Sarah Mitchell-Jackson
What
do you write? Genre?
I write literary fiction:
novels to tug at your heart, short stories to unsettle.
Tell
us about yourself?
When I’m not daydreaming, I
live in Cambridge, UK, with my husband and son.
What
prompted you to pitch your book in #Pit2Pub?
All the cool kids on my
timeline were doing it - I am in a little network of wonderfully supportive
authors - and it seemed as though #Pit2Pub might get me noticed in just the
right way. I had a completed, fully-honed novel to pitch.
Tell
about your #Pit2Pub experience.
I wrote a 140-character
pitch and Blue Moon Publishers, based in Canada, starred it. (It was stars on
Twitter back in those days!) I looked up their submission guidelines and
followed them precisely. It only took a few days after reading my synopsis and
sample chapters for them to ask for the full manuscript. After that it was only
about a week before we chatted on Skype and were tweaking a contract.
It was particularly
exciting because it hadn’t even occurred to me to try the large North American
market. I was still dutifully plodding my way through the Writers’ and Artists’
Yearbook, choosing agents to send to in small waves so that I could take on board
feedback before submitting again. Now that everything is on the internet,
though, it doesn’t matter that I’m based in the UK and my publisher is
Canadian. An event like #Pit2Pub is an excellent international opportunity.
Which
publisher did you sign with?
Blue Moon Publishers
Tell
us about your upcoming book.
Ashes intertwines three stories which have at their heart the
power of human resilience:
Eva is a little girl of five years old who seems to emerge from
an otherwise empty burning house. As she cannot remember who she is, beyond her
name, and no one comes forward to claim her, she must carve out spaces for
herself in a succession of homes and attempt to discover where she belongs.
Dan is the fireman who rescues Eva. He is struggling to maintain
a relationship with his wife after the still birth of their daughter and
wonders if keeping and raising Eva would help to heal their rift.
Carrie-Anne is a woman who lives in a caravan behind the house
that burns. She battles alcoholism and depression, both of which pin her into
her tiny sphere of existence with an overpowering inertia.
To be brief, Ashes is about how personal choice is limited by the
circumstances over which no one has control. The subject matter is dark, but
not devoid of hope.
When
is your book scheduled to be released?
Later this year.
What
is at the top of your bucket list?
It was ‘getting published’,
so the next thing I write is going to have to be a new list.
Parting
words for other authors?
Don’t ever give up on a
dream. Keep trying in as many ways as you can find. There is nothing that can’t
be improved through practice and learning.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SarahMitchJack/
Twitter: @SMitchJack
Website: www.smitchjack.wordpress.com
Publisher: www.bluemoonpublishers.com
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