Hello Substackers š Iām Kate Emilie, writer of YA speculative romance and a newly agented author. I thought Iād introduce myself by sharing a bit about my writing journey thus far!
I may be creative, but boy do I love data. Thatās why, as an aspiring writer, I always devoured articles by authors who shared their path to publication. I was fascinatedāand secretly hoped I could crack the code on how to get agented and published as fast as possible. After all, I wanted it so badly!
But alas, I discovered there was truth in what everyone said: thereās no single recipe for success and everyoneās journey was as unique as the book they wrote. In any case, I found those articles so helpful and inspiringāso I wanted to share my experience too.
āIn the end, I had over 20 requests for my full manuscript, I spent two weeks meeting with 14 fabulous agents, and I was made 14 offers of representation.ā
A Timeline | From Aspiring Writer to Agented Author
Iāve always loved storytelling but I never thought I could be an author. Authors were elusive creatures, like unicorns or mermaids. You couldnāt just become one, you had to be born one. Right?
So it wasnāt until I stumbled upon Bath Spa Universityās MA in Writing for Young People (hold upā¦. there were masters programmes for creative writing?!) that I considered pursuing writing as anything more than a secret hobby.
But I couldnāt actually apply... could I? After all, I wasnāt a ārealā writer. I guess there was no harm? Besides, itās not like I was going to get inā¦
āI discovered thereās so much more to writing a novel than just putting words on the pageāthat craft can be studied, learned, and honed.ā
Sep 2017 - Sep 2018 | The MA Year
āā¦coming out of the MA, I felt like I had the skills and discipline to see my draft through.ā
Accepted!? Are you sure?! Better confirm my place before they take it backā¦
To this day, the MA was one of the best years of my life, and some of my closest friends came out of it. I discovered thereās so much more to writing a novel than just putting words on the pageāthat craft can be studied, learned, and honed. For twelve months, I was surrounded by other writers, taught by industry professionals, and on track towards completing a book. It was incredible.
Our final submission was 40,000 words towards a novel in progress. For my YA fantasy, that was about two-thirds. I was so close to āthe endā but most importantly, coming out of the MA, I felt like I had the skills and discipline to see my draft through.
Feb/Mar 2019 | Graduation, Launch Party, and Agent Interest
āTwo of the agents rejected me, one ghosted me. Yikes.ā
I graduated the MA, finished my draft, and was longlisted for a novel competition. I felt on top of the world! Shortly after the course anthology went out (a physical book of everyoneās first chapter and bio, which was sent to agents along with an invitation to our launch party), I received emails from not one, not two, but three agents who had read my extract and wanted the full manuscript. Was this it!? Was it happening?!
Nope.
I got too excited, rushed my edits, and sent my full out even though I knew in my gut it wasnāt ready (maybe theyāll see the potential and take a chance on me??). Two of the agents rejected me, one ghosted me. Yikes.
Summer 2019 | Edits
Thatās okay. I could recover things, right? There were still plenty of other agents in the sea, I just needed to finish my edits (properly this time) and then dive into the query trenches. Working by day, editing by night. Letās do this šŖ
Fall 2019 - Winter 2023 | You Blink and Life Happens
āI discovered, to my utter surprise, that I wasnāt the same writer anymore.ā
Then life happened: I got married, got pregnant, moved to Dubai, and survived a pandemicāall while working remotely, navigating timezones and new motherhood.
When I reopened my manuscript after months away from it, a funny thing happened: I didnāt love it anymore. I discovered, to my utter surprise, that I wasnāt the same writer anymore. If I returned to the project, Iād want to start overāand if I was starting with a blank page, I realised I didnāt want it to be with that story. Letting go was hard, especially since that manuscript once-upon-a-time had agent interest. But I simply couldnāt bring myself back to it.
So I started fresh.
I wrote on my phone during midnight nursing sessions. I joined an MA alumni workshop. I started a new manuscript. Then I got pregnant again and the cycle repeated: Iād have an idea, write and workshop, then work would get busy or Iād be in the throes of motherhood and Iād lose excitement and momentum, and Iād start over. It felt like Groundhog Day.
But then, one day, I had āØ The Idea āØ
It was a sort of cinematic daydream of a diner surrounded by fog and a girl walking towards it. She goes inside, sits down, and a waitress comes to serve her. The girl looks up and realises sheās deadā¦ or dying?
I think I actually sat up and gasped. There was a story there. But with a full-time job and two kids, I didnāt have the brain-space to develop it. So I saved it. I kept it in the back of my mind while I workshopped other stories, and prepared for another big change.
Dec 2023 | Another International Move
We moved back to the UK and let me tell you, moving with kids was so much harder! I felt like a snow-globe that kept being shaken every time the snow settled. But, it was the right move for our family and we were excited for the next chapter of our lives.
Soā¦ here we go again!
2024 | Finding the Balance
āIn two months, I wrote 80,000 words of a story that absolutely did not work.ā
Settling the family, working, writing, workshoppingā¦ it was a lot, but I didnāt want to give any of it up. Meanwhile, that liminal diner idea kept niggling at me, and it was getting louder and louder. So, eventually, I decided to just pants it. In two months, I wrote 80,000 words of a story that absolutely did not work. (Perhaps a future post on this, but the takeaway: Iāll never pants a manuscript again.)
I was getting jaded. Would this dream of mineāwriting a book, landing an agent, getting publishedāever come true? Was it selfish to even continue pursuing it? After all, time spent writing was time I could have spent with my familyā¦ or sleeping.
Two things still haunted me though:
Iād never truly seen the process through, not end-to-end. Not once had I written a book I went on to fully edit and then query in earnest. Did I owe it to myself to at least jump through all those hoops once before calling it quits?
This diner idea! Arggg, it kept me up at night. I wondered if maybe the concept was right but the story itself wasnāt. Could I salvage the concept and try again, this time with an actual plan?
Right, I needed a plan, so I went back to the basics. I listened to audiobooks on writing, I read, I researched, I wrote multiple synopses trying to crack the story, I got feedback, I listened to the feedback.
And then the fourth synopsis I wrote was āØ The One āØ
Oct 2024 | The 1-Year Commitment
āI decided to give myself one year to see this thing throughāonce and for all.ā
Now that I knew the storyās big picture, I was ready and a 13-page chapter outline flowed out of me in one sitting. I knew my characters and their flaws, I knew the plot, the stakes, the structure; it was all there.
With a solid idea in hand, and after much considering and discussing, I decided to give myself one year to see this thing throughāonce and for all. One year to write this book and query it. If I didnāt get an agent, at least Iād know I gave it my all.
Let the one-year count down beginā¦
Oct 2024 - May 2025 | No Excuse Not to Write
I went š all š in.
I attended a lot of physical and online events. I took courses, committed to workshops, watched a bunch of masterclasses, attended festivals, submitted to competitions and pitching events, joined writing communities, and made friends.
But above all, I wrote. I followed my 13-page chapter outline to a T and in May 2025 I finished my first draft.
June 2025 | Jericho Writerās Friday Night Live
āin front of over 300 people and a panel judges, I read the opening 500 words of my manuscriptā
I registered for the Jericho Writersā London Festival of Writing and submitted to their 500-word competition. A week before the festival, I found out I was a finalist!
At the gala dinner, in front of over 300 people and a panel judges, I read the opening 500 words of my manuscript, Seven Dishes to Fall in Love, and I won.
Jul/Aug 2025 | The Final Push
āLast time, after my MA, I rushed my edits and got rejected or left on read. I had learned from my mistakes though.ā
After I finished my draft back in May, Iād hit a slump and imposter syndrome was rearing its ugly head. But winning the Friday Night Live competition was the push I needed to keep going. Plusāagents were reaching out!
It was dĆ©jĆ vu.
There was interest, but my edits werenāt done. Last time, after my MA, I rushed my edits and got rejected or left on read. I had learned from my mistakes though. There was no way around it: if I wanted to see this through, I had to buckle down and do the work. I printed out and read my manuscript, wrote myself a 17-page editorial letter, committed to a deadline, and asked my writing friends to hold me accountable.
Late Aug 2025 | Uh, I thinkā¦Iām done??
āStill, my inner saboteur taunted me: āSure, they liked the query, but theyāll hate the full.ā
I finished my edits and was ready to query. Iād been waiting YEARS for this moment! Plus, I had already accumulated some interest between the various competitions, festivals, pitching events, and agent 121s, so I had a handful of full requests and āinvitations to queryā waiting to go.
But even though my edits were ādoneā, I wasnāt convinced it was really ready. When do you know!? I reckoned a good way to ātest the watersā would be by sending out a few slush pile queries and see how those fared. Well, within a matter of hours I had a request for a partialā¦ then a full. More came soon after.
Still, my inner saboteur taunted me: āSure, they liked the query, but theyāll hate the full.ā So I reached out to a fellow Friday Night Live finalist and asked for help. Iām pretty sure the plea went something like this: āHey girl hey, would you be willing to beta read my manuscript? Please donāt hate me, but um, can you read it quickly? YOU WILL?! Omg, you are š the š best!ā
Two days later, said friend finished reading and told me to hit send, so I did. 24 hours later I had a meeting request. 48 hours later I had two offers of representation. I hit send on all my outstanding requests for fulls.
Sep 2025 | A Whirlwind Fortnight & Signing with my āØ Agent āØ
āFinally, after wondering if it would ever, ever happen for meā¦ I signed with my agent.ā
This is the part where it felt like a dream come true. I couldnāt sleep! It seemed as though every time I checked my email I had another request for full or a meeting come through. I couldnāt believe it and I half expected it all to just disappear.
But it didnāt. In the end, I had over 20 requests for my full manuscript, I spent two weeks meeting with 14 fabulous agents, and I was made 14 offers of representation. Finally, after wondering if it would ever, ever happen for meā¦ I signed with my agent.
The numbers:
From MA application to signing: 8 years, 4 months
From MA start date to signing: 8 years (almost to the date)
From MA graduation to signing: 6 years, 6 months
From first draft of this book to signing: 11 months
From first full request to signing: 13 days
And then came the Frankfurt Book Fair!
A few weeks later, Seven Dishes to Fall in Love was in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025: Agents' Hotlists! Pinch me, pinch me, PINCH ME!
What I Learned & Next Steps
āā¦it simply wasnāt my time yet. I needed to develop as a writer and be present in other areas of my life.ā
It took me over eight years to get hereāfrom writing my MA application to signing with my agent. Itās not the journey I thought Iād have. For one thing, it took so much longer than I thought it would, and at many points I wallowed in the very real possibility that getting agented and published simply wasnāt in the cards for me.
But hindsight really is 20/20 and, as much as I wanted those things, it simply wasnāt my time yet. I needed to develop as a writer and be present in other areas of my life. In the end though, it all worked out.
I have learned so much along the way and I would love to share it all with you, but alas, this post is turning into a novel in and of itself so, stick around for future posts on all things writing, querying, and publishing (ā¦ šāØ).
In the meantime, happy writing, editing, or wherever you are in your journey right now!
āØ Kate Emilie āØ
Letās connect! Click here for links to my other socials.
loved hearing your story thank you for sharing. keep going xx.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, Kate! Super inspiring to see how you went through so many major life stages and changes and you didnāt give up. šš¼