Working backwards from now…

In 2007 I became a writer. I finally got my first book deal with Gotham Books (an imprint of Penguin) which is something so amazing I still don’t really believe it. And it means that for the next year I get to be utterly indulgent and spend my time thinking about, researching about and hopefully writing about seahorses – those gorgeous little sea creatures that for a long time now have been my favourite fish.

And without a shred of doubt, I would definitely not be where I am today if I hadn’t listened to all the people around me telling me not to give up. Through piles of rejections and hours of silence, I somehow kept going and didn’t quite give up (although towards the end I very nearly did). If I have learnt anything it is to listen to those people crying 'don't stop'. Believe me. They know what they are talking about.

The idea of writing a popular non-fiction book (or narrative non-fiction if you like) about seahorses came to me in 2005 while browsing the science section of Borders in Cambridge. I had already decided I wanted to write a book but couldn’t decide what to write about. It had to be something from the ocean, obviously, but what exactly I couldn’t pin down.

Then I thought of seahorses. Perfect.

I was really very, very lucky when, somehow, I managed to catch the attention of a big London literary agent at a careers fair in Cambridge. We stayed in touch, I wrote a few words and eventually he signed me up. It was probably a good thing I hadn’t looked carefully at the agency’s website before talking to him or I would almost certainly have been scared off by all the huge names they work with.[next]