#AmQuerying

Hey there!

So I’ve decided to give a quick update about my last few weeks in writing. Naturally, with everything that’s going on, most of my mental space has been devoted primarily to family and friends, followed by my PhD and work in community pharmacy. If anything, the usual guilt I feel when I don’t write has been replaced with a more complex remorse when I do. Recently though, I came to the realisation that part of the process of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is holding on to the things we hold dear. Allowing the virus to break our spirit seems to me a first step down a dangerous path to defeat.

On Wednesday, I entered the RTE Short Story Competition. My story, centered on a fictional lighthouse off the coast of Cork, was written in an attempt to explore isolation, duty, and the bond between father and son. I really enjoyed writing the piece, though as a rule short stories aren’t my style. Word count is something I’ve always found restrictive, especially when setting plays such a massive role in my work. I also think it’s more difficult to turn off the theoretical side of my writing brain when I’m aware how much each word has to count. I do feel some ideas are best debated with fewer characters or scenes, and I’m excited by a separate science fiction piece that I hope to finish soon. Going forward, I hope to write a lot more short stories based around my fantasy world.

Speaking of my fantasy world, I am thrilled to announce I have started querying my first novel with literary agents over the last few weeks! When my university shut on March 12th, I no longer had a lab in which to run experiments, meaning I found myself with slightly more time than I was used to. As a result, all of the groundwork I needed to do researching agents and submission guidelines got bumped up a few months. Rise of Exile, the first of a planned series, is an Epic Fantasy I started years ago, but only recently fully understood. Once I did, the manuscript came together very quickly late last year. I have a detailed outline for a potential sequel, so fingers crossed the first book gets picked up.

Next week, I want to tell you all about a new project that I’m working on. It’s a fantasy novel set in the same world as Rise of Exile, but it’s like nothing I’ve ever attempted before. Really excited to share some details!