"A year on...
As I wandered around the 2024 London Book Fair in Kensington Olympia, I thought about what I’ve learned since becoming a published author:
• Having a book out there has brought me into contact with many other authors; people I simply would never have met had I not put pen to paper. I love meeting new people and hearing about the lives of other writers - and most don’t spend their time smelling of dirty horse rugs, I assure you. (That will sound terrible unless I clarify that I wash, re proof and repair horse rugs in my day job!)
• The same goes for readers, many from whom I’ve received lovely direct messages (not all readers leave reviews and ratings on Amazon; it just doesn’t enter their mind to do so, and that’s something I’ve learnt to accept). So, when a reader reaches out and enthuses how enamoured they are that I finished a book, I’m reminded to give myself a pat on the back. How many of us actually begin a story and then let it fall away because we couldn’t think how to take the idea forward?
• I know I can do it again, because I’ve done it once, right? I’m 60k into my second novel, The Projectionist, a story about a man called Frank who is named in memory of my grandfather.
There’s a short story you can read for free of the same name which was published by Fairlight Books in 2022 - https://www.fairlightbooks.co.uk/short_stories/the-projectionist/
I know that my next book will have taken many years to go from idea to published book – Maid of Steel took four years from a 2019 weekend break in Cobh, Cork to its February 2023 publication date. The idea for The Projectionist took root when I watched a 2018 Michael Portillo episode of ‘Hidden Histories’ where he walked around Bradford Cinema wearing a hard hat, learning about its history and how it was being redeveloped... so that story will have actually taken longer to come to fruition!
• I love research. To the point where I went back to Cobh twice to ensure the details of St Colman’s cathedral on the coast and Sunday Wells Gaol just outside Cork city in Maid of Steel were as accurate as I could make them. I’ve also been to Bradford for the next book’s research as my fictitious cinema is in a made-up East Anglian town called Bradwich; an amalgamation of Bradford and Harwich. Harwich, on the east coast suffered terrible floods in 1953 and it’s that real historical event around which my backstory will play (spoiler – I’m going to put my characters through some heartache!).
• Being at the Book Fair was another reminder to do things our own way. Of course, we must listen to the expert advice we will receive along the way, from editors for example, whose aim will be to help make the book the best it can be. But the other ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ can all be listened to and filed away, and not taken as gospel. Self and indie-published authors are being not only catered for, but celebrated at the Book Fair these days. That’s a big step forward from ten years ago, when the publishing industry as a whole skirted around the generally-held belief that anyone who self-published had done so as a last resort.
Thank you for having me, Galina, and I hope your readers enjoy Maid of Steel if they venture into 1911 Irish territory with a forbidden romance at its core. Wish me luck as I have to go away and dig deep to finish the first draft of Frank’s story. Xx"
Good luck, Kate, I am looking forward to reading your next book!
Maid Of Steel
It’s 1911 and, against her mother’s
wishes, quiet New Yorker Emma dreams of winning the right to vote. She is sent
away by her parents in the hope distance will curb her desire to be involved
with the growing suffrage movement and told to spend time learning about where
her grandparents came from.
Across the Atlantic – Queenstown,
southern Ireland – hotelier Thomas dreams of being loved, even noticed, by his
actress wife, Alice. On their wedding day, Alice’s father had assured him that
adoration comes with time. It’s been eight years. But Alice has plans of her
own and they certainly don’t include the fight for equality or her dull
husband.
Emma’s arrival in Ireland leads her to
discover family secrets and become involved in the Irish Women’s Suffrage
Society in Cork. However, Emma’s path to suffrage was never meant to lead to a
forbidden love affair…
Purchase Links
Publisher’s link: https://www.bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/book/486/maid-of-steel-SMwd/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/191535269X/
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/191535269X/
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/maid-of-steel/kate-baker/9781915352699
Author Bio – Maid of Steel is Kate’s first full length
novel to be published. She also writes short stories and is presently drafting
a second novel.
She writes at a desk covered in to-do
lists and lights candles in the hope the lists disappear in the shadows.
She lives in East Anglia in the UK
with her husband where they attempt to look after farmland for generations to
come.
A small, very small, dog can be
frequently found on Kate's lap. Otis is her first miniature dachshund.
https://twitter.com/katefbaker
https://www.instagram.com/KateFrancesWrites/
https://www.facebook.com/KateBakerAuthor
Giveaway to Win a
signed copy of Maid of Steel, candle and lipsil (Open to UK Only)
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Good luck!
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