My "big secret book project" didn't sell
even a 12-time published author can get a "no" :(
I’m so happy to see you! How to Build a Life is a newsletter by me, bestselling author of 12 books (…with two more coming in 2025!) Laura Jane Williams, going out to thousands of readers bang in the thick of life’s mess and mayhem… who are still trying to find the magic. I’m almost 40, a solo parent by choice, and decorate my house like a tart’s boudoir. Those three things are my entire personality 🥰 I really love writing to you here. Hi.
In June 2023 I sat across from my literary agent in the Vauxhall Bridge Pret a Manger and said, ‘Right. So it’s called Wife of the Master Mural Painter…’
Ever since Ella signed me, ten years ago, we’ve talked about my “Big” book. It was always a future thing, something to work towards. First came non-fiction, then came romance, and then, eventually, there’d be historical fiction. Once I felt brave enough.
My “Big” book is my Everest. I’d been waiting to be ready for it, priming myself for a decade. I’ve been desperate to prove to myself I’m capable of it. As time passed, the need to get out of my head - and my heart - and put words onto actual paper grew and grew. By last summer, I couldn’t put it off any more.
Some project ideas enter your psyche with a bang but limp silently out of the back door, a French exit you don’t even notice.
Others linger, growing in strength, but crumble under inspection in the cold light of day.
Wife of the Master Mural Painter was a friend of friend, slipping into my brain unnoticed, attached to another idea, until she wasn’t. She was quiet at first, but when I pinned her down and got her talking she had an awful lot to say.
It was a lot like falling in love.
This one, I thought, almost afraid that I’d scare her off. I think this one could really be something…
I began to write.