like things are getting more and more difficult. People tell me that I’ve made it, but they don’t know just how terrified I really am most of the time about failing. With each book, reader expectations rise, and after a point, the pressure sort of gets to you. However, while the insecurity never really goes away – it shouldn’t really, as it keeps us grounded – I have to say that I am getting slightly more confident about my writing. I may be having doubts, but somewhere at the back of my mind, there’s a small voice that says, ‘You’ve written something good. All it needs now is that one big push, that one final edit.’
How did your first success come as a writer?
Success depends on one’s definition of success. Success can be selling a million copies of your book, but success can also be critical acclaim or positively impacting the life of even one reader. I first started writing In the Company of Strangers back in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2019 that it was published. During that time, I amassed a significant social media following, and since I naturally love to support my fellow authors, by the time my debut came out, it was an instant success with everyone I knew clamouring to buy a copy to support me in turn. The book went into reprint before it was officially out and also ended up becoming a national bestseller in Pakistan. However, it wasn’t until No Honour was published that I understood what it was like to be reviewed in major UK publications, and perhaps it was the topic, but No Honour ended up doing phenomenally well everywhere. In many ways, it was bigger than In the Company of Strangers.
What’s your writing routine?
My writing routine is all over the place. I suffer from writer’s block a lot when I’m in Lahore, and have frequently flown to London in the past just to finish writing my book. Being a writer in Lahore is not easy. Since there isn’t a publishing industry here as such, the environment here isn’t conducive for writing. A lot of people here disregard your efforts as a writer, thinking that whatever you’re doing has no value. All of it affects your self-esteem and motivation. Despite all of that, I try to be regimental about my writing, spending a few hours in my favourite café in Gulberg five days a week. It does bring some structure to my day and allows me to complete writing tasks that would just get delayed or put off otherwise. When in London, I like to write early in the morning and then in the afternoon too, preferably in a favourite café of mine.
Do you have a favourite of your books?
I feel that just like kids (not that I have any), one cannot have a favourite book. I’ve spent a lot of time with each of my books and they’ve all uniquely contributed towards my journey as a writer. However, if forced to choose, I would probably say No Honour, because I spent over three years researching and writing that book and it remains very close to my heart.
Tell us about The Writing Institute.
I set it up back in 2016 when I realized that there were absolutely no creative writing courses available in Pakistan. Initially, a lot of people laughed at me, saying that nobody would be interested in something like this, that writers didn’t even exist in Pakistan. Yes, my courses did struggle at first, but as word got around, more people started joining them and since then, over 10,000 people have taken courses with The Writing Institute. Today, the institute prides itself on providing the best online and in-person creative writing courses in Pakistan at the most affordable prices imaginable.
What is your top creative writing tip?
My top tip for any aspiring writer is to never give up. This is a very subjective industry, and what works for one would probably not work for another. Never stop believing in yourself. Deep down, we know just how good our work really is. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If someone is giving you proper critical feedback that can be used, then listen to them, but if someone is disparaging your work just for the sake of it, don’t listen to them. Similarly, be very wary of people who praise your work to high heavens. Just believe in yourself, in your talent, and don’t let the rejections get you down. Have the skin of an alligator’s.
Tell us about your new book.
I am very excited about my next book called In the Shadows of Love. It is the sequel to my debut In the Company of Strangers. The story moves twelve years into the future and Mona is now in her early fifties. She and Bilal have weathered the storm of infidelity, with Bilal embracing the son Mona had from her affair. Although on the outside, it seems that Mona has everything, and that every single day of hers is the same, with glittering parties and society events, things are not how they seem. Her perfect world is forever changed when the first message arrives. Will the secrets of Mona’s past threaten her future, her marriage and even her life?
In the Shadows of Love will be published by Hera Books in October, 2024.
What’s next for you?
I have recently finished writing my first thriller, tentatively titled Her Sister’s Secret. We don’t get to see a lot of thrillers coming out of Pakistan and I really wanted to write one that explored themes of sibling rivalry, guilty secrets and toxic marriages. The story centres around Maria and Sohaib who seem to have everything they could ask for, but behind the perfect façade, their marriage is toxic and when Maria’s sister, Fareena, comes to visit, everything goes awry.
I have long been a fan of writer Ian Tattum. Ian is incredibly intelligent and a keen observer. Ian’s poems have been published in a number of magazines and it’s easy to see why. Ian’s talent is outstanding and his poems stay with you for a long time after you have read them. I cannot recommend his poems enough, nor insist enough that you keep an eye out for what he does in the future.
It was hard to find just three poems to publish here. I loved them all. One such line ‘for a bruised heart will kill first what others love’ had a huge impact on me. Ian’s poems are full of truth and beauty. He is a fantastic nature writer and a wonderful person. May we may have more like him. Now. Thank you.
Nativity
I didn’t croak, I cried.
Long armed and long legged,
and long breathed.
It was not an amphibious belch,
but a human yell
as I left my pond for the world.
And my arrival wasn’t
a leap but a tumble.
I was not smooth and green,
but red and wrinkled.
My mother objected when my father said, ‘he looks like a frog’, but looking closer she saw his point, and kept her silence.
For my mother JOAN TATTUM
Landlocked at Olney
The Ouse lives up to its name,
slowly winding through a gentle valley.
Overlooked by the modest high point of Clifton Reynes,
and windmills that march without moving.
It floods less now, hardly a boot covering but
wild swimming still provides the odd drowning.
A snaking mirror of the sky and trees,
of barely rippled blues, greys and greens.
Where a damselfly’s stained-glass wing or a sudden kingfisher
can arrest your attention without troubling it.
A place for a closer walk with God,
where the breeze curtains out the traffic
as it did for Cowper the noise of industry and cart.
But the river leads to the sea,
one hundred and forty-three miles east.
To a place where the water and the sands move,
footing is unsure, and the tides are wilful.
Attic Verses. Cowboys and Indians
I rarely felt the cold in those days before central heating,
when the coal fireplace in the front room was only lit
for necessity and the kitchen harboured the hypnotic
skin-searing paraffin stove.
When my bedroom was icy my mind was warmed by travel.
I knelt on the carpet moving my soldiers across prairies,
and over rivers and hiding them in clefts in the rock.
Some would take refuge in a cardboard stockade,
while others whooped from plastic horses,
in circling menace.
In TV Western Land even when it snowed
it was always temperate.
There were countless deaths, but no one ever died.
Until my brother, proving how wrong Wilde was,
instituted an irreparable massacre by beheading;
for a bruised heart will kill first what others love.
Ian Tattum is a priest in the Church of England, who writes mainly about nature, local history literature- including a recent essay for Little Toller’s ‘The Clearing’. His poetry has previously been published by Spelt Magazine , The Pilgrim and Black Bough Poetry. He is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society. https://stbarnabas-southfields.org.uk/essays-and-
reviews/
Follow Ian on Twitter at @ITattum.
