‘Never give up’ message from author Louise
APLYMOUTH writer is urging would-be novelists never to give up, after a book which was ten years in the making helped her win a publishing deal with industry giants HarperCollins.
Louise Sharland’s first book, The Lake, is being published in March this year, after the manuscript won a crime writing competition for a two-book deal with the publishing giants.
Louise, who lives in Tamerton, said she was about ready to give up on her tale when it was picked out by an expert panel judging the competition which originally ran in The Big Issue.
Having written the book on and off over a period of more than ten years, she received a dozen rejections from other publishers before entering the competition in 2019.
But having sent off her manuscript, she said it then took just four days for editors at the publishing house to get back to her with a ‘yes’.
The book, which was inspired by a real-life tragedy, revolves around a mother whose world falls apart when her teenage son drowns in the waters by his school. Five years later, she unearths her son’s lost diary and realises she may finally be able uncover what really happened.
Louise said: “I had sent it out to a load of agents a Monday, and by Friday I had received an email from HarperCollins saying I had won the competition.
“It had come after my 12th rejection. People had always asked me what advice I would give, and I would say never to give up when you have a project you believe in.
“But I was thinking: ‘That’s going on the shelf now, move on to something else’.”
She added: “I always joke, saying I’m a 30-year overnight success!
“But I feel like I can reflect and enjoy it, without taking it too seriously.”
Louise is originally from Montreal in Canada, but has lived in Plymouth with her husband for more than 30 years, and has long had ambitions of being an author.
But despite winning a short story competition in Women and Home magazine in 2010, she has had to win her place in the booksellers’ shelves the hard way.
“I’ve been working, like a lot of part-time writers,” she said. “So my writing has always been done alongside other things.”
Louise is currently a careers’ advisor at Plymouth College of Art.