Samantha Giles admits getting book deal was 'one of the hardest things'

Samantha Giles says getting a book deal was "one of the hardest things" she\'s done.

The former \'Emmerdale\' star - whose debut novel \'Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill\' was released earlier this month - admitted landing an agent for her book was a tough task, but getting published has been a dream come true.

Speaking to her former co-star Natalie Anderson on The Capsule\'s \'In Conversation\' podcast, she said: "It is, because I didn\'t know if it would ever get published to be honest.

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"When I\'d written it first, I sent it round to agents and getting a literary agent, oh my God! It\'s one of the hardest things - getting an acting agent is pretty hard!"

The former soap actress - who played Bernice Blackstock on the ITV show on and off from 1998 to 2019 - also opened up on the decision to take on a literary career.

She added: "I like taking risks sometimes. I think, \'Come on, life\'s short, let\'s do something dangerous. Let\'s take a risk\'.

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"Why not? What\'s the worst that could happen? Oh, I won\'t get any work? OK, well I\'ll just have to find something else."

Meanwhile, the 49-year-old actress has already started work on a follow-up to her debut novel as acting roles have dried up due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: "I started writing it in the autumn of 2017, and it took me about nine months. I was writing it while I was doing \'Emmerdale\'.

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"I felt it was the right time to leave \'Emmerdale\'. I still want to act, but unfortunately there\'s not a lot of work right now acting-wise.

"So I\'m really, really lucky that this is finally being published. I\'m writing a sequel at the moment.

"So at least I can do something creative while waiting for acting work to pick up again."