Francesco Sarti
My name is Francesco, and I write. Every day.
My name is Francesco, I’m an author of (mainly) speculative fiction and a creative writing teacher represented by Justin Nash at Kate Nash Literary Agency.
Every morning I wake up early—much earlier than I ever thought possible—I feed my Italian Greyhound, Larry and I write for an hour before my day job.
The simple decision of starting writing before I do anything else changed my life forever. That’s the main reason I was able to secure a contract with a literary agent while having a full time job, learning a new language, having a kid and maintaining a semi-acceptable social life.
As Stephen King says in his essay On Writing: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.” You’d be shocked of what you can achieve with a bit of discipline, a bit of trickery and a bit of discomfort.
Hopefully my story will help you!
That’s what this blog is about. As an author at the beginning of his career, I want to speak to that rare breed of writers who also love reading. I also talk about how to be more efficient and creative while trying to pay the bills, drive to the office, squeeze an hour of exercise here and there and keep at least some of your friends.
Ah, the joy of adulthood.
Before all of this, when I was still a student in Italy, I published a poetry collection dedicated to my girlfriend, now my wife, and I wrote a bunch of horror short stories for a lovely annual competition called “Terni Horror Fest,” ending up published in one of their anthologies.
That happened when my English was so bad I would point at the burger on the menu instead of asking for one.
In July 2021, I enrolled in a fantastic event called “Flash Fiction Month” on DeviantArt and, for the first time since switching languages, I grabbed the winning prize. You can read 30 out of the 31 stories of the event here on my blog under the section Flash Fiction.
Since then, I won many other competitions, got published in a magazine, interviewed amazing authors, spoke to audiences, run workshops, and—out of topic, I know—started Karate.
A bit of this, a bit of that
I haven’t been passionate about writing my entire life. I picked up (voluntarily) my first book when I was almost 18. As a teenager, I was really into sports. I went semi-pro in athletics and basketball, and I would have made a career out of it if I didn’t tear my ACL a couple of months after my 22nd birthday. And then, again, a year after.
I lived in a handful of interesting places, such as Turin, Drogheda, just north of Dublin, and Recife, Brazil. Up until 2020, I used to love traveling with my wife, and I hope to resume it as soon as humanly possible.
Would you like to connect?
I’m always open to new opportunities, but I don’t like to just sit and wait for them to fall into my lap. Below is a list of things I’m working on or that I would like to achieve in the future. If you think you can help me get there, please give me a shout.
I’m currently working on my debut novel, and this takes absolute priority over any other project.
I’m collaborating with an independent bookshop for a series of workshops and a 6 weeks course on the craft of writing novels, and I would love to have at least part of that online pretty soon.
Last but not least
I’d finally like to mention that this entire website wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for my amazing wife, Claudia. She’s my first reader, my greatest support, my best friend, and resourceful and creative like nobody else.
All I’m able to do is fill word documents at home and spreadsheets at work; everything else falls within her realm and I couldn’t be more grateful.