SARAH WEBB, Novelist: TEN YEARS ago, I was working full-time at Eason's as the children's book buyer and marketing manager, and living with my young son, Sam. But in 2000, my first novel, Three Times a Lady, was published. I'd already written three non-fiction children's books, but this was my first attempt at a novel – I wrote three chapters and sent them to Poolbeg, who offered me a three-book deal.
Afterwards, I got an agent, Ali Gunn at Curtis Brown, who sold the British and American rights. Thanks to that I was able to go part time at work in about 2002. I didn’t want to give up my day job completely. I loved my job and wanted to work, and it’s a funny business, book-writing. I didn’t know how long I’d be doing it.
That time was the heart of Irish chick-lit territory, when all the top-10 books were women’s fiction. It was amazing – Cathy Kelly, Sheila O’Flanagan and Marian Keyes were all breaking through. The genre just really took off and a lot of Irish writers were part of it. The word chick-lit didn’t bother me, because it was mainly women using it themselves about books they liked. What’s interesting is that back then people said it was only a phase and would die out, but instead, women’s fiction has gone from strength to strength.
I became a full-time writer about seven years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter Amy. I just saw what a three-hour daily commute was doing to my health, and I was lucky enough to be able to afford to leave my job.
But I think my real breakthrough came two years ago when I started writing fiction for kids – my novel Amy Green, Teen Agony Queen: Boy Troublewas published in February. I now make more money from teenage books than the others, and I love writing for young people. I think over the next decade I'll be concentrating on writing for kids, but I've just signed a contract for two more adult novels, so I haven't left women's fiction.
A lot has happened in the past decade. One of the biggest changes was meeting my partner Ben in 2000, and moving into our house in Dún Laoghaire. I’ve also had two more children, Amy and Jago.
Ten years ago, I was a single mum of one with a full-time job attempting to juggle work and family and writing. Now it’s all clicked into place, and I know I’m very, very lucky.
In conversation with Anna Carey
Sarah Webb's latest novel for adults, Anything for Love, is published by Pan