So, that was my mission. I was going to create a survival guide for new headteachers. It would contain all the inside information that I had gained over the last twelve years. It would undoubtedly end up on the bookshelf in every headteacher's office around the UK, and maybe even further afield. All I had to do was write it.
It was pretty easy to plan the structure of the text. I would start with a couple of chapters on getting a job and then move on to building your team. Following that would be some chapters on school improvement, and I would definitely have to include how to deal with the many challenges that arise when working with parents. Finally, some focus on working with Ofsted inspectors would be of interest.
I realised early in the writing process that I needed to establish a manageable writing timetable, as sitting at my desk and writing for six hours a day was not going to work for me. After some experimentation, I settled on a plan of writing for two hours every morning, starting as early as possible, as I found that to be the time of day when I was most focused. I would make my first coffee before starting, and then my second one would serve as a boost to help me reach my writing target for the day.
That would leave the rest of the day as 'me time' when I could do things that I hadn't had time to do during the working week over the last thirty or so years. I would occasionally do more writing in the afternoon, but if I did, I usually focused on editing what I had written that morning.
The freedom I had during the day was a revelation. Everything seemed so quiet when the children were at school! I soon realised, though, that trying to get anywhere during school drop-off or pick-up times was practically impossible, so I learned to organise my day around these slots.
It took me what would have been the entire autumn term (remember, I was still working on 'school time') to reach a point where I felt I should consider sharing my manuscript with publishers, but I had no idea how to go about it, so I started conducting some serious online research. It turns out that not every publisher accepts submissions directly from authors, so I had to write off quite a few of them, as I felt I wasn't quite ready to look for an agent!
I learnt that it was not just a case of sending off your manuscript, though, as every publisher I found wanted me to complete a submission form too. These were usually quite long, although once I had completed a couple, I found that many of the questions asked are similar. At this point, I realised that it was a good idea to read some examples of these forms while I was writing, as they helped me focus more on aspects like 'audience' and what made my text different from the many other educational books out there. Incidentally, it was around this time that I learned the phrase 'crowded market'.
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