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The Sunshine Girl

Book cover of The Sunshine Girl by Grace M. JolliffeUPDATE – THE SUNSHINE GIRL IS NOW AVAILABLE!

We all have our ups and downs but there are times when a writer’s life can seem more down than up.

Finishing a book is supposed to be a joy, but not always.

The Sunshine Girl story has been with me for a long time.

In fact, I began the book very soon after Piggy Monk Square was published.

The book began life with a different title.

But as the writing went on, the title ‘The Sunshine Girl’ came up, bit me on the nose and wouldn’t let go.

Why? Because my character is a Sunshine Girl – she can’t be anything else.

My agent submitted the original sample chapters under the old title to a publisher.

That publisher came back and said they’d like to publish it and also republish Piggy Monk Square as a mass market paperback.

Joy! – I was dancing on rainbows at the time.

At last, I could prove to my mum and dad that I hadn’t wasted my time writing when I could have had a proper job.

At last, I could pay my electricity bill off all in one go.

At last, I could hold my head up among those who thought I had ideas ‘above my station.’

And at last, I had a chance of being free of the fear of poverty, which funny enough has haunted me ever since I grew up in, well, poverty.

Writing is all I ever really wanted to do and still is.

But would someone who fears debt and poverty seriously choose it as a career? Unless they were mad?

Yes, I’m afraid I did…

Piggy Monk Square was first published by a small publishing company, Tindal Street Press, who had published some award-winning books.

Thanks to them Piggy Monk Square was shortlisted for the Commonwealth New Writer’s Prize.

But as a tiny company, they had little in terms of marketing power.

They certainly couldn’t afford to pay the chain bookshops for those spaces on the front tables where the real book sales are made.

This new publisher was in a different league.

They were going to launch both Piggy Monk Square and The Sunshine Girl into a whole different world.

Book cover of The Sunshine Girl by Grace M. JolliffeHow the books succeeded in that world only time would tell but it was a huge opportunity.

Just when I had finished excitedly telling anyone who would listen about my good fortune I received a call from my agent.

The deal was off.

The editor involved had left the company and the new company didn’t want their list.

Yes, it’s true – shit does happen!

Suddenly the rainbows were replaced with unpaid bills and debt collectors…

Never mind, my agent reassured me that there were more publishers out there.

He found another publisher who was very interested but their interest fizzled out.

In the meantime, I kept myself busy working on other projects.

I made myself enough money to just about keep afloat by juggling freelance TV and radio work with admin jobs and later some part-time lecturing.

The experience was painful and I left The Sunshine Girl aside and tried to forget all about her for years – ten years to be exact…ish

Two years ago I reread the old manuscript. I discovered that everything that had initially enthused me in the story was still there waiting.

Book cover of The Sunshine Girl by Grace M. JolliffeI began work again.

Since then I have done a substantial rewrite followed by more rewrites and even more rewrites.

More than I can even count at this stage.

Alongside the rewrites, I also changed the character’s names, locations and many events.

I even did a rewrite after I sent it to the editor.

I couldn’t seem to stop.

There’s something about The Sunshine Girl that made me not want to let her go.

I don’t need a psychotherapist to tell me why this is.

It is pretty obviously all bound up with those earlier disappointments and if I am truly honest, they were crashing disappointments that I found depressing.

Not letting go was probably to do with not wanting any more disappointment.

Yet I do have faith in this story, especially in this character.

Josie emerged as a supporting character in Piggy Monk Square as a fun-loving friend of the main character’s mother.

She provided the light against the dark of that story.

Many people told me they loved Josie. I loved her too and had great fun writing her.

She was a strong young woman, full of life, full of fun.

She was a woman who nobody could keep down for long.

She was The Sunshine Girl in Piggy Monk Square, and in her own story she still very much is.

The world may love her, hate her, or worse, ignore her,

But after ten years in the back of my mind, it was time to set her free.

Never give up!


The Sunshine Girl

Josie knows how to survive but what’s wrong with wanting more?

Book cover of The Sunshine Girl by Grace M. JolliffeIt’s 1970s Liverpool and everybody’s broke but that doesn’t stop her dreaming. A smiling stranger could make her dreams come true but she hasn’t met his family yet.

Get The Sunshine Girl from Amazon.com

Get The Sunshine Girl from Amazon.co.uk

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