Bratislava. 2009. You’re stuck in a Slovakian airport all by yourself for 24 hours. You can’t go outside. What do you do?

Write a sitcom pilot, of course.

Fuggers came alive in that airport and kept me entertained long after. The BBC, however, didn’t find it to be their cup of tea. Not edgy enough, apparently. Gosh, I miss classic sitcoms like Fawlty Towers, don’t you?

I guess everyone’s sense of humour is different. Thankfully, there are those who share my offbeat quirkiness, like my writing/producing partner for Truly, Madly, a comedy-cabaret that won the hearts of many on our South African tour — and was commissioned as a TV sitcom.

Honest. I have the letter from Pearson Television to prove it. (They’re Fremantle Media now, but still.)

Onto the next project. Actress, Bachelor, Clergyman, Cheat. A stage comedy that delighted Edinburgh Fringe Festival audiences. The Scotsman newspaper review said the play was ‘whip-crack quick’ and ‘entertaining’.

Fast-forward a few years… After honing my craft on plays and sitcoms (and one extremely cheesy musical), I moved onto novels and screenplays.

I love suspense. No matter what genre I tackle, I’ll always throw in a ton of nail-biting moments to keep the tension high. And I have OCD, which means I do about seven thousand drafts before I’ll let anyone take a look. (Yes, I know, it’s quite disconcerting.)

The upside is, I’ve finally learned the value of excellence as opposed to striving for the ever-unattainable beast known as perfection.

OK, I might be hyperbolising there. I only received ten rejections. But they hit hard.

I had submitted my chick-lit (with a belly of steel) to my top ten literary agents. Half of them never replied. The other half mostly sent standard ‘Thanks but no thanks’ letters, with three of them adding a few kind words.

My favourite rejection was from Sophie Kinsella’s agent.

Araminta Whitley’s rejection made my decade. (You can read an excerpt in the Reviews section, below.) I was blown away by her detailed comments about aspects she loved! However, she went on to say that ‘in the present climate’ she wasn’t completely confident she could sell chick-lit by an unknown writer. Not when hard-hitting thrillers and dramas were very much de rigeur.

That hit me hard. But I understood. I guess. Especially as she already had the author of the Shopaholic series as her client. She didn’t need me.

But then she went on to say that she imagined I would be an exciting prospect for other agents.

And that, I should have believed. I should have continued to submit my novel to other agents. After all, didn’t it take J.K. Rowling a dozen tries — a dozen rejections — before she found someone who believed in her?

I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t have stopped at ten submissions. But I was an idealist. And a perfectionist. (Yes, yes, we live and learn.) Obviously my novel wasn’t good enough to attract a top London agent. Who was I to think I could be the next Sophie K? Or Lindsey Kelk. Or Jill Mansell…

So I researched the heck out of self-publishing. A route I definitely did not want to go down, but I felt it was the only way to get my writing out there and into the hands of readers who would hopefully love my way with words.

Gosh, what a mistake that was!

OK, I’m exaggerating. It was actually liberating and encouraging and surprising and exhausting all at once.

Pros: I garnered much praise and five-star reviews.

Cons: Let’s just say I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. Especially when it came to marketing.

Spending 90% of my time on social media instead of writing is not how I want to live.

With that in mind, I removed The Hopeaholic series from Amazon, happy to have spread some sunshine around. (And I wasn’t too unhappy about the unexpectedly fabulous reviews from readers and critics either.)

By the way… If you’re a writer too, then no matter what stage you are at, GET THIS BOOK: Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us (Jessica Page Morrell). I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a game changer.

I’m a voracious reader: genre fiction; a gentle meander into literary fiction now and again; biographies and other non-fiction… I’ve always got two books on the go and a pile of TBRs on my nightstand.

I’m hoping that one day I’ll be updating this page with my ‘traditionally published’ novels (2 chick-lits, 1 uplit, and 1 thriller) or/and my sold/produced screenplays (a thriller and a rom-com).

But for now, they’ll have to wait because I’m focusing solely on, and putting all my energy & passion into, my first love: acting.

Thanks for reading. xx