They meet anonymously online, where they form a relationship, which eventually spills over into real life. Both Juliet and Ronan use Chesslife ( an online chess app) as a means of escapism. And Ronan, the new boy at school, who is good-looking, smart and is hiding a huge family secret that he can’t deal with, let alone talk about. Juliet lives with inflammatory arthritis and is ridiculously cynical about love. My book, The First Move, is a YA romance that follows two protagonists. How long did it take you to write? How many drafts? Are you a planner? What is your favourite thing about the writing process? And your least favourite thing? Jenny, tell us about your book and your writing process. Sharing work with other people is (IMO) invaluable. The Writing Community on Twitter has also been a huge support, and I’ve even found myself another writing group online, who turned into real life friends. Join the SCBWI ! I found my critique group through the SCBWI and they’ve been an absolute godsend. I’d say read a lot of YA novels that have come out in the last few years. What advice would you give people who would like to write a YA novel? Editors, copy editors, proof readers, a designer for the cover as well as an illustrator and I’m sure a million more people I didn’t even know were involved. It surprised me just how many people are involved in the publication of a book. What has surprised you about the publication journey? I only got my agent once I was actually working with Penguin on the Writenow scheme. It feels like I have done things a bit backwards. I do! I’m represented by Lauren Gardner at Bell Lomax Moreton. I got a two book deal with Penguin in November 2021. You only had to enter 1000 words so I fired mine in and was delighted to be chosen. In 2019 I had emergency brain surgery which put the brakes on my writing journey for a while, however in 2020 I entered the Penguin Writenow scheme which pairs writers from underrepresented backgrounds with editors.
From there I entered competitions, submitted my work to agents and attended various writing conferences and workshops. When I did the Curtis Brown Writing for Children course in 2017, my tutor, author Catherine Johnson, told me I could write and that gave me the confidence to keep going. I continued to write over the next few years, with no idea of whether or not my writing was any good. I think I went a bit mad from all the sleepless nights and decided that writing children’s stories was a good idea.
I started writing in 2014, after the birth of my second child, Rory. Jenny, tell us about your publication journey
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