Writing Revelations, but (Life) Lessons Learnt?

I (still seem to) have no idea what I’m doing

Hello dear readers,

This is like déjà vu all over again.

I’m writing this as much for myself as for others, to help make sense of things and seek some clarity.

In April 2022, I started writing A Classroom in Kyiv: Life Lessons for English Learners. My goals were modest. I was working full-time as an English teacher and I had no grand ambitions to write a bestseller. I intended to self-publish from the very beginning for a variety of reasons: I had no idea how I’d pitch it, what genre it fit into, and I wanted to keep things as simple as possible.

The process dragged on and took far longer than anticipated. I was learning on the fly – not the actual writing, but all the other stuff.

Back to the future

Here we are in September 2025, four published books later, with a first draft of another language learning book waiting to be revised and my first novel taking far longer than anticipated – plus ça change, right?

Have I learnt any lessons? I doubt it.

After being fired from my job for repeatedly misleading my students, making up grammar rules and not taking my job seriously leaving my teaching position in June 2023, I put all my effort into getting my book done, and the goalposts shifted. The more I researched, the more I thought ‘maybe I can make this into a career – after all, I have lots of ideas and I enjoy writing’. But the learning curve was steep and I’m still getting my head round marketing, editing, book covers, social media, promotions, building a brand (ugghhh)...

It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

Had I known how hard it is to make a living from this writing lark, I might have approached things differently.

Who knew there’s more to writing a book than just…writing?

How about fiction?

I decided to write my first novel last November as part of NaNoWriMo.

Much like with my first book, I was doing this for modest reasons. I’d barely written any fiction, mainly because I peaked too early and thought I’d never be able to replicate my success from high school – I won $100 in a short story competition when I was 14.

How would I ever top that?

During a creative writing class at university, I wrote some terrible short stories. They’re so bad, in fact, that I’m tempted to publish them here just so everyone can get a kick out of how horrible they were. They might be in the ‘so bad they’re good’ category.

I also wrote plenty of nonsensical pieces of fiction – I guess you could call them that – in my years of teaching: silly dialogues and stories for my students to practise vocabulary or to spice up the reading tasks – those in the coursebooks were often deadly dull. I compiled many of these in my second book, No More Boring Worksheet(s): Spicing Up English with Chaos, Creativity and (some) Grammar

(What is this turning into, a book promotion post? Well yes, readers, yes, it is. Now shut up and go buy my books keep reading.)

This brings us to my novel, Death by Manuscript…or The Final Draft…or A Killer Draft

My indecisiveness and confusion aren’t limited to the choice of title.

Little did I realise how much fun I would have writing my novel. My daily word count – I needed to average 1,667 to hit the 50,000-word goal by the end of the month – was hardly a problem. I just wrote and rambled and chuckled to myself over the horrendous humour and dreadful puns. I fully intended to self-publish it and then decided to serialise it. I figured, why not? Some readers with less discerning taste might actually like it. To each their own, whatever floats your boat, as they say.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but my dilemma is probably familiar to many writers: I am bursting with ideas. I’ve envisaged a sequel, spin-offs, and other, completely unrelated stories. The possibilities are endless!

I’m not aiming for high-brow literature or anything that’ll get the Booker Prize committee buzzing. These reviews encapsulate exactly what I’m aiming for: three stars of thrilling top quality never-ending nonsense:

(But who am I kidding? No one has the time or inclination to read most of this crap. Or to read in general.)

I’d never considered getting it traditionally published until recently. No way – I’m already overwhelmed enough and as hard as this is, I’m trying to make a living with writing. And the best way to do that, I thought? Stick to self-publishing, and write, write, write and publish, publish, publish. Start a series, hook your readers, rope them in, build your fan base, churn these babies out.

I won’t lie, it’s not easy to make ends meet, and luckily I’ve been able to find funds elsewhere, and NOT through any of the shady, illegal means that the character of Samuel in my novel has to go through (you’ll have to read to find out, but it will soon get even WORSE for our poor hero). Fingers crossed that the current opportunity I’ve applied for will pan out, with all those juicy details to be revealed in an upcoming post (let’s just say that it involves being a giant, furry frog-like green creature – follow me for more techniques in how to intrigue your reader with teases like this).

In short, I don’t know if I had/have the time, energy and perseverance to pursue a traditional publishing gig – writing the query letter, the synopsis and toughest of all, polishing up my manuscript.

I’m no perfectionist, but there are certain things I can’t do half-assed. There’s a reason A Classroom in Kyiv took so damn long: edit after edit after edit…and then even after the final edit, I wrote a few more chapters...

I have minimal expectations, but when it comes to writing and teaching – believe it or not – I can’t do anything that is less than my very best (unless it’s a class of rambunctious 8 year olds on a Saturday afternoon; screw it kids, shut up and watch Wallace and Gromit, will you?)

To get published and find an agent, my manuscript – my goodness, is that what I’m calling it? I’m not a serious writer! – needs plenty of work. The original plan of ‘write the damn draft, edit it a bit, throw it out there to be serialised, see what people say, then self-publish and hope for the best’ might not cut it.

I’m curious to explore the potential of this and whether any agent would be foolish enough to consider taking me on.

But I cannot submit an unpolished draft, though at this point, it’s on its 3^rd or 4^th iteration – I am taking the editing seriously and I desperately want to iron out the plot holes, fix a few things (more like a lot of things), flesh out a couple characters and make sure it all makes sense. At this point, I hardly know if all the twists and turns are logical and believable.

Look, I’ve even managed to find a (free) printer and print out a draft, but 22 euros for an ink cartridge? Good lord, that’s pricey. This is the first printer I’ve had since the dot matrix days.

Not until after I finished my first draft did I start overdosing on writing craft books. I started with everyone’s favourite, On Writing by Stephen King, followed by Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.

Then it dawned on me – unless I’m delusional or sorely mistaken, my novel follows the natural arcs it’s meant to, the ups and downs based on the different genres featured in Save the Cat! Maybe I know what I’m doing after all?

I read more craft books – with the ones on self-editing being the most useful – but more importantly, and more developmentally, I started noticing more in the regular books I was reading. Writing this novel has been a eureka moment for me, and talk about a welcome, unexpected benefit – even if my fiction writing future flops – my reading skills at the ripe old age of [redacted] are at an entirely different level.

This has been a revelation.

Want to improve your reading skills? Write a book. Then read about the craft and read more books.

Many a writer will tell you that the most useful craft books are other works of fiction. I’ve been diving into loads of books in different genres to see where mine might fit. I think

Marci Cornett

said it best when she called it ‘genre-defying’ (that sounds like a compliment, I’m going with it) and

Maria Glymph

wrote an excellent post about this: The Future of Publishing is the Story

I don’t know where my book fits, but I don’t care. I wrote the book I wanted to, genre be damned. I cannot conform to trends or to shoehorn it into a particular genre to make it more marketable. I did my thing, I stuck to what I knew but challenged myself with creative flourishes and if it pans out, great. If not, so be it. I know from the feedback of a few loyal, dedicated readers that I’ve at least entertained and amused you, and I’m always so grateful for the support (either that, or they’re gluttons for punishment/masochists/eager to please/want something in return/way too kind).

For now, with my funds a bit limited – I need to priortise beer and coffee for me, and somewhat nutritious food for my daughter – a proper, professional, thorough developmental edit is beyond my means. I shall do my best – the self-editing craft books are super useful and I know what I need to fix – and must once again thank my eager team of early beta/ARC readers. I was looking for 3-4 volunteers and I have them, and am feverishly polishing it all up so I can get it to you. (If anyone else is desperate for something to read and willing to cast a critical eye, I won’t say no!)

So far this year, the novel has been just one thing on my mind. I also wrote two more books and have the first draft of another one that urgently needs revising as well (this is for language learners). I’m also extremely eager to get cracking on my next book, about my time in Ukraine. (I guess that will be a…memoir? I hesitate to call it that.)

To wrap up, I must give thanks to all of the other writers and readers who have been so generous with their time and feedback, as well as the education they’ve given me in the craft of writing. There are too many to mention, and I shan’t for now, other than a special thanks to

Hanna Delaney

and

Jayne Marshall

, both of whom have written fabulous books along with their consistently great advice and encouragement.

If you’re interested in learning more about publishing, pitching, editing, agenting and the writing craft in general, I recommend three must-read newsletters from

Karin Gillespie

,

Abigail Monti

and

Abigail Fenton

. (Parents – if you want your kids to grow up to be great publicists, editors, publishers or agents, name them Abigail!)

Abigail M was the one who critiqued my first 5,000 words and might be unwittingly responsible for nudging me towards trying to pitch this bad boy. (uh…thanks?!)

Watch this space!

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As always, thanks for reading. This newsletter is free and will remain so - you think I could get away with charging for this rubbish?

If you do want to support me you can buy one of my lousy books or wait for this damn novel to be finished.

Otherwise, the support I love the most is a wee click on the 🧡 and a comment, even if it's to insult me and call me silly names.