This writing life: the art of multitasking

Or... How to juggle three books at once

When I was writing my first novel, The Governor’s Man, I was so wrapped up in getting the story written that I gave little thought to what would happen next. Even when I’d secured a three-book contract, I had no real grasp of all the work that needs to happen downstream. I supposed, like most debut authors, that once the book was handed over to a publisher I could sit back, relax, and maybe engage in some desultory thinking about the next book.

Right. Well, the process of getting a story from inside my head out into the reader’s hands turned out to be a little more demanding than that. I know — shock, horror! As fellow authors well know, the job of promoting a book is never done. Which means the more books I get out there, the more the workload intensifies.

Fortunately this is one of those careers where you truly do learn on the job. So I got into a sort of routine: inspiration (mainly the beginnings and endings of story, driven by or at least related to actual history); enough research of setting and historical background to placate my history-loving readers, involving much borrowing from the Roman library, plus tramping round muddy fields and dusty ruins; devising the plot and new characters; despairing over how to get from chapter 6 to chapter 20 with sustained intrigue, changes of pace, and enough twists and clues to satisfy my demanding crime readers; edit, edit, edit; polish; send to publisher. All that on a rolling annual basis, and whilst engaging with readers through social media, author events at museums, bookshops, libraries, WIs and historical/literary festivals. And my trusty Substack, of course. By the time I got to my fourth book, The Bath Curse, this was familiar routine.

Until my previous publisher and I disagreed on the way forward. It became apparent we had different visions of a new three-book contact. I want — not unnaturally, I think — to continue the Quintus Valerius series. With good reason: my readers keep asking when the next QV book is coming out, and my sales across the series double each time a new book appears. Plus I love researching and writing these books, and have at least another six books in mind. Ultimately, you have to write what you love. My existing publisher disagreed, so we parted ways amicably in January.

From that moment, my carefully learned routine crashed. Fortunately, The Bath Curse was already researched and well under way. A winter week’s retreat at the superb Gladstone’s Library in North Wales helped me complete the outlining stage, and get stuck into the early chapters of writing. There I had the company of brilliant fellow author Lynn Johnson, and we spent immensely helpful evenings swapping notes on progress with our respective books, and teasing out plot and character problems together.

Back home the hard work of writing the first draft ensued. Then multiple revisions, on a chapter by chapter basis, as my first reader (Him Indoors) gave me feedback. That slog continued through to June, when the revised full draft went out to my wonderful beta readers and my independent line editor/proofreader.

But all this time I continued to worry about getting the new book published. I know how much effort promoting and publicising a new book takes, even with a publisher supposedly taking the load. The thought of doubling that workload by self-publishing remains one I don’t want to contemplate. The alternatives also seem daunting: send my latest baby out to join the teetering slush piles wrangled by literary agents? Persuade a publisher that they want my series, part way through?

I spent all spring and summer talking to friends and fellow authors about these unattractive alternatives: at the Crime Writers’ Association conference; at various Society of Authors events and socials; in my local writers’ group. At the same time I was continuing the new book, knowing I could do nothing in any direction till I had a complete edited manuscript to submit. And I was still promoting my most recently published book, The Loyal Centurion. At least that work paid me back — over Christmas Centurion hit #1 Bestseller in its Amazon category, and his big brothers also did me proud last autumn and winter.

By the end of June the temptation to begin sending the new book out to agents and publishers was almost overwhelming. I’d been living with the horrible sensation of having no home for this new book for over six months. But I gritted my teeth, went away for a month while my editor did his thing, (where I rested by riding a motorbike through a dozen northern European countries, and writing thousands of words in my travel blog).

And so here we are at the end of August. In a “normal” year, my latest book would be newly-published, and I’d be setting aside time to work with my publisher to promote it, while gently thinking about my next book. Instead (and this where the multitasking becomes evident), I’m juggling all the following simultaneously:

• querying literary agents with The Bath Curse. This involves finding agents open to submissions who actively want my kind of fiction. I expect to have to wait till near Christmas to get responses (if any). Different agents want different cover letters, synopses, sample chapters, blurbs. It is a slow, exhausting process.

• additionally sending the whole manuscript to relevant publishers, those welcoming submissions direct from authors. Given I am a somewhat better-established writer now, this might be less hit and miss than first time round as a debut author. But there is the whole “partway through a series” problem…

• continuing to promote all my published books, and especially The Loyal Centurion, including meeting readers in person whenever I can. Which, by the way, is my favourite part of the whole job, but does take time and prep to do a decent job.

• beginning work on the next book, working title The Irish Slave. You’ll not be surprised to hear this will include a research trip to Ireland with my driver and cameraman, the same Him Indoors (husband Peter). My Youtube channel needs feeding with video clips of my research, after all. We’re going to Ireland the week after next, to visit Tara of the High Kings, to site walk the debated Roman settlement at Drumanagh promontory, and go to various museums in Dublin.

  With this book more than most, very recent archaeology (as in this 2024 digging season!) will be crucial. I’ll also draw on research of north Wales, and Roman ports to Ireland, to get across the Oceanus Hibernicus.

research sources for The Irish Slave

So it will be a long autumn for me. I long for the happy day when I can share with you an actually publication date for The Bath Curse.

Wish me luck.

My News

• Launch of Midsummer Mysteries

Anyone who meets me at the annual Crime Writers’ conferences knows how much I enjoy my membership of the CWA. So I was extremely chuffed when one of my shorter crime stories was selected for the CWA’s summer 2024 anthology, Midsummer Mysteries. This beautiful book will launch on 29 August, and includes some twenty stories by the stars of the CWA. Plus me.

Warning: no Romans were injured in the making of my story, as it’s a fun contemporary skit on Shakespeare’s play. But the bad guy gets his, of course.

Special pre-launch hardback price of £13.09, on Amazon. Selling fast

• Colwall Arts Festival

  It was a rather quieter affair this year, with stiff competition from a nearby, much bigger, fair. Thank you to the lovely people who turned out and bought books. And especially to the attentive audience for my world-exclusive first reading from The Bath Curse. And to the cake-bakers and tea-brewers, of course.

• Malvern library author talk: 6th September.

  I’m back with my lovely friends of the Malvern library Coffee & Crime book group next Friday at 11.00am, together with my host librarian, James Robertson. More cake, and we’ll be chatting about setting, and why it matters in crime books.

That’s it from me for this month. In September I’ll tell you all about my research trip to Ireland. And I’ll be introducing the first of my autumn guest bloggers, the amazingly erudite Roman historical novelist Fiona Forsyth, author of the Lucius Sestius mysteries and the gripping new Ovid series.

[Jacquie’s latest Roman Britain mystery, The Loyal Centurion, is out in ebook and paperback now. You can follow her on social media, watch her research videos, and read her magazine articles at Linktree.]