My inspiration: Jenny Colgan

I think it was Cosmopolitan Magazine, maybe 10 years ago (give or take a couple), there it was, an interview with an author who I admired. Her name was Jenny Colgan, she was perhaps a couple of years old than me, and I'd previously read one or two of her books. Her style of writing just spoke to me, you know. She was so funny and the stories just captivated me from the very first page.

I think the first book was called Amanda's Wedding and it was chick lit at it's very best. The second was Looking for Andrew McCarthy and it tickled me just as much as the first. I've since read more of hers, of course.

But it was reading the interview that spoke to me and inspired me. Jenny spoke of how her first book had sparked a bit of a bidding war between a couple of publishers and that she'd been paid a nice little advance. To be honest, I can't remember all the ins and outs of the article but I do remember that it made me start to believe in myself, in my own writing. I hadn't yet written anything lengthy but I knew, after reading that article, that I would do. I still believe that Jenny Colgan was the inspiration behind my very first (still unpublished) novel. I wrote it in a matter of weeks, tried to get an agent, failed, and then shoved it in a drawer where it stayed for years.
In the meantime, I wrote two completely different YA novels - one of which is slowly selling online and the other is to be released in September.
Earlier this week I opened that drawer and took out my first book, just to have a look. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't actually that bad! So, I'm now considering re-writing it and releasing it as an ebook and see what happens. The book was originally called Molly (I may change it, I'm in two minds about that) and it's a romantic comedy... chick lit. Its quite naughty though.... worlds away from The Raven Saga!
Thank you, Jenny for being such an inspiration to me.

Check out what Jenny is up to at the moment at her site http://jennycolgan.com