With
a novel nearly three years in the planning, it wasn’t until recently that Caz Finlay
switched on to the possibilities of turning her creative outlet into a fully-fledged
business. Today, Caz has a Harper Collins book deal under her belt and is about
to launch her debut novel, “The Boss”.
Approaching
Enterprise Hub, Caz received the business advice and training, alongside
support from the project’s community partners Writing on the Wall, to realise
the potential and become self-employed.
As WoWFEST
2019 gets underway this month, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to sit
down with Caz to find out where it all began and what her journey to becoming self-employed
looked like…
Tell us about your novel – what’s it all
about and what’s the inspiration behind your work?
The
Boss is a gangland crime thriller set in Liverpool. He’s inside. She’s
running the family. But now he’s back and only one can boss the streets of
Liverpool. Ultimately,
it’s a story about family, loss and betrayal.
My
inspiration for writing The Boss, was undoubtedly my beautiful baby boy,
Finlay, and I use his name as my pen name as a tribute to him. It sounds odd to
say that a tiny baby inspired me to write a gangland thriller, but he did. We
found out Finlay was ill at my 20 week scan. He had a condition called
Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) which meant that his diaphragm hadn’t
fully formed, resulting in some of his organs moving up into his chest and
restricting his lung growth. Like all babies with CDH, he was given a 50%
chance of survival.
Finlay
was born on 11th August 2016. Although he was a whopping 10lb 14oz
and initially seemed to be doing well, he died just over two days later at
Liverpool Women’s Hospital. The days after his death passed in a blur. There was
nothing quite as surreal as walking out of that maternity ward with no baby and
knowing that he would never come home. I really don’t know how me and my
husband functioned, except that we had to maintain some normality for our other
son, Jude, who was two and a half at the time.
It
was the day after Finlay’s funeral, and Jude was in nursery for the day. I was
trying to keep myself occupied and decided to have a bit of a clear out. I
found my old laptop in a box in our conservatory. It was the one I’d used to do
my degree but it had stopped working properly and I’d intended on throwing it
out. I turned it on and it seemed to spring to life. It had never been the
fastest of machines even when it did work, so I was startled. It even connected
to our wifi – something that had always taken at least a dozen attempts. At
that moment I just remember thinking to myself, I’m going to write a novel. And
so I did.
Once the idea came to you, what did the
writing process look like?
It
took me 45 days to write the first draft of The Boss. I used to love writing
when I was a teenager and although I hadn’t written anything fictional since I
studied English at A Level, it felt like it came back very naturally to me. It
started with one paragraph from the middle of the book, which is still my
favourite now, and just went from there. I read somewhere once that you should
set your characters free and chase them to the end of every page, and that’s
exactly what I did.
I
started out with a vague idea and the more I wrote, the more ideas started
coming to me. I’ve always been a big daydreamer and I discovered that writing
is the perfect creative outlet for these. Writing that novel got me through one
of the most difficult periods of my life. At first, I wrote it for myself, just
to keep my overactive brain occupied. But once I’d finished, and some friends
of mine had read it, I started to hope that I might one day get it published.
My goal was to see my book in print – with Finlay’s name on the dedication
page. So, even though very few people met him, lots of people would know who he
was. It might sound strange, but it was almost like that would give his death
some sort of meaning.
Securing a book deal was a major
achievement and turning point in your journey to becoming self-employed – tell
us how it happened and what got the ball rolling?
I
was about ready to shelve The Boss when I went to a book signing event at Liverpool
Waterstones – a night that changed my life. I’d been editing and submitting to
agents for over a year, with little success. I’d decided that I might try my
hand at writing something in a different genre, particularly as a few agents
had told me that the gangland genre was too hard to break into.
My
friend invited me along to a Kimberley Chambers book signing. Kimberley is huge
in the gangland genre and regularly tops the bestseller lists. I thought maybe
she might have some advice for a newbie like me. The event was great, and at
the end, while everyone else was queuing to get their books signed, I spotted
Kimberley’s publisher standing on her own. I decided to approach her and see if
she had any advice. She was lovely and asked me what my book was about. I told
her and was gobsmacked when she asked me to send it to her. I remember her
giving me her email address and making me swear I wouldn’t pass it onto anyone
as she didn’t usually give it out. I held onto it like it was a winning lottery
ticket. She told me that she never usually asked for unsolicited submissions,
and I don’t know why she took a chance on me, but I’m so glad she did. Less
than eight months later, and on the day after the anniversary of my son,
Finlay’s death, she offered me a two-book deal with Killer Reads, an imprint of
Harper Collins. Needless to say, I couldn’t reply fast enough.
You still work full-time alongside being
an author – do you think this impacts on your writing?
That’s
right, I’m a senior probation officer and I still do this full time alongside
writing. Although I have a dream of being a full-time writer one day, I could
never imagine leaving probation entirely. It’s such a rewarding career and I
work with some fantastic colleagues who are incredibly dedicated to helping
people change their lives.
Because
of my role, people often ask me if it’s based on anyone I’ve ever met, or any
real life events. But it’s honestly not. I think I’m more influenced by the gangster
films I used to watch at my grandparent’s house when I was teenager, and the
books I used to love read back then too, by authors such as Martina Cole. Even
now I still love a good gangster film, and thrillers are my usual go-to read.
My
professional background and Criminal Justice degree does help me with my
writing via my knowledge of the criminal justice system and how the different
components work together. In The Boss, one of the characters is released on
licence to probation, so I knew exactly what would be required of him. In the
book I’m writing now, my main character visits someone in prison, so the fact that
I have seen the inside of many prisons in my time as a probation officer was
very helpful in writing this scene.
You’ve been working with Enterprise Hub’s
business advisor, Jo Mountfort, to make the leap into becoming self-employed - how
instrumental has this support been in your journey?
Jo
has been an incredible source of support. She is so positive and enthusiastic
about The Women’s Organisaiton and the work they do through the Enterprise Hub
programme, it’s always a pleasure to work with her. I feel like she genuinely
believes in me and that makes me feel really enthusiastic and positive about
the future too.
She
has been particularly helpful discussing branding with me and helping me with
the social media and publicity side of things, using her connections to put me
in touch with the right people. She always lets me know when there is a course
or event which she thinks might be useful to me too.
Having
always been employed by someone, I’ve never completed a self-assessment tax
return before, so that will be a challenge to overcome next year. Luckily, I
have a friend who can help me through the first one and there are also courses
I can attend through the Enterprise Hub programme to give me the tools I need.
Tell us about the work you did with our
partners, Writing on the Wall – what work did you do with them and how have
they helped you along the way?
When
I enrolled on the Enterprise Hub programme they linked me up with their
partners Writing on the Wall, to see how they could help me develop the
business from a writer’s perspective. I had a few sessions with WoW and were
particularly helpful in advising me about the best ways to utilise social media
and develop my online presence.
They
also talked me through possible ways I might use my writing to develop my
business further which is something I’m keen to do in the future.
What would your advice be to someone
looking to set up a business, based on your experiences and the things you have
learned along the way?
This
is a difficult one, as I don’t feel like I’ve set up a business in the same way
someone might go about setting up a coffee shop, for example. For me, I didn’t
think about setting up a business at all until very recently, I just wrote a
book. But one piece of advice I would give any friend would be to get in touch
with the Enterprise Hub. They are so good at what they do and their belief,
expertise and support makes all the difference.
Needless to say, the last three years
have been a whirlwind for you, what does the future hold?
I’ve
just submitted the first draft of my second book, which is due out in June
2020. After this, ideally I’d love to get a further book deal with Harper
Collins. I have so many ideas for books, and sometimes find it difficult to
focus on one at a time as other ideas keep popping into my head.
In
the future, I’d love to do more with my writing. If I could help others
somehow, that would be amazing. Writing helped me thought such a difficult time
in my life, and so many people have stories of their own to telI, I’d love to
be able to help people do that.
The Boss is out on Friday 7th
June and is available to pre-order now by clicking here.
You can find out more via Caz’s website
at www.cazfinlay.com and you can find
her as @cjfinlaywriter on Twitter. Caz can also be contacted directly on cazjfinlay@gmail.com.
