Before the Book Contract is Written

I keep a work diary. It's for important dates like deadlines and so forth, but mainly it is so that I keep a record of what work I did on any particular day. At the end of each day, I note down the scenes I wrote or how far along I am with copy-edits - that sort of thing.

Which is how I know that during this week last year, I was busy writing the series proposal for books 7, 8 and 9 for The Railway Girls series. I get asked to write the books three at a time.

When the time comes for another three, I'm asked if I'd like to write them and I say yes. You might be thinking that this is the point when a contract is drawn up, but you'd be mistaken.

After I say yes, this is when I am asked to produce the series proposal. This means I have to come up with all the plots for the series, which means nine plots in all, as there are three viewpoint charcaters per book, and Katie, my editor, has to be happy with the plots. Only then is the contract drawn up.

The third set of three books is:

Courage of the Railway Girls will be published on April 13th.     Here is the Amazon link.

Book 8 is Christmas Wishes for the Railway Girls, which comes out on October 13th.   Here is the Amazon link.

And book 9, which comes out in spring 2024, is as yet untitled.