Ahhh the Oscar moment of book writing, except here I’m minus a stage, a golden statue or a dress. I’m actually writing this at my kitchen table wearing a giant sweater and eating a packet of Wotsits – who says being An Author isn’t glamorous?
I wouldn’t have this oh-so-glamorous life if it weren’t for some key people so, much like a lengthy but heartfelt speech at the Oscars, I’m going to share them with you now.
My first thanks are to Maddie Chester and Abigail Bergstrom from Gleam Futures. Maddie is my Manager and from the very first moment I said, ‘I want to write a book about a single Mum and be totally realistic,’ she was on my team, telling me I could do it and not to give up, even that time I rang her crying after eating an entire bag of chocolates and doubting myself – she’s a good egg, the best egg actually.
Abigail joined Gleam as my Literary Agent and sat with me in the early days, listening to how I wanted the book to pan out and reading countless drafts of my first proposals and putting me in touch with the best publishing houses out there, most notably Bonnier Zaffre, of course. She has been a gracious soundboard, calmly replying to messages day and night (sorry for that 1 a.m. one Abi!) and without her, I don’t think I’d have pushed through with my initial idea.
Thank you, thank you Maddie and Abi.
Through Maddie and Abi, I found the wonder that is my Bonnier Zaffre team. I knew instantly they were the team for me when Eleanor Dryden (my Editor Extraordinaire) took an idea I had for book two seriously and didn’t try to ‘fluff it up’. I have been continuously impressed by Bonnier’s gusto for Wilde Like Me and the never dwindling energy of everyone involved. Particular thanks must go to Emily Burns, Stephen Dumughn, Georgia Mannering, Nico Poilblanc, Vincent Kelleher, Angie Willocks, Ruth Logan, Sarah Bauer and Alex Allden for being top notch all round.
On days when I’ve felt lack lustre and unenthused, I’ve remembered that there is a team of happy book bods working on the cover design and the promotion and the distribution (and forty-five thousand other things) and have been reminded that this is a team effort.
A couple of other people I feel important to mention for all their hard work are Tara, Jamie, Nick, James, Asmaa, Felice, Eleanor (a different one to Eli The Editor) Kate and Mark plus Jenny H, Jenny P, Katie G and Kati N. I’m so grateful to be working with such marvellous people and to be part of their world.
Eleanor Dryden, my Editor. Big, huge, wet sloppy thank yous. If I could stand on the spare pillar in Trafalgar Square and shout ‘thank you’, then I would. Since the day we rolled out a sheet of wallpaper over my lounge floor and scribbled all my ideas over it, to the day we sat in a swanky London hotel ‘love suite’ (long story) and said, ‘that’s it, it’s finished’, Eli has been incredible.
Eli has forced me to go deeper with Wilde Like Me than I thought I could and it’s that pushing that, I think, has brought the very best out of Robin’s first story. There have been a lot of highs (ever drank too much wine and had a disco in the vaults of a ye olde building? We have!), a lot of over-sharing (poor Eli, I’m sorry for the time I graphically described that thing to you) and, a tiny few, but worth mentioning, lows (a call in December when I thought I was writing rubbish and Eli told me to shut my laptop and go out for the day – thank you).
Through all of them, Eli has been steady, supportive, professional (we’ll not speak of the wine and disco again) and positive. Eli is more than the editor of this book, she’s also my friend and a joy to have in my life. Thank you Eli.
As well as my professional marvels, my friends deserve a firm and loud ‘thank you’. Countless times I’ve declined invites for mooches around John Lewis (my favourite thing) or drinks at our tatty local pub (my second favourite thing) in favour of saying, ‘Sorry, the book’. They’ve never rolled their eyes or been annoyed, but instead offered playdates with their children for Darcy so I could focus or told me they’re looking forward to reading it.
Special thanks go to Clare, Esther, Vicki, Emma and Auntie Judith.
Thank you to Liam, the love of my life and man who has spent countless evenings sat next to me watching awful smashy action films whilst I typed and typed and typed. He’s spent so much time with me as I’ve written this that he now says he finds the sound of my keyboard soothing! For every achievement (the first chapter written, the first twenty thousand words submitted, the first draft fully printed out etc.), Liam has celebrated with me. He’s never complained that I can’t come out to play and never begrudged the days when my laptop has seemed more important than him. I hope that one day Robin Wilde will find a man as good as him, just like me.
And finally, a funny thank you really because she can’t even read the words I’m writing yet, to my daughter, Darcy. Having never sat down and expressly told her I was writing a book, I didn’t think Darcy was paying my work life much attention. Why would you at that age? Occasionally she’d ask what I was doing and I’d say, ‘just writing, my love’ and she’d skip off to do something else. At her last parent’s evening I was invited to look through her work and on one of the pages I saw something that almost blew me over. The children had been asked to describe their parents and Darcy had written, ‘My Mummy is clever because she wrote a book’. I sat on the tiny made-for-kids-chair and cried. All these months when I’ve felt guilty for pouring so much into Wilde Like Me, she’s known and instead of resenting me, she’s been thinking I was clever.
Reading that gave me the boost I needed to continue giving Wilde Like Me so much and has given me such pride. Darcy, when you’re older and you can fully read – thank you for thinking so highly of me. All of this is for you.
I’m all emotional now and I’m out of Wotsits, so this feels like a good place to wrap up my Oscar speech. Robin Wilde is everything I want her to be. I love her dearly and I’m so thankful to all the other people who love her too.