🎵On the Ninth Day of Christmas
The writing advice Matt Cain gave to me
Here we are on day nine, things are starting to get back to normal a little now and by normal I mean, we turn away from the booze and the delicious treats and back to our work in progress. What are you going to be writing this year? Perhaps you are at the very beginning of your journey, or need to reinvigorate that work in progress. Either way, I think today’s advice will be a good reminder for you.
In case you haven’t managed to catch up yet, you will find yesterday’s brilliant advice from Jennifer Cos of
right here.
We are powering through these days now until Twelfth Night, and so, we arrive at the ninth day of Christmas. And which author do I have for you today?
It’s Matt Cain.
Matt is a British writer and broadcaster and is best known for the novels The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, Becoming Ted and One Love.
He’s also a former editor of Attitude magazine. In 2017, Matt - a previous judge of the Costa Book Awards - crowdfunded his third novel, The Madonna of Bolton, after receiving 30 rejections from publishers after claims that his book was ‘too gay’. It reached its funding in just seven days becoming Unbound’s fastest crowdfunded novel ever with pledges coming from 28 countries and backed by dozens of celebrities including David Walliams, David Nicholls, Mark Gatiss and the author, Lisa Jewell. The Madonna of Bolton was published in 2018.
He also deserves huge congratulations from us as not only did he celebrate a big birthday over Christmas but he was awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours for his services to LGBTQ+ Culture.
And so, I am delighted to share with you his writing craft advice today. Let’s see what wisdom he has to impart: