The Book Deal

Bridie Blake on writing romcoms, writing practice and 20 years of persevering for a book deal

• The Book Deal • Season 2 • Episode 77

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0:00 | 1:03:07

Natasha Rai interviews author Bridie Blake days before her rom-com debut The Boyfriend Clause releases. Blake pitches the novel: café owner Sabrina Fogarty enters a fake-dating deal with her broody neighbor, bestselling author Adam Whitaker, which escalates when he joins her family holiday to the UK. Blake discusses becoming a rom-com reader during the pandemic, her earlier years writing dark YA and suspense, and years of rejections, including a two-year US submission during COVID after signing a US agent. She explains developing The Boyfriend Clause from a “white lie,” outlining with a pitch and detailed plan, and choosing to publish in Australia so her dad could see it in bookstores. Text Publishing acquired it quickly, and Blake has submitted book two and is drafting book three.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Bridie and Launch Day
02:34 Release Nerves and Social Media
04:08 Elevator Pitch The Boyfriend Clause
05:27 Why Romcoms Feel Good
08:59 From YA Darkness to Romcom
10:08 Writing Since Childhood
11:48 Resilience Through Rejection
14:51 Querying and US Agent Journey
18:28 Pandemic Submission Heartbreak
20:14 Switching Genres to Adult Romcom
20:49 Origin of The Boyfriend Clause
25:38 Pitch First Then Outline
30:04 Drafting Timeline and Agent Edits
31:37 Making It Australian
32:34 Americanize The Manuscript
33:18 US Submission Reality Check
34:55 Choosing Australia First
38:39 Dream Publisher Submission
41:18 Full Request To Offer
47:29 Editing And Next Books
52:48 US Vs Australia Publishing
54:36 Routine Craft And Feedback
59:33 Final Advice And Wrap

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Tina Strachan

This is the Book Deal podcast

Madeleine Cleary

where you will discover the inspiring stories behind your favorite books.

Natasha Rai

We interview seasoned and debut authors, as well as publishing industry professionals to bring you the best tips and advice on how to get that elusive book deal.

Tina Strachan

So no matter what's. Stage of writing your at. We've got you covered. I'm Tina Strachan

Madeleine Cleary

I'm Madeleine Cleary.

Natasha Rai

And I'm Natasha Rai

Tina Strachan

And join us as we pull back the curtain of published authors

Madeleine Cleary

one deal at a time. The Book Deal podcast acknowledges the traditional owners, the land and waters, which it's recorded on and pays respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.

Natasha Rai

Hey Bridie, how's it going?

Bridie Blake

Hello. It is good. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm very excited to be chatting to you.

Natasha Rai

My pleasure. And it's, and you just told me before we started a recording that it's only a few days till The Boyfriend Clause is out.

Bridie Blake

Yes. I'm not great at math, but I think it's three days. I'm trying to count in my head. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yes. So we are recording on Saturday. Yes. And then it's down on Tuesday.

Natasha Rai

Are you gonna, what are you doing on the day itself?

Bridie Blake

I haven't decided yet. Um, in speaking to my editor, she was telling me, just wander into bookstores, look at it. If it's in a position that you don't want it in, move it. So I might be doing a little bit of that. Um, and I might say if my parents wanna take me out for lunch.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

I feel like it's a very family centric book.

Natasha Rai

It's,

Bridie Blake

and you know, I dedicated it to my parents, so I feel like the least they could do is take me out to lunch to celebrate.

Natasha Rai

Exactly.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

Um, do you feel comfortable moving books around shelves?

Bridie Blake

No. No. I might have to take a shot before I walk in, but I'll, I'll just like sneak around. No, I'm so, I'm such a goody two shoes. Like I, oh my gosh. If I pull a book off a shelf to read the back of it, I make sure it goes back in the exact spot and position that it was in.'cause I don't wanna get yelled at. So, yeah. I actually don't think I'll have the guts to move my book.

Natasha Rai

Just try it. Just try it once.

Bridie Blake

Try it. Okay. Just

Natasha Rai

try it. Just do face out and then run away. Yeah,

Bridie Blake

run away. It's really fun. I've been glad. Okay. That might be what I do. So that'll be my day on Tuesday. And I've been told that it'll be a lot of social media.

Natasha Rai

Yes.

Bridie Blake

So just a lot of responding to messages and Yeah, it'll very overwhelming. I'm overwhelmed by social media on a daily basis, so Well to be like 10 times that

Natasha Rai

if it helps something. I did realize that you don't have to respond to everyone on a date. You can just take your time.

Bridie Blake

Oh, really?

Natasha Rai

Yeah. People aren't gonna get offended because people assume that, you know, especially because once you comment or you congratulate someone's social media, your algorithm shows you all of the posts. Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

So

Natasha Rai

people are gonna say that. Yeah. And also, you know, especially author friends, they know what it's like. So

Bridie Blake

they do, they do. Again, this is probably just my people pleasing tendencies where like, I must respond day off. You must do it. Hence why I won't move my book.

Natasha Rai

You don't have to, you just, you can just enjoy it.

Bridie Blake

Okay. Yeah. I will attempt to enjoy it. Yes.

Natasha Rai

Because it does, it does kind of go a bit in a blur sometimes, like

Bridie Blake

Right.

Natasha Rai

Take, take as much time on the day, or just remind yourself every now and then to be like, oh yeah, I can enjoy this because it's a huge achievement. Congratulations. I wrote a book.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, it's,

Natasha Rai

yeah. You wrote a book.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, I wrote a book.

Natasha Rai

Exactly. I

Bridie Blake

wrote a book. I got a book deal. It's,

Natasha Rai

I know.

Bridie Blake

Small feat. I mean, you know, you've done it.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, it's huge. It's huge. Congratulations.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'm trying to enjoy it. Yes. People get, tell me to live in the moment. I'm not very good at that, but I'm trying.

Natasha Rai

Just do moments of it then.

Bridie Blake

Yeah,

Natasha Rai

don't worry about going. I'll try and do it all day. Just go as soon when you remember. Just do it.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

So let's start with, um, so, so the novel is called The Boyfriend C Clause. Yes. Can you give us your elevator pitch?

Bridie Blake

I can attempt to. So let us go. So the Boyfriend c Clause is a rom-com about a cafe owner with a fake boyfriend, an overly invested mother, and a loan agreement that cares far too much about Sabrina Fogarty love life in order to save her business and her sanity. Sabrina Ropes in her broody neighbor, bestselling author Adam Whitaker, for a mutually beneficial fake dating deal. Only to have him invited along on her family holiday to the uk. So one week of forced proximity, awkward pretending, and inconvenient chemistry later, and this carefully staged romance threatens to become something real.

Natasha Rai

Wow, that was so good. Yes. Yes.

Bridie Blake

I have been pacing around my house practicing that for I would say about three weeks.

Natasha Rai

That's amazing. Like a, a few debut, quite a few debut authors I've spoken to. Your pictures are so polished.

Bridie Blake

We practice, we all listen to this podcast, so we know it's the first question you get asked. Yes. So we're all practicing. Well, that's good. Just so you know. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

So tell me, Bridie, are you a romcom reader as well?

Bridie Blake

I am. So I, I didn't use to be. So I was a hardcore like young adult reader and writer. And then during the pandemic life was just depressing. Mm-hmm. And I didn't wanna read about depressing stuff. So I'd started reading Romcoms and I think Jen Delucca was like my first foray. I don't know if you've heard of Jen Delucca. She writes, it's Re Ren Fair series, she's US based. And I just fell in love and I didn't look back and that was when I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna write romcoms. I'm gonna stop writing depressing stuff and write fun stuff. It was okay. What's

Natasha Rai

what, what are your favorite elements when you're reading as a reader? Like what do you love about them?

Bridie Blake

Oh, honestly, I love that they just make me smile. I'm like, that is the biggest thing for me, especially over the last few years. Um, and that they give me an escape. So I love to just dive into the pages. They're not, and this is coming from somebody who writes wrong comms. They're not the most overly realistic storylines, you know, like, they're just, they're not. So, and there's, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And so when you do dive into one, it is pure escapism. And there's just something so beautiful about that. And if it, yes, it's, if it makes you smile, if it makes you laugh, if it just makes you feel happy and just makes you forget about something that might be going on in your life at the time, that's all you want.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. I have to, I have to say like, I don't read a lot of romcoms, but the few that I do read, there's such an element of joy to them. Like,

Bridie Blake

I have much joy.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. They just make you happy and there's just nothing wrong with being made to feel happy.

Natasha Rai

Oh, I agree. I agree. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

Do you like to watch, uh, like shows or movies as well?

Bridie Blake

You know what, I, I do. I love a rom-com movie. Um, yeah, you got all the classics. Julia Roberts is just the absolute queen. If she's in a rom-com, I am watching it. TV shows. I don't actually watch romcom TV shows. I am like a thriller

Natasha Rai

Wow

Bridie Blake

type girl. I am. Like if there's a TV show where somebody is murdered and we're trying to solve what's going on, I'm all over that. But yeah, movie wise, I love a romcom. Give me them all.

Natasha Rai

But you know, gi given that like you have that very taste between like TV and movies, like it feels like you would, like you would be noticing like the differences in storytelling and Yeah. How that kind of plot works and how characterization works. Is that something that you kind of have become aware of or you just kind of enjoy it for what it is?

Bridie Blake

I wish it was something I'd become aware of, but I honestly, I just enjoy it. It's just, I love that I can watch a rom-com and it can just be so out there and ridiculous. And then I love like grittiness that you find in watching a thriller where it's just. Dark and they've got the weight of the world on their shoulders. There is such a massive difference in them, and I just love that. It's kind of like me, the light and dark in me.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, it's definitely

Bridie Blake

is like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe one day I'll be like, oh my God, I'm gonna try my hand at Right. In a thriller. But I'm so bad at like trying to come up with red herrings and things like that.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, yeah.

Bridie Blake

I can't come up with them. I can pick'em out, but I can't come up with them.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. I think I'm the same. I dunno how. Mm-hmm. I'm, I mean, I have so much admiration for crime and thriller writers. It's like, I don't know how you do that.

Bridie Blake

How did their brains work that way? Mine just doesn't at all.

Natasha Rai

But you mentioned when we first, like when we started, you know, 10 minutes ago that you used to write dark stuff. Tell me about that. Did, yeah.

Bridie Blake

Very depressing stuff. So I was just hardcore, I'm a young adult author. I'm never gonna change. I was so adamant. And that's what I love to write all the, like the melodrama. I was a that kid that was always watching like the soap operas and so very melodramatic, my characters were so over the top with their emotions. And then I sort of started weaving in a little bit of murder, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And yeah, it just got, it got really, really dark there at, at certain points in the books that I was writing. Um, I accidentally wrote a suspense. Oh my. Then agent told me that I'd written a suspense and I was like, oh, pat myself on the back. Dunno how I did that. Probably can't back that up. And she'd signed me as a suspense author, so we were in a little bit of trouble there. Um, and I think when I was like struggling to write follow-ups to that one that she signed me on, that was when I was just like, oh, I'm not enjoying this anymore. Like, so that joy.

Natasha Rai

Mm. I wanna come back to that. Mm. But I'm curious about when you got the writing bug. Like, have you been writing since you were a child or My

Bridie Blake

life? Yeah. So I was writing stories when I was a kid. Mm-hmm. Um, my very first story was, it was a co-write with my best friend at the time, and it was about a jar of Vegemite and a jar of peanut butter who had a fun day out together. We thought it was brilliant, but like we did all the illustrations, it was an absolute

Natasha Rai

crowd. Please. Oh

Bridie Blake

yeah, we, we shared it. We took it turn like he took it in turns to take it home with us and I think we did a show and tell on it about 20 times. Um, but yeah, we were

Natasha Rai

very proud of

Bridie Blake

ourselves. And then ever since then, I have always been writing. So when I was supposed to be studying in like year 11 and year 12, I was on my computer writing stories instead. Um, my. VCE score will probably tell that tale, but that's what I was doing. Um, and yeah, I kind of, I, so I listened to, to people when they've being interviewed and they always say, you know, always wanted to be a writer, but I decided to, you know, take the sensible path. And I went to uni and I studied something and I followed a career. I did the opposite. I was like, yeah, we're not gonna be sensible. Let's do one semester of uni quit because we, it's just not for us and let's just try and write. Um, it then took me a good 20 years to get to the point that I am at, but yeah, it is what,

Natasha Rai

but you know, Brad, that, that, that's incredible. And that's, um, wonderful that you did that because it just, I mean, I was the same, like it feels to me that a lot of writers didn't have the self-belief or sheer stubbornness, whatever you wanna call it, or the kind of, yeah. So like what, um, what supported you to kind of stick with it? Given that, you know, you just said it took so long to get a, I assume you mean publish and right? Yeah,

Bridie Blake

publish and deal, yeah. So I mean, you know what, I will say stubbornness, I was just so determined that this is what I wanted to do. Um, and I just kept writing and like writing made me happy. It was like my therapy, it was my emotional support. It was, if I wasn't doing it, I noticed, I was like my mood would drop.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

And it literally just escaping into these worlds and these characters, it was, it was an escape and that is why I write. And I just honestly just kept at it. There was one point, I think in my early twenties and I sent a book off for a manuscript assessment and like, basically that came back with, yeah, this isn't great. Like you're writing is not great. And I could have walked away then. I feel like quite a few people may have.

Natasha Rai

Mm. But

Bridie Blake

I was just like, no, this is what we are gonna do. And so I just kept at it, kept at it, kept at it, and I just kept writing. And then with each book that I worked on, I became better.

Natasha Rai

Did you notice that getting better?

Bridie Blake

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So I am my own harshest critic. So over those like 20 plus years, I've written 17 books.

Natasha Rai

Wow.

Bridie Blake

And of those 17 books, they have all had multiple drafts. It wasn't just a one draft, one in data pop in draw. Like I would work on them that much, but then I would look at it and be like, you know what? That's actually not great. We are gonna pop that in a drawer. You are not even gonna attempt to send that out to anyone because you can do better. So. I, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Well,

Natasha Rai

I

Bridie Blake

mean, it's, it's, it's been so long.

Natasha Rai

Well, there's a lot of wisdom in that because, you know, to recognize that something isn't working, but then to go, actually what I, what it might benefit from is a break or some time.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And so, yeah, I just kept at it, but I mean, there's just no other way of saying it. I just kept going, like, you could have 20 million people telling me you suck. And I'd be like, yeah, but this is what I wanna do. So I'll just keep practicing until I get there.

Natasha Rai

Which is a, which is a really, really good resource. Um, that resilience and that kind of, okay, well this is what makes me happy, so I'm gonna stick with it. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

So did you always want to be kind of traditionally published?

Bridie Blake

Yes.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

I, yes, I did that. I mean, walking into a bookstore to see my book on the shelf, that is the absolute dream, and that is what I was working towards. I. Probably my late twenties got super, super impatient and put things out in the world that I we're not ready to be sent out to be published. Um, and so I have a few little regrets around that, but I was always working towards that goal of getting that tradition publishing deal. To me, that was the top of the mountain. That was what I wanted. Yeah. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

So then how did it work for you? Right, like along the way, obviously there were rejections mm-hmm. And there were people who turned things down

Bridie Blake

Yep.

Natasha Rai

In these early days, like what were you doing? Were you submitting to agents? Were you submitting to competitions? Yeah. How did you start?

Bridie Blake

Um, so I wasn't submitting to competitions and I kick myself a little bit for that because I should have, but I just had no idea what I was doing. And, you know, back then they weren't the resources that we have. I know. I'm saying back then, I'm like making myself sound ancient. Back in old days, we didn't have the resources that we have now, but you know, I, we didn't know all that much. You know, scrolling Reddit for answers just wasn't a thing that you did. Um, and like the, you know, IRA Instagram community didn't exist, so I would've had no idea about these competitions. So I was submitting to, yeah, to publishers, to agents, um, and just really trying to get a foot in the door that way.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Um, and it was just, it was a lot of nos. It was a lot of, yeah, no, this is not for us. Um, I got close with a few books early on, um, where I was getting like the full requests and there was some thinking about it, and then it just didn't pan out. And then in 2019, yeah, 2019, end of 2019, I signed with an agent over in the us. For the accidental young adults. Disp. Yes. Um, and so that was just, God, that was a moment that was just like, oh my God, I've done it. And I auto, I just thought, oh, I'm gonna get a book deal now.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's, it's so the hope, right? And then that kind of, it was it just sores with that? Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. It was the most, oh gosh, it was awful. It, it was rough.

Natasha Rai

So I'll, I definitely wanna come back to that. Yeah. But before you, this agent took you on, um, the feedback that you were getting after people requesting the full

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

Was any of that feedback, do you remember, was it useful? Like, was it stuff you could use or was it just No,

Bridie Blake

not for us. Yeah. Which is. Honestly one of the worst things that you can hear.'cause I'm somebody, I crave feedback. Like give me feedback. If it's awful, tell me why.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Like give me a list. I will literally walk away. If you gimme a 30 page list of reasons as to why you don't like this, I will pour over that list and I work on that list. So yeah, I think that's really hard when all you get is a, yeah. Not for us, sorry. Or just no response in the end.

Natasha Rai

Oh God, that's, yeah. Those are the worst.

Bridie Blake

They, they, because you're kind of holding onto that last bit of hope that they're gonna respond.

Natasha Rai

You

Bridie Blake

are like been about 12 months. They probably aren't. You just can't let it go.

Natasha Rai

I know, I know. Because it's like the kind of. You know, but at the same time there's a little hope, like maybe kernel. Yeah, exactly.

Bridie Blake

Please. I'll be that one.

Natasha Rai

So had you been, um, submitting to us a, when you were submitting to agents, was it only in the US and what was your thinking behind that?

Bridie Blake

Yep. So because I was writing young adult, young adult just wasn't really, it just wasn't as big in Australia. Mm. Um, so the US was the market there. And this was back when, like, Twitter was Twitter and the writing community on Twitter was just massive.

Natasha Rai

Mm. And

Bridie Blake

I made a lot of connections on there, and they were all US based authors. And so that was really all I knew. So I just thought, oh, I'm just gonna, I'll send it off over there. That's, you know, that's my, where my focus is gonna be. I wrote my books with US characters in a US setting. So it just felt like that was my option. Um, and yeah, my agent, then agent was, yeah, US based.

Natasha Rai

And so what happened after you signed? Um,

Bridie Blake

yeah.

Natasha Rai

I assume they were submitting to publishers.

Bridie Blake

They were. So we signed and then the pandemic hit. Yep. And there was all the political unrest in the US and editors were leaving the business in droves. Like it was crazy how quickly they were leaving the business. And we were on submission for, it was about two years and it was brutal. It was just, she'd had this like live spreadsheet and she would update that anytime she got a response. And I was obsessively checking that if it was like nine to five in the US I was on that spreadsheet. Mm. I was so determined I couldn't write anything else. I was so fixated on, this is my big break. I loved that book. That book was like the young adult book of my soul, and I still to this day.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

So much. And I would just watch these rejections come in, and we got so close with one publisher. There was an editor who loved it, but she couldn't get the rest of the team on board.

Natasha Rai

Oh,

Bridie Blake

that was soul crushing.

Natasha Rai

Heartbreaking.

Bridie Blake

I was just like, you are kidding me. So this thing that I thought was my big break, it was just no, no, no, no. At every corner. So that was rough. That was a really hard, and

Natasha Rai

so at which point did your agent say, okay, I think we have to let this one go.

Bridie Blake

So she never actually said it.

Natasha Rai

Oh, okay. Mm.

Bridie Blake

Yes. So I was sitting there kind of like watching the spreadsheet and I'm like, I feel like it's done. Mm. So we just never had that discussion where we were like, okay, let's call time on it.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

Which kind of.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Bridie Blake

yeah. And sort of moved onto something else, and that's when I was trying to come up with other suspense ideas and I just couldn't latch onto one. Mm-hmm. I kept trying, and I would start, I'd get like 40,000 words in. I'm just like, I'm not feeling it. Like I've just lost my passion for it. And that was when I was like, you know what? I wanna write a romcom. So I just emailed her and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna switch to adult romcoms. And she was like, okay, let's do it. Let's give it a shot.

Natasha Rai

Oh, okay.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, she was on board. Mm-hmm. Which, yeah, was surprising, but

Natasha Rai

yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, yeah. She was pretty keen to move into the adult space.

Natasha Rai

So how did you start the boyfriend clause? What was the kind of first seed for that?

Bridie Blake

Hmm. So I wish I had a really cute story. I wish it was a, oh my God, I walked past a cafe one day and there was a broody rock, like all in the window and there was a cafe owner hassling him about buying baked goods. But um, no, it all started with, um, with a little white lie. So I had written a rom-com and I sent the pitch off to my then agent and just before I hit send, I, at the very bottom of it was like, if you don't like this idea, no dramas. I have others. Because again, people pleaser wanted to impress her, wanted her to love me, didn't think anything of it.'cause she was totally gonna love this idea that I was sending her. Yeah, no she didn't. Oh no. And she was like, um, okay, so can you send me these other ideas you've got? And I was like, shit, I don't have an idea. I have

Natasha Rai

nothing.

Bridie Blake

So I panicked and I went for a walk and it was over a weekend, so I went for a whole lot of walks because walking is where we do our best thinking. Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

I chopped some music on and off I went. And so I'd had this like initial, like scene in my head. And that's the opening scene of the boyfriend clause.

Natasha Rai

Ah, yes. Okay.

Bridie Blake

Sabrina running for her life. And you know, that is inspired by a few people in my life who have sort of experienced that desperate need to get themselves to a toilet quick. Smart. Um, so I had that, but I didn't know how to get beyond that. I'm like, how do you turn this into a rom-com? Mm. Like literally, how do you get these two people to forgive and forget about what happens in the elevator? Um, and so yeah, I was like, okay, let's have a think about that. And we'd just come out of like a hundred lockdowns here in Melbourne.

Natasha Rai

Yes. Yes.

Bridie Blake

And we hadn't been able to travel. And I was like, you know what? Let's live vicariously through these characters. Let's send them off on a holiday. Force them to spend every waking minute together, because that is the only way they're gonna talk to each other. That's the only way they're actually gonna start to develop, start to develop some feelings.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

So, okay, I've got that. That was all I had. I was like, great. Gosh. I know. And then I thought, okay, let's fall back on the age old, write in advice of write what you know. So I thought, okay, what do I know? I know tv. I love tv. I watch a whole lot of tv. So I've decided to create a TV show and send these characters off to two of the filming locations of it.

Natasha Rai

Oh,

Bridie Blake

now I,

Natasha Rai

I mean, having read the book, like I'm now making all the connections cool. These

Bridie Blake

little things that sort of come together and it's like I know grumpy introverted authors who sometimes suffer from writer's block because I am one, I know big, loud families because I belong to one. So why don't I send Sabrina's family off to cause some drama? And I know baking because, not to brag or anything but

Natasha Rai

brag. Brag.

Bridie Blake

I will brag because I have watched the great British Bake off more times than you can count. And I can literally talk for hours about soy bottoms, the joy that is Mary Berry. I just,

Natasha Rai

I miss her. Yeah, I do. I do miss her. Oh my God, she

Bridie Blake

was a gem. I, it was the

Natasha Rai

best.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. I feel like it didn't quite recover after she left.

Natasha Rai

I agree. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Right. Says that they love pr and I'm like, yeah, P'S good, but Mary, but ni,

Natasha Rai

yeah. Nigel's taking over just as a quick aside.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, I know, right. I dunno how I feel about that.

Natasha Rai

I think she'll make it quite sexy with her.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. It'll be different. But yeah. I miss the what,

Natasha Rai

buns or whatever. She says

Bridie Blake

buns, but I do miss the old days of it, so I was just like, yeah, let's channel some Mary Berry and. Let's turn Sabrina into a baker

Natasha Rai

and, and you know, given your love of the show, I assume as well that you're gonna brag that you are a baker too.

Bridie Blake

Oh no. Can't bake the crap. Yeah. Again, living vicariously through my characters. I'm the grumpy author. I'm not like the fun loving baker. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

Because I have to say, I did get a bit annoyed with you.'cause every time I read a description of one of her baked goods, I was like, oh my God, I really want that now. And I got quite obsessed with thinking about, I was like, my God, I really want that.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. So I was writing that while eating Woolies brand like biscuits and stuff. And this is not the same. This isn't right. So, no, I should start baking just so that Yeah,

Natasha Rai

no, maybe, maybe you could do like a complimentary recipe book for all the recipes at Sabrina Baked. Oh my

Bridie Blake

God. That means actually have to come up with the recipes. Well,

Natasha Rai

that's true.

Bridie Blake

We may not do too well with that.

Natasha Rai

So then, okay, so you had these flashes of these ideas and you're like, these elements I wanna work them in.

Bridie Blake

Yep.

Natasha Rai

Then how did you start?

Bridie Blake

I wrote a pitch.

Natasha Rai

Okay.

Bridie Blake

I literally pulled all of those elements together and before I write any book, I write a pitch for it.

Natasha Rai

Oh my God. You're one of those people.

Bridie Blake

I'm one of those people. I just think it tells you if a book's got legs.'cause you gotta write in your pitch. You gotta have that beginning, the middle, the end. You gotta know what the conflict is.

Natasha Rai

That's true. Good advice.

Bridie Blake

And if I can't write a pitch, I cannot write the book.

Natasha Rai

Sorry. I listeners can't see me. In my eyes Just went, if you can't write the pitch, you can't write the book.

Bridie Blake

It might for me.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm just thinking of that because

Bridie Blake

yeah,

Natasha Rai

I'm just, that's such an, that's such an interesting concept to me. Yeah. I'm just like. I can never write the pitch before, even after writing the book. Oh my gosh. I struggle with pitches so badly.

Bridie Blake

Really?

Natasha Rai

Okay. Yeah,

Bridie Blake

no

Natasha Rai

much. Maybe I should talk to you offline about this. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

I'm not saying I'm good at them. I'm just saying that that's what I do.

Natasha Rai

Well, your pitch earlier was spot on. It was great.

Bridie Blake

Nailed it. Um, but yeah, no, I have to write the pitch and then once I've written that pitch, I just sort of, that sounds so lame, but it's like I kind of know where to go then.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, yeah. No, it's not

Bridie Blake

lame.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, yeah,

Bridie Blake

yeah. And so I sit and I write, I'm also an outline, so I will write a solid, like 10 to 11,000 word outline.

Natasha Rai

Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. So, so in your outline, are you like li literally going, like seeing, seen like what each scene might be? Or how does your outline work?

Bridie Blake

I, no, I know, I don't plan out by seeing, I literally just write down absolutely everything in chronological order that I think is gonna happen. Ah. So of, it'll be dialogue that I've got in my head and I'm like, okay, get the conversation down. Mm-hmm. And it'll be super, super detailed and I'll be like, okay. A to Z, this is what needs to happen in this part. Yeah. Other times it'll be so vague where it'll be like, character A needs to talk to character B, and that'll be it in the outline. I'm like, what do they need to talk to him about? Mm-hmm. It'll come to me. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so it, it varies throughout the outline, but in saying that my outline, it changes. Like I go off script and I just kind of then keep it there as a guide to be like, this is what you are wanting to achieve.

Natasha Rai

Yes.

Bridie Blake

Okay. Looking absolutely nothing like what your draft is, but this is what you are originally wanting to achieve.

Natasha Rai

But but also, even if it kind of goes off the outline

Bridie Blake

Mm.

Natasha Rai

Presumably you still know that you're heading the same place that you need to end. Yeah. Yeah,

Bridie Blake

very much so. Very much so. My endings will sometimes change.

Natasha Rai

Oh, okay. I

Bridie Blake

don't always know my ending except obviously with rom-coms, you know that there's a happily ever after.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm. So

Bridie Blake

I can't really go wrong there. But yeah, there might be a certain element of it that I got fixated in my head. I'm like, this is what we going, I'm gonna do, and then it'll just completely change and yeah, you just run with it.

Natasha Rai

So. So then, um, you sent a pitch to your agent?

Bridie Blake

I did. And she loved it and she said, great. Can you write this? I was like, yeah, absolutely. Sure can.

Natasha Rai

And was there and was there a deadline that you agreed? No. No. Okay. Alright.

Bridie Blake

No, no. So she agreed to that at the beginning of 2022.

Natasha Rai

Okay. And

Bridie Blake

at that time I was still kind of like trying to write a young adult, but it, yeah. So I kind of like toyed with that. And then was sort of playing around with the first 20,000 words of the boyfriend claw. Um, because for me, that's how I get to know my characters. I'm not someone that creates, like character sheets or mm-hmm. Does like big dive interviews with my characters. I get to know them by writing them. Mm-hmm. So my first 20,000 words, I'll kind of get that out. Mm-hmm. And then see, and so that's what I did with this

Natasha Rai

and, and was, and was, was were those 20,000 words, um, what is in the opening now? But did they make that in

Bridie Blake

Yeah, for the most part. So the first chapter has really not changed. Oh, um, I love my first chapter.

Natasha Rai

It's great first chapter. Yeah. Very proud

Bridie Blake

of that first chapter. Um, so that really hasn't changed. Maybe a couple of words. Couple of sentences. Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Um, but yet that, that sort of stayed the same, and yet basically that first 20,000, there was maybe some elements that kind of changed, but nothing major.

Natasha Rai

Okay.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

And so you started at the beginning of 2022. At which point did you finish a draft that you felt happy with?

Bridie Blake

Yep. So in December I decided to commit to it. So December, 2022. Mm-hmm. And then by April it was done.

Natasha Rai

Okay. Yeah. That's really fast.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Which at the time it didn't feel fast. Mm. Um, I was So Holly Auer? Yes. A debut crew member of 2025. Yes. We were swapping chapters on a weekly basis, so she was getting my. Mess of a first draft, and she was sending me a masterpiece, and through her feedback I was kind of able to apply that as I was going. Um, and so by April I was like, oh, I'm feeling pretty good about this draft. Mm-hmm. Um, so after that I kind of did like a sweep and I mean a sweep of edits. Like I really didn't go too in depth with them.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

Um, before I sent it off to my agent.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

And what was the response? What happened after that?

Bridie Blake

She loved it.

Natasha Rai

Great.

Bridie Blake

Okay. And, yep. No, she loved it. She, yeah, she thought it was great. We did a really light. Edit on it. Mm-hmm. Um, and then we did some line editing, but yeah, there wasn't anything extensive. Like it was all, there was nothing structural. I didn't have to change too much.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Um, which was actually really nice because with the YA suspense that I did with her, we had a major structural.

Natasha Rai

Right.

Bridie Blake

I was like bracing myself for that. But yeah, this was so light. It was bliss.

Natasha Rai

And, and what about the setting, given that your agent is in the US and this is an Australian book?

Bridie Blake

Yeah. How

Natasha Rai

did that Yeah. So

Bridie Blake

initially I wrote them as US characters.

Natasha Rai

That's so interesting. Okay.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. I did with a US setting, and it just didn't feel right to me.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

And I was like, oh, I, I sent it to her, but I wasn't. In love with the story, if that makes sense. Yeah. It was kind of like, oh, here we go. This is the book that I told you I was gonna write. Oh, here it is. And then in the, the first edit that I did with her, I was like, oh my God, I think I've worked out why it's not sitting right with me. And it's like, these characters are Australian.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

That I wrote.

Natasha Rai

I was gonna say, the humor is very Australian. Yes.

Bridie Blake

That's my humor. So I was like, that's what's missing. And so I changed it and there really wasn't that much that had to change, like literally a scene with Vegemite Toast, like the spelling of mum. Like that was it. And the Melbourne setting, instead of, I think I had it as No Boston or New York, I can't remember. Um, and then I sent it back to her and I was like, oh, hey, just FYI, I've changed it all to Australian. Um, and there we go. Yeah. No, she didn't like that.

Natasha Rai

No. Okay. I didn't think so. Yeah,

Bridie Blake

so she came back and she said, oh look, can we put it back to us based US characters? She's like, if you're concerned about it, she's like, you can just be super vague about where they're from. And so I took out all mention of any like US city or anything like that because it just, it didn't feel right. Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

And so we ended up going out on submission with it

Natasha Rai

just to us publishers,

Bridie Blake

US publishers. Mm-hmm. And again, it, it was just a, it was a weird experience. I felt this disconnect with it. I wasn't obsessively checking the spreadsheet that we had. And then when I would get feedback from it, it was all glowing. It would literally reading like five star reviews and then there'd be a, but, oh, and it would be a super fixable, but

Natasha Rai

like what?

Bridie Blake

Do you remember

Natasha Rai

any

Bridie Blake

of them? Like there was something that they wanted in put in the beginning. Something to do with Adam. Oh, we need to see a slightly softer side of Adam in the beginning.

Natasha Rai

Ah,

Bridie Blake

okay. Super easy fix.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, yeah.

Bridie Blake

But still it was a rejection and I remember just reading that.

Natasha Rai

Oh, hang on. So, so it wasn't like, oh, you know, like for example that, that example that you just gave, it wasn't a, we need to see a softer side. Can you write that and resubmit? No. Oh no.

Bridie Blake

That, yeah. So at that time in us publishing, the feedback that I was getting from other authors was the editors wanted something basically perfect in their inbox. Oh yeah. I don't know if they, gosh, recovered from the COVID era where people were leaving, um, in droves. And I dunno if they ever caught back up to that. So it was just, that was like, yeah, that was rough.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm. That really rough. Especially. Yeah. Yeah. Because we were just saying earlier with your suspense, um, ya, the feedback wasn't useful. Whereas now it sounds like it was, it was,

Bridie Blake

tell me what needed to go in. Okay. But do we. Let me put that in and then offer something. But yeah, I mean, it all worked out. So I actually think it all worked out for the best because I then, I think the longer that it was out on submission that I just felt really, it was just like an unease there. Mm. And I was just thinking, you know what? I want this book to be published in Australia. Like my, so while whilst I was writing this book, my dad had three strokes.

Natasha Rai

Oh.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. No, that's okay. He's, he's okay. Like he's, he's good now. Um, but it was like, this book was like my lifeline during that. It was so important to me when I was working on it. It's why the family in it is so prominent. Mm. And I just thought, I want my dad to be able to walk into a bookstore and see it.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

And if it sells in the US there's no guarantee that that's gonna happen here. There's no guarantee that it'll end up in a bookstore in Australia.

Natasha Rai

True.

Bridie Blake

And the more I thought about it, I was like, that's my end goal. My end goal is to be an Australian published author. Mm. And I was reading so many Australian authors at the time, and I was just like, we have so much talent here

Natasha Rai

we

Bridie Blake

do. Like, I

Natasha Rai

wanna be

Bridie Blake

part of that. Mm-hmm. I was like, that would just bring me so much joy. So I, you know, spoke to my agent and I was like, Hey, you can't submit to Australia. I'm going to, and I switched it all back to Australian character, Australian setting in, and it just felt so Right.

Natasha Rai

Wow. That's a big decision. Right. Especially because I've had this conversation with quite a few writers and you know, as a debut, like when you have an agent or you have an in, it just feels so terrifying to say, no, this isn't right. So again, right. Good on you. That's amazing that you followed your instinct. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

My big thing in life is you follow your gut instinct.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

It never steers you wrong. The only time you get steered wrong is if you ignore your gut.

Natasha Rai

Oh, totally.

Bridie Blake

And my gut was screaming at me.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Like, you need to send this out in Australia. And so I did.

Natasha Rai

So, so then before you did that, those, that bits of feedback that you were getting in terms of, you know, if, if you could do this.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

Were you making those changes or did you think Let's just see. Okay. All right.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, I know I

Natasha Rai

should. No, no, no. I was just, no, I

Bridie Blake

think like that. No, because I. I just had a very specific idea in my mind about who Adam was as a character.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. No, that's great. That's again amazing that you have that vision. And again, sticking to,

Bridie Blake

is it stubbornness or is it, I don't

Natasha Rai

know. No, it's amazing, honestly, like, um, someone, well, it wasn't just someone, Emily McGuire asked me once when I was in a, not in the same situation as you, but I'd had some really big feedback and which meant inherently just changing everything about onslaught and I was gonna do it'cause I was crazy. I was crazy at the time.'cause I just thought this was my only chance. And she just said to me, will you be happy seeing that version on a bookshelf in a shop? And I went, no.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, right.

Natasha Rai

But it took that kind of

Bridie Blake

Yep.

Natasha Rai

Reminder. Whereas it sounds like you've really honed that instinct and you trust it, which is so, so amazing.

Bridie Blake

My god. 20 years. 20 years. Yes. Learn that.

Natasha Rai

Yes. At

Bridie Blake

the end of the day, it's your story.

Natasha Rai

Well, yes,

Bridie Blake

it has to be something that you love and that you are proud of. Because imagine walking into a bookstore and being like, oh, I wrote that, but I don't like it.

Natasha Rai

Exactly. Oh my God, that's heartbreaking to go. I spent all this time and effort and, and you know, as you said, soul crushing disappointment crush and now it's a thing on the shelf that I'm not 100% proud of. Yeah, yeah.

Bridie Blake

Like that would just kill me.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Like, yeah, no, that would be absolutely gut wrenching. So I was like, you know what? I know what I want from this book. I'm gonna do that.

Natasha Rai

Okay. So then you started submitting to Australian publishers or agents as well?

Bridie Blake

No, I went straight to publishers. Um, so I did a little spreadsheet'cause um, yeah.

Natasha Rai

Of course you

Bridie Blake

have to. Yes. My day job, little Miss organization, as an author, not so much, but I was like, we are gonna channel the day job energy and we are gonna create a spreadsheet. So I put in all the, all the publishers, um, and there were two, two that were like my dream mm-hmm. Publishers. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. One was closed and didn't look like they were gonna be opening anytime soon. Um, so I was like, okay, we won't submit to them. And then I sent off every other submission by the one to text publishing because sending it off to text publishing felt so do or die for me.

Natasha Rai

Oh.

Bridie Blake

They were, I wanted

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

If they said no, that I think that is what would've broken me, I would've just been like, that's the end. I can't, like, they would just, I, I've wanted to be published by them for so many years.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

I just, they, I just respect them.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

So highly. Yeah. Um. And so I sat on my submission to them and I was just like, oh my God, I dunno if I can send it. And I was like, I think like the, I think I got a rejection from wine, Australian wine. And I was just like, oh, I mean that's sucks, but you know, pick myself up'cause that's what I do. And I thought, okay, it's now, or never send it to text. Like you just gotta do it. Bite the bullet.

Natasha Rai

Oh God, I know that

feeling.

Bridie Blake

Yes. Yeah, I felt sick. I felt so sick. It was one of those moments was like, you hit send, but you then close your eyes. Yes. Did I? Oh my God, yes. Oh my God. I actually did. It was awful. And I did it and I thought, oh God, I'm never gonna hear from them. Or if I do, it's gonna take forever and it'll be a, we're so not interested. But yeah, a couple of weeks later there was a, Hey, do you mind sending the full manuscript. And I remember.

Natasha Rai

Wow. So do you remember then at the time, what their publishing or submission guidelines was? How much of the manuscript did you have to submit in that first code? Oh,

Bridie Blake

I feel like it was the first three chapters.

Natasha Rai

Okay. Yep. And a synopsis, presumably.

Bridie Blake

I think it was a synopsis as well, which I hate doing a synopsis. I'll write a million pictures, but if you make me do a synopsis, I will throw it. I was like, I hate it. I hate it. I like I sounds bad, but I zero effort into my synopsis. I'm like, we don't need to make the synopsis fancy. It's literally A means B, we get to Z. Like we're done.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Again. I dunno if it's stubborn. I'm just like, no,

Natasha Rai

no, I'm me.

Bridie Blake

Um, so yeah, I sent off my first three chapters. That

Natasha Rai

must have been such a thrill when they asked for the fall.

Bridie Blake

Oh my god. I, yeah. So I was sitting at my desk here, it was a Tuesday afternoon. I was about to log off from the day job and I saw the email from Zoe, their assistant in the office and oh my god, I full leap out and then I spiraled.'cause I was like, my God, how do I send a full, I don't know how to send a full, I've forgotten how to send a full. And I was on in the dms of one of my writing buddies and I was like, what do I do? How do I do this? How do I format it? What am I do? I put my name at the top. I put my name at the top. I just spiraled. I was so just shocked, like so, so, so shocked and sent it off and it was, yeah, I got an acknowledgement the next day and I was like, okay, we're in October now.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Not going to hear anything before Christmas,

Natasha Rai

October, 2024.

Bridie Blake

Yes, I had to

Natasha Rai

think

Bridie Blake

about that. I was like, oh, what year are we in now? Um, yeah, October, 2024 literally was like, we are not hearing anything this year. Like zero, zero chance of that. Yeah. And then exactly one week later.

Natasha Rai

One week. That

Bridie Blake

is so amazing.

Natasha Rai

Yes.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah. So I sent it the Tuesday night, got my acknowledgement the Wednesday and then the following Wednesday. So yeah, sitting in my office at work and I was all by myself'cause no one in my team was in that day. So I was in the corner sitting by on my lonesome. And then the email from my editor, Jane Pearson popped up. And you know when you, you click it and you're expecting to see the, but

Natasha Rai

yeah, the unfortunately, like you just quickly scanned

Bridie Blake

to

Natasha Rai

look for that

Bridie Blake

one. Yeah. It's like, oh, we really enjoyed it. But, but

Natasha Rai

yeah.

Bridie Blake

And so I was like sort of half reading the opening where she was saying that she loved it.'cause I said it's gonna be a butt. So I was just like looking for the, but I'm like, there is the, but where's the, but I had to go back and read it again. I'm like, there's definitely no, but she wants to meet me in person. Like what the hell? Wow. It was insane. Insane. Oh

Natasha Rai

my God. That's the best moment.

Bridie Blake

It was. Oh my God. Yeah. I still think about it and I'm just like, go back to that day and I'm like, oh my God. That was like, that was the moment dream coming through. Yes. So

Natasha Rai

what, what did you do? Like, did you scream? Did you like

Bridie Blake

No, I was professional. I was in the office. I was pretending to work. I literally sat in the corner and I was in people's dms freaking out. Like,'cause in my mind I'm like, oh my God, she's gonna offer me something. But also being like, okay, be cool. She may not offer, you may be bringing you in in person to tell you the, but so she might, she might be dragging you in there to be like, oh, we love it. But I was like, she might be, she might do that. She might do that. And everyone's telling me she's not gonna do that. Like she's inviting you to meet with her. Like that's

Natasha Rai

Yeah. An yeah. Publishers don't have time to meet people in person to say no.

Bridie Blake

I know.

Natasha Rai

Yes, but you, but, but you don't, but you don't know that because you have to like temper your excitement.

Bridie Blake

Right? You can't get too excited because then what if it doesn't end up being Exactly,

Natasha Rai

exactly.

Bridie Blake

So I was like, all right, it's, it's probably gonna be a deal, but let's just prepare for the but, and so I went into the office on the Monday and she just sat me down. I it that day, that was just a dream to like just sit across from like Jane Pearson and have her tell me that she loved it and to list what she loved about it and to be like, we wanna publish this. I was like, are serious, because I was surrounded by all the textbooks. We're in the boardroom and I'm like wall to wall text publishing books. I'm like, I gonna be one of them.

Natasha Rai

I know

Bridie Blake

that's gonna be me.

Natasha Rai

God.

Bridie Blake

Like, oh my God. Absolute. Just, yeah. Moment.

Natasha Rai

So in that meeting, did she talk to you about a pub, the kind of timeframe when it might be published? Or was it just we would like to make an offer? No. Yeah,

Bridie Blake

we talked about it all.

Natasha Rai

So she'd already gone to acquisitions for the sounds?

Bridie Blake

Yes. They operate differently. So this is, okay, this is what I have discovered about the publishing industry in Australia. Yes. Everybody does it differently.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

So text. From my understanding seems to follow the US method. So my contact there was Jane.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm. From

Bridie Blake

Day Dot. Mm-hmm. She acquired it. She worked with me on every stage of the editing process. She's my go-to in the text team.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

And so yet they had, I think she had said that like they s she was getting emails in from everybody that were all just saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Natasha Rai

Okay. So she had sent your manuscript to

Bridie Blake

everyone. Yes. And they

Natasha Rai

read, okay.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. I don't really understand how it works, but it had already gone to acquisitions and they said Yes. We said,

Natasha Rai

that's very fast in one week.

Bridie Blake

Right, right.

Natasha Rai

Oh my lord. They must have loved it.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Which, yeah, made me sweat a little bit because I'm like, oh my God, can I live up to that? Like, what if it all falls apart? Did they actually mean me? Did they not think that they were bringing in like Bridget Black, who wrote like the husband contract, like. I don't understand it like this, this doesn't happen to me. I get known it's real.

Natasha Rai

Yes. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

So it was just, it was incredible.

Natasha Rai

And but you heard like 2026 as the potential publication,

Bridie Blake

was that Yeah, when we first talked I, she was kind of saying maybe the end of 2025 or early 2026. Um, and I initially it was like, oh, 2025 would be really cool'cause Holly au and I, we at the same time, wouldn't it be awesome if we, um, debuted in the same year and then 2025 hit? And I was like, yeah, I feel like 2026 would be a really good year. So let's look at that.'cause I just feel like 2025. I, I started 2025 with a little bit of like a health issue that meant I couldn't write for three months the first time of the year because I was just so much pain. And so then I was like panicking that entire time being like, oh my God, if I have to release this year, I'm screwed. Mm-hmm. I'm actually screwed. So then when they came back and they were like, March, 2026, I was like, oh, thank God.

Natasha Rai

Great. Yes.

Bridie Blake

Brilliant love 2026 sounds great. Let's do it.

Natasha Rai

And was there a lot of, uh, like a structural edit or, you know, reworking that you had to do?

Bridie Blake

No. No. So there was a structural edit, obviously.

Natasha Rai

Yes, yes.

Bridie Blake

Um, but yeah, it wasn't intensive so well for me from what I'd been used

Natasha Rai

to. Yeah. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Go back to that. Why a suspense? It's like I had to completely change the characters. There were four characters and I had to change one of their storylines, like,

Natasha Rai

oh wow, that is

Bridie Blake

big. Yeah. I've done intensive like edits and so yeah, this. It wasn't like, there was a few extra chapters I had to add at the beginning. Mm-hmm. Just to give it more of like a base in Melbourne. Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Before we left. Um, but yeah, that was really it. There was a few little things throughout, but there wasn't anything that was major

Natasha Rai

major. Yeah. And, and were you writing something else or did kind of even the, the kind of not intensive work on it, was that just consuming all your attention and effort?

Bridie Blake

Um, yeah. No, I was also working on something else. Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

I, yeah, it'd been sort of like drilled into me that just make sure another book ready to go because yeah, like the publishing industry, it moves slow, but it also does actually move quite quick.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Um, and I didn't want it to get to like, oh, my book is coming out. I don't have anything else. Ready to go.

Natasha Rai

Yes.

Bridie Blake

Um, that stressed me more, stressed me out more than actually working on two books at the same time.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. Okay. And is and the other one that you are working on, is that a romcom too?

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm very happy in the romcom space and I don't see myself leaving it anytime soon. They just make me happy. I'm so happy writing them, and yet that's where I'm gonna stay,

Natasha Rai

so. Okay. So romcom readers mm-hmm. Expect certain kind of beats.

Bridie Blake

They do.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. So how do you hit them and keep it, I guess, fresh?

Bridie Blake

So, yeah.

Natasha Rai

Or in some way? Yeah.

Bridie Blake

I mean, they're obviously those certain beats that we do need to hit, like the meet cute, the, the feelings that kind of hit around the midpoint, the third act breakup, then you throw in all the tropes that we all just love, which I adore a trope. Um, and I think in order to keep it fresh, for me, honestly, it comes down to the characters. Ah,

Natasha Rai

okay.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, I mean every character is different. A character that I write will react to one way, to a situation compared to say like a character that you would write and pop to my story,

Natasha Rai

for sure. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. And so for me, it all comes down to characters. Okay. And my main focus when I'm writing is characters. Like that's what my attention goes into. And I've,

Natasha Rai

so, so, so then just going into, when you started writing a second one mm-hmm. Like, did you already have a sense of what the main kind of, I, i dunno what the right word. It's not thing, but the main type of interaction.'cause you know, the boyfriend clause is fake dating.

Bridie Blake

Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Um, did you already know or get a sense of like, will it be any Mr. Lovers or best friends to lovers or like, did you have a sense?

Bridie Blake

Absolutely. So. The second one that I worked on is actually the very first romcom that I ever wrote. My then agent said she wasn't interested in I,'cause I shelved it, and I was like, yep, absolutely no dramas. And when I pulled it back out and I read it, I was like, oh my God, this is trash. This is so bad. Thank God. She said no, because if I had sent her that manuscript, she would've laughed in my face and been like, you suck. Um, but I couldn't let those characters go. And this is what I mean when like characters are so, yes, yes. I could not let them go. And so I pulled it back out and I put it on one screen and then I completely rewrote it. Like not a single word from the previous one except their names stayed. So I completely wrote it completely changed, like back their backstory and the story itself, and I poured so much energy into it because these characters were so deeply, deeply important to me.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. Nice. And is that one finished now?

Bridie Blake

It is finished,

Natasha Rai

yes.

Bridie Blake

Mm-hmm.

Natasha Rai

Yes. Okay.

Bridie Blake

Yes. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

And so your deal with text, is it a one or two book deal?

Bridie Blake

So it's a one book deal. Mm-hmm. With an option on book two.

Natasha Rai

Okay.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

Have you already submitted book two to them? Yeah, of course.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. I have sent them book two and now my brain is moving to write what's gonna be book three.

Natasha Rai

Excellent.

Bridie Blake

Excellent. Yeah, in my mind, I really want to try and be consistent. Um, at least for those first, however many books, until people are like, oh, hold on. I know that name. Yes. I know what type of book she's gonna produce. And then yeah. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

You build, you develop and build and

Bridie Blake

Yeah, exactly. The

Natasha Rai

leadership and look after

Bridie Blake

leadership. Exactly. Exactly. So that's kind of my focus. And so my brain is always thinking through the long list of ideas that I've got. Nice. And it's like, okay, which one can be our next

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

One. But I can, I can't start a book until I have a character's voice in my head.

Natasha Rai

Yeah, I hear you. I'm the same. Yeah, yeah,

Bridie Blake

yeah, yeah. So I'll write my pitch, but I just still can't start it until the character. Is there,

Natasha Rai

so I know that, you know, you were, you had tried in the US for a bit, but are there kind of any major differences or even similarities that you've noticed or that you came across between say, US publishing and Australian Publishing?

Bridie Blake

Australian publishing moves a lot quicker.

Natasha Rai

Really?

Bridie Blake

Yes.

Natasha Rai

Oh

Bridie Blake

yes.

That's

Natasha Rai

interesting.

Bridie Blake

Yeah, so I would say that like in the US it feels like it's two years until your book will come out, which I know does happen occasionally here. Mm-hmm. Um, but I feel like it just moves a lot, lot quicker here. And I think, I mean, obviously our industry is. You know, it's slightly smaller.

Natasha Rai

Much smaller. Yeah. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Much smaller. And it does feel, I dunno, I just, I love our industry here. I just think it's so nice. It's just, it's the only way to describe it. It's just nice.

Natasha Rai

Mm.

Bridie Blake

And I love that it's a small industry. Everybody knows everybody. It's just, yeah. It's lovely. But yeah, it definitely does move quicker. Um, and I do, just in conversations that I've had with other authors, things are done differently here as opposed to the US. So when I say like the text sort of follows the US publishing model, I know that some others don't. Like I was having a conversation with someone and they're like, oh, who's your publisher? Text and she's like, no, no, no, but who's your publisher? Mm. Text It's like, I dunno what you're asking me. Text is my publisher.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

But I think you some publishing houses here, you get acquired by a publisher and then you get Yeah.

Natasha Rai

So,

Bridie Blake

yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, that, that, that was a difference that I noticed between Australia and Yeah. The us And I felt very stupid in that conversation.'cause I just kept repeating text. Text is my publisher. I dunno what you're asking me.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. So then Roddy, what does your writing routine look like now? You mentioned a day job. Oh,

Bridie Blake

I do. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

How do you, how do you, yeah. How do you balance life, work, all of those other commitments.

Oh,

Bridie Blake

I don't, um, I work seven days a week. I, I try not to, I try, so I'm very lucky in my day job in that I get to work from home three days a week.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

And so on those days. I get up early.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

And I write before work. I'm a morning person. You get me after lunchtime, I'm useless.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm. I

Bridie Blake

cannot form a sentence, so I'm like, you've gotta write before work. Um, and then I also belong to a group of Melbourne based authors, and we meet up on a Saturday morning. We have coffees and pastries, um, with our laptops, and we try and write then. Sounds

Natasha Rai

wonderful.

Bridie Blake

We don't, because I talk the entire time and sometimes I'm always like, sorry guys, I ruined it for you today. But yeah, it it's a good group and so we kind of try to keep each other on track there. But yeah, if we fail to get words in, then I commit my Sunday to writing. So yeah. I'm trying to make the most out of the pre-work mornings so that I can get my weekends back a little bit.

Natasha Rai

Yeah.

Bridie Blake

But yeah, it's hard.

Natasha Rai

It's, it is hard. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

And have you along the way, now that you've kind of written so much and so many manuscripts, have you done courses and things or do you feel like your craft has kind of improved due to feedback and other writers and your own like knowledge through reading?

Bridie Blake

Yeah, so I did some courses with the Australian Writer Center.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Um, so back in my early twenties, that's when I sort of started doing courses. Um, and then when I switched to writing rom-coms, I did one of their romance courses. Um, so yeah, I've done some of those courses and then honestly my learning has come from feedback.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

And this is why I just think it's so crucial to an author's career to put yourself out there, to get feedback, um, make friends with other authors, swap scripts. It's terrifying. It still terrifies me to this day. Mm. Send my work to somebody. But

Natasha Rai

what do you do when you get feedback from somebody and you can see. What they are, what, like, what they mean by their feedback. Mm-hmm. But you also can see, I don't know if this has happened to you, but I'm really interested, but you can also see that it doesn't work for your story or for your characters. Have you been in that position?

Bridie Blake

Oh, absolutely.

Natasha Rai

So how, how do you like, I mean, you don't have to tell the person whether they're gonna use it or not. Yeah. But how do you come to that realization of, this feedback is good, or this feedback I can see, but it doesn't work For my book. Yeah. For my story?

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

How, how do you make that decision? Do you know gut or is it instinct? Yeah. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

My gut. Yeah. You do know. So I think in the early days I would take on every single piece of feedback and I would try to apply it and it would get to a point where the story just wasn't yours anymore.

Natasha Rai

Mm-hmm.

Bridie Blake

Like this isn't what I wrote. Like this doesn't make sense. This is awful now, I mean, it may not have been great to begin with, but it's worse now. And so I think you do, you do learn how. To pick the feedback that's gonna work for you. Mm-hmm. Because you're not gonna apply everybody's

Natasha Rai

stuff. No, exactly. Exactly.

Bridie Blake

It's so subjective. Reading is so, so subjective, and you know what's gonna work for you and you know what's gonna work for your story. That does come with time and practice. That's not something that somebody's just gonna wake up and know.

Natasha Rai

Yes.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah. But go the gut. Go with your gut.

Natasha Rai

Mm. And I, and I suppose for people who are not sure in terms of instinct, because mm-hmm. They might be, you know, writing something and they don't know what they're doing.'cause a lot of first time writers start out, or like first when you're actually writing your first novel or whatever, you may not know what you're doing. Yeah. So I guess maybe a good way to approach it, if you're not sure is does it change the story or change its meaning or change characters in a way that doesn't fit your idea? Right. Yeah. That could be a way to say,

Bridie Blake

yeah,

Natasha Rai

yeah, exactly.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. Yeah. Go back to thinking about how you wanted the story to come out, what you were wanting to say, and if it. That doesn't serve it. Yes,

Natasha Rai

exactly. Don't do it. Don't do it. Yeah. You

Bridie Blake

don't have to apply every single piece of feedback. Even in like my discussions with my editor, she was like, you don't have to apply everything I say. I mean, I did because I agreed with her and she knows what she's talking about. If I didn't agree with her, I wouldn't have done it.

Natasha Rai

But that's also a mark of a really respectful and collaborative editor that

Bridie Blake

she's brilliant.

Natasha Rai

Yeah. That an editor should always be able to empower you to say, I, I don't, I reject that suggestion, or I can't use that suggestion because of X, Y, Z. You know? Yeah. That should be that collaborative nature as well. Yeah. So brilliant. Yeah. Yeah.

Bridie Blake

No, she's brilliant. I, yeah. I'm so happy that I got to work with Jane. She's fantastic. So

Natasha Rai

yeah, I can see that. Yay. So, Bri, you've already actually given me lots and lots of excellent tips, but,

Bridie Blake

but I'm glad

Natasha Rai

if you could. Think of another one, or if you have specific ones that you thought about before coming in. Mm-hmm. What are some tips that you would give aspiring or emerging or even established writers? Oh,

Bridie Blake

I mean, the number

Natasha Rai

one or a tip. Yes.

Bridie Blake

Yeah. The number one tip, honestly, is just don't give up. No matter how many times you get rejected, how impossible it feels just to not give up. Mm-hmm. Like if I'd given up in my twenties when, you know, I got told that my writing wasn't great, I wouldn't be here now. Exactly.

Natasha Rai

And

Bridie Blake

you know what? It, it has taken 20 years. It's taken a lot longer than I had wanted it to, but I'm actually kind of grateful for that. I think I'm in a good spot in my life where I'm actually ready for this. If this had happened in my twenties, no, I probably would've just done been a one hit wonder, put one book out, and then just been like, oh my God, I can't do it. So I think, yeah, I'm, I'm really happy with the path. Yeah. I.

Natasha Rai

And you know, while I definitely agree with you the 20 years, it's a long time, but also what's really struck me during our conversation today is this beautiful, quiet confidence that you have in yourself.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Natasha Rai

And I think that comes from that perseverance and that kind of, you call it a stubbornness, but it is resilience and it's,

Bridie Blake

yeah. Oh, that's actually very nice to hear. I'm actually not a confident person at all, but for some reason when it comes to my books, I,

Natasha Rai

that's what I meant. And that's important thing, not

Bridie Blake

just like, yeah.

Natasha Rai

You know that whatever's happened, whatever the feedback is, you've just gone, no, I'm just gonna keep going. Yeah, just

Bridie Blake

keep going.

Natasha Rai

And that's really, really important, so,

Bridie Blake

yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I quit uni to do it. It's like I better actually make it happen. Yeah.

Natasha Rai

You back to yourself, you back to yourself,

Bridie Blake

back to myself, because I did not go and get a career. It's like I'm back to myself. This was gonna happen and I took a job, but I actually do like my day job. I should say that I actually really enjoy my day job, but it pays my bills.

Natasha Rai

Yes.

Bridie Blake

Riding is where my passion is. That's what my energy goes into. Yeah, just keep at it. That's all I can say is just keep going.

Natasha Rai

I like it. Well, Bridy Blake, thank you so much for being on the book. Deal with me. Thank you. And by the time this episode airs, the boyfriend clause will be out. It's a great read. It's funny, it's easy, and it's very joyful, so, oh,

Bridie Blake

thank you. That means the world and it is

Natasha Rai

everyone. Everyone, all the listeners. Get out there, buy it.

Bridie Blake

Go and read it if you wanna laugh.

Natasha Rai

Exactly.

Bridie Blake

Yeah.

Tina Strachan

Thank you for listening to the book Deal podcast. We're able to bring you these weekly writerly chats because of our amazing patrons. Join the TBD family by becoming a member of our Patreon community@patreon.com slash the book deal podcast. And if you love the pod, please give us a rating or review. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook.