the secret lives of writers

how authors talk to each other when no one's listening, plus the story of my private literary pact

Earlier this week I made a top secret pact with a fellow writer, a successful novelist with a publishing track record not dissimilar to my own. The call was a set up by a mutual friend who is also a published writer of some note.

I’d never met this particular writer in person or online but I was aware of her work. I’ve promised not to disclose her name in this post for reasons that will become obvious when I explain the nature of our private pact. First off though, I should explain what I mean by ‘successful writer’ in publishing terms.

Like me, the unnamed author in question is a middle aged woman in mid-career with a few books under her belt. Her work has received excellent reviews in respected broadsheets around the world and even popped up on a couple of important industry ‘lists’ (bestseller, prize nominations, and the like). Like me, she has a respected agent at an international agency and is published by one of the ‘big six’ publishing houses. She’s had her work translated and published internationally and been optioned for TV and film…. yada yada yada.

What I’m trying to say is that she’s professional writer with a bonafide career. A success, for all intents and purposes! But you wouldn’t have know it from our conversation, which was largely spent comparing notes about how lost and confused we both feel.

The truth is, like so many writers, we are both a bit stuck. The promising news is that we are no longer alone. We’ve found a solution for unsticking our stuckness in the form of a secret writers’ pact, which I shall disclose on the other side of the paywall below.

*pointedly clears throat*