Five years ago today, I sat down at the kitchen table in our newly rented flat by the beach in Brighton, Adelaide and started one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.

Going freelance was never something I’d planned to do. Ever since I decided on publishing as a career back in school, I had totally envisaged myself working my way up the editorial ladder in a publishing house, not expecting an easy path, but at least with the surety of a salary at the end of the month, irrespective of what had happened the month prior. But then, we decided to take a leap and travel to the other side of the world for an adventure of a lifetime, which meant I stepping away from that dream path into something quite unknown, in a country far away from home.

When I started my freelance business, I had no idea if I’d have any clients at all. I thought I’d get the occasional job from my old publishers, for sure, but scaling up to a point where freelance work would match my old income, if not more? No way! I had savings, and this was just meant to be a year out, and any income would supplement our travels.
But somehow, to my amazement, it took off. I worked on some very different jobs – my first publisher work was with Mills & Boon – and with some fabulous authors, who’ve now gone on to reach new heights themselves – bestselling Simon McCleave and Ned Kelly Award-nominated Jo Dixon, I’m looking at you. But this was all part of the adventure, and great, it was working out. But once we got back from Australia, it was time to get back to reality and find a traditional publishing job again.

Then the pandemic happened.

Arriving back into the UK by the skin of our teeth, one week before lockdown, there was no way I was going to start job hunting. So the kitchen table in Adelaide, became the dining room in my in-laws’ house in Kent. Although, I did expand the team with one Sammy the Editorial Assistant Cat.

Lockdown was a hard time for many, and I didn’t find this the easiest, especially when the other half working in the hospitals and on the Covid wards, so I was quite anxious. But I channelled that energy into my work, and I did A LOT of work during lockdown, but also built my business to the point where I decided to make the change permanent.

And now, three house moves, a renovation and an engagement later, we’re still going. Every day, I think how lucky I am that I get to do a job I love, working with amazing authors and publishing professionals to create stories and books that readers (and their authors!) love. No day, no manuscript, no author is the same, and each brings new challenges, and it is truly a humbling experience to see how talented my authors are. And I couldn’t do this without you, so thank you.

I was going through my blog posts the other day, and I came across a post from Freelance Editor’s month back in 2020, and one of the questions was: Where do you see yourself in five years? And I answered:

‘Professionally, in five years’ time, I would be happy to simply still be working for myself, helping authors both indie and traditionally published to publish the best manuscript they can. I have lots of ideas of how I can expand my offering, and I can’t wait to share them as they come a reality! I also wouldn’t mind ‘a room of one’s own’ as Ms Woolf would say.‘

And, well, I have certainly achieved that. I’m still working for myself with wonderful authors, both indie and traditionally published. I’ve been able to expand on my services, including another adding new service that I’m hoping to launch later this year (Watch this space!), while staying true to my mission of making author’s manuscripts the best they can be. Now, for ‘A Room of One’s Own’, I think I’ve achieved that, with my loft office – although, Ms Woolf would be most perturbed in that I share it with J’s putting green… We’re working on that!

As to the next five years? Who knows! I can’t really think beyond the end of this year at the moment, as alongside my work life, we’re currently planning a wedding, so that’s taking up most of my brain space. But once that’s done, I’d like to start thinking seriously about writing myself – and I’ve made some plans to get that going for this year. I’d also like to think about expanding into perhaps some workshops or courses, held here in Bath or perhaps online, but those thoughts are very much in their infancy.

But whatever the next five years brings, I’m so grateful to all of my authors, as without them, the past five years wouldn’t have been possible –  so please do check out their brilliant books on my Instagram and in my portfolio – and I can’t wait to do it all over again for the next five, ten, even more!

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you! Now, I’m off to pause the wedding diet for a day and eat a slice of birthday cake!