NaNoWriMo Profile: Rachel Phipps

Age: 21

Hometown: Canterbury in Kent.

Occupation: I’m a full time freelance food journalist, though I do moonlight doing the PR & Marketing for my family's holiday cottages business. 

When/where do you write? I usually write either at the head of the kitchen table, or on the train to and from London. 

Writing background: I’ve been writing solidly since I was about 13 years old. In February 2009 I started a lifestyle blog, and I gradually switched over from writing fiction to blogs and articles. I now write my blog and freelance full time. I write a food column for Borough Market and I have contributed to the Guardian, Refinery 29 and Great British Chefs. I’ve barely written any fiction since I started blogging and freelancing.  

Why NaNoWriMo and why now? I’ve completed NaNoWriMo once before, when I was 17, just before I started my website. This is the first year since then I have not been in education, and I think I’ve got the time. In reality though, I’m just as busy as ever. When I wrote that first novel, I was an AS Level student who wanted to be a writer; that manuscript was going to land me a top London literary agent and a book deal. As a food writer, I now have an absolutely lovely agent, and we’re working together on some upcoming projects. However, I don’t feel like I can write fiction like I used to, but I still have all of these characters trapped in my head living out stories that I have never put down on paper. I think NaNo could be the kickstart to get me back into the saddle. 

Genre (of NaNoWriMo novel): I think Young Adult, but I’m not entirely sure yet.

The novel I want to write: My novel follows a group of students and teachers at a historic and eccentric boarding school who have their lives turned upside down when a priceless manuscript, on loan from the Cathedral archives that was supposed to be exhibited to celebrate the anniversary of the schools foundation is stolen the night before it is due to go on display. 

Meet my main character: At the moment I have three rotating protagonists. Meet Kit, the young, new English teacher at his siblings school, Olivia his friend from University who has moved back home do deal with a family crisis, and Lucie, Olivia’s cousin who is in Kit’s English class. 

Have you done any planning? Not yet, though I hope to do a bit before November 1st. Honestly though, as this novel uses the same characters and world as my original NaNo effort, it is only the plot that has not had much development yet.

Writing fears: I’m worried that I won’t finish. The word count does not scare me, and I managed to complete NaNoWriMo as a 17 year old. I knock out thousands of words a week as I’m a full time writer, and I did not blink when I found out the word count for my undergraduate dissertation. However, aside from one or two short stories, I have not written fiction for about 4 years. Part of me thinks that I might just be too out of practice for the challenge, or all of my other freelance commitments and other writing projects might get in the way. 

Writing hopes and dreams: General writing? My focus is on the projects I’m currently working on, but I want to know that I can write fiction again. The published novel dream is still the same as it was when I was a teenager, and even though I have already cleared the first step for almost all of the aspiring authors I know (the literary agent), it still feels just as distant as it did then. If anything I’ve got the added fear of handing a fiction manuscript that may be absolutely terrible to someone who has showed so much faith in me as a non-fiction author. 

Rachel Phipps will be blogging for us every week throughout the NaNoWriMo challenge. Keep checking back here for the latest updates.