Jaime Southwark

Jaime Southwark grew up on a council estate near Heathrow Airport and hated secondary school. From early childhood she entertained herself by making up stories in her head. She believes this kept her sane during difficult periods in her life. In 2018 Jaime had to stop work to care for her elderly mother. With time on her hands and a laptop at her disposal, she decided to write one of her stories. It was a gritty thriller/coming-of-age story about a teenage rent boy, inspired by a newspaper article she’d read in the 1980’s. When you consider this boy had resided in Jaime’s head for almost forty years, she found it something of a relief to finally bring him to life on her pages. Although a friend had told her the manuscript was unputdownable, Jaime knew it needed work but didn’t know where to start.

Bitten by the writing bug, Jaime joined her local writers group; Northants Writers’ Ink. Her writing skills improved and she was delighted to win first prize in their tenth anniversary competition. Eventually she took another look at her novel manuscript. She knew she had a memorable character and believable settings, but issues beyond her understanding meant the story didn’t flow like books she’d read. She emailed Jacqui Lofthouse at The Writing Coach to request a manuscript assessment and was assigned Nikki Sheehan. Under Nikki’s expert guidance Jaime did two re-writes before trying her luck with literary agents. She was unsuccessful in getting it traditionally published, but wasn’t overly surprised because it was a tricky genre. Jaime believed her book deserved a readership and took the self-publishing route. She is currently working on the sequel.

Author of Beneath the Neon Lights

Jaime’s experience of working with The Writing Coach:

“This book would not exist if it wasn’t for author and literary consultant Nikki Sheehan,” is what I wrote on the acknowledgments page of my novel and I meant every word!  Although I was working on an adult novel, my protagonist was a teenager. Nikki’s YA background meant she was the perfect person to point out the instances where I’d made him sound older than his years, and congratulate me when I’d got his voice just right. She also had some brilliant ideas to tighten up the plot and cut unnecessary characters when my book was suffering from the dreaded ‘saggy middle’. Nikki’s positive attitude and sage advice meant I came away from our Zoom meetings feeling inspired and ready to put her suggestions into action. It is thanks to Nikki that I ended up with a book worthy of publishing.