I'M WRITING ANOTHER NOVEL -

Patsy's story

3rd May 2023:

Currently this story has a working title of, PATSY'S STORY: Twelve-year-old Patsy lives in South London and has been the victim of beatings for as long as she can remember. She's developed her own protective armour. She's feisty. She's resilient. She's confrontational. She hides behind her acute sense of humour. She's unloved by her parents. She has no understanding of affection. But she has a best friend, thirteen-year-old Josh, who is part of a loving and affectionate family that intervenes to help Patsy. Will life get better for her? I've grown to love her, and I believe you will too. You just have to wait until  the end of 2023 for it to be finished and published. Or perhaps you'd like a preview. Contact me by email on gloriaeveleigh@icloud.com if you would.

24th July 2023:

The working title is now, NOT A PROPER ANYTHING - PATSY'S STORY: Well, it's been two-and-a-half months since I've had time to update this page, but here I am at last. Patsy has gone through a lot and her story has now reached chapter 29. Patsy is sixteen and has been living with her Auntie Glenda and Uncle Kyle, and her twin cousin's Gemma and Josie for four years. After an initial hiccough, which Patsy sorts out, her life is happy at last. Her aunt and uncle treat her as their own daughter, and the twins as their sister. Gemma and Josie, who are two years older than Patsy are currently at University so Patsy has grown closer to Auntie Glenda. Her relationship with Josh has gone through a bad patch but that has now improved. However, Patsy has noticed that there is an atmosphere between her aunt and uncle, and a few clues that something is not quite right. Then suddenly tragedy strikes and Patsy's life is turned upside down. 

Remember, if you'd like a preview of this novel to date in return for a review, contact me on gloriaeveleigh@icloud.com.

4th April 2024

NOT A PROPER ANYTHING - PATSY'S STORY was finally completed in December 2023. Since then, I have been busy editing and tightening up my manuscript, and will continue to do so until I'm happy with it. I'll then commission a professional editor to polish it up to its shiniest best. But this time, unlike for my previous two novels, I will not be self-publishing this book on Amazon. Instead, I'm determined to find myself a literary agent who will pitch my book to traditional publishers.  But that takes a lot of time and research. So,  I've had to 'go back to school' to learn the art and science of writing a query letter, as well as to gain an understanding of the publishing business. It's a steep learning curve but well worth the challenge. I've joined an American writers group, GetaBookDeal101 Pitch to Publish, run by an amazing woman and teacher, Kathy Ver Eecke. Not only do members have the benefit of Kathy's teaching, but we also have the support of the 800-strong writing community. I love it and have already grown as an author beyond my expectations. So watch this space for updates on how much nearer I get to having my book traditionally published.

19th November 2024

NOT A PROPER ANYTHING has now lost it's subtitle, has undergone a professional structural edit, and has been refined down to 92,000 words. 

In order to find a literary agent, I must identify the genre of my book, and this has proven difficult, especially as there seems to be slight differences between English and American genres.

I initially decided the genre was Contemporary Fiction, was then advised by my American writing colleaugues that it fit better into the Young Adult genre, and more recently was advised by my English writing group that its genre is Contemporary Coming-of- Age.

This was confusing enough but recently I have also realised that there is a difference in the preferred structure of a query letter between English and American literary agents. This added to my confusion.

So, I have made a decision:

At present I am going to discontinue querying American literary agents and only query English ones.

Decision made, I'm now identifying relevant English agents for my genre and sending out query letters to them. I'll let you know if I have any luck...