Cornerstones: New in on the blog!
We've got three new blog posts to share with you all, read on for more...
Dear all,
We hope you’re enjoying your summer so far! Things have been busy on the Cornerstones blog, so today’s newsletter is a roundup of three recent posts: Vanessa Moore writes about her experience of being published; our intern, Kate, details what she has been up to while working with Cornerstones; and Dan Blythe answers the question ‘How important is it to have a great idea?’…
Vanessa’s post for our Behind the Book feature, The Rocky Road to Publication, tells the story behind the publication of her memoir. As the title suggests, it wasn’t a straightforward journey, and Vanessa’s post details the ups, downs, and in-betweens of having a book on submission.
Her memoir, One Thousand Days and One Cup of Tea, was published earlier this year by Hachette. Vanessa’s book is about her recovering from her husband’s sudden death and understanding her profession, as a clinical psychological, from the other side. It is a personal, honest, and heartwarming book, and Vanessa’s blog post is one to read for anyone looking to start their publishing journey!
Over the last three weeks our intern, Kate, has been helping with the most recent ELEVATE scheme. She has been reading through submissions and providing feedback for authors, and in her blog post My Experience as an Intern at Cornerstones she shares her thoughts on the scheme and the breadth of submissions we received.
The deadline for ELEVATE was last Friday, so Kate has been splitting her time between the submissions and Cornerstones business. She writes about how she has spent her days and the tasks she’s been completing for both ELEVATE and Cornerstones.
Last but certainly not least, author and editor Dan Blythe shares his thoughts on the question ‘How important is it to have a great idea?’. He talks about where ideas come from, how to transform them into a story, and how to fit your characters into these ideas.
Here’s a snippet of advice from the blog post:
Where do you get your ideas from? You can get them from anywhere you like – from life around you, from the people you know, from the things you read, from dreams or idle thoughts. But ideas are just the raw material. It’s not where you get them from that’s interesting. It’s where you take them.
We’re also adding on a bonus – Dan had a conversation with Helen about all things editing, writing, and selling your book. It’s on YouTube now, and is filled with tips and industry insights for first-time writers! ⬇️
We were so pleased that so many of you could join us for our Edit Your Novel open day earlier in the month. If you were interested in signing up to our course, we have limited spaces available. See here for more information.
That’s all from us for now – until next time,
The Cornerstones Team
Industry tip:
If you have a great idea but you’re not sure where to start, Edit Your Novel course tutor Kathryn Price recommends starting with the basics. “I always start with the basics. Who's your character, what problem are they facing? Everything else grows out of that.”