Thursday, 2 July 2009
July 2009 update
As I write this, I am awaiting a visit from a Daily Mail photographer! A letter I wrote to them is to be their 'lead letter' (with photo of me at work) on Monday 6 July: all about the importance of sharing books with young children, which is one of my main passions! No news on the sale of my novel (YET!), although sadly the rejections are piling up, but life goes on and I continue to write just about everything else - fiction, poems and features. Although I didn't make it to the finals of the Poetic Republic poetry competition, I have done the next best thing and written about it - article accepted for publication in Writing Magazine, September issue. Still several magazine short stories out there too - some bought and paid for and just waiting to appear, others awaiting editors' decisions. And my monthly columns in Child Care and Writers' Forum are still going strong and bringing in the regular money. I am reading a book called 'We can't all be astronauts' in bed at nights now, all about a failed novelist coming to terms with the fact that he may not be destined for publication and great things after all - I know how he feels, and let's be honest - it's a great dream but for most of us it never actually comes true, no matter how hard we try/wish for it. So, for now, having my pic in the Daily Mail for millions to see is as famous as I'm gonna get - this month anyway! I just wish I could make up my mind what to wear when the photographer arrives.
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6 comments:
Well done,really great passion to share books
with young children :)
Agree, it's so important to share books with the young 'uns. My mum bought my daughter her first book while I was still expecting (a Ladybird ABC). And I took her book shopping for the first time when she was a week old - we bought Over In The Meadow and The Wandering Bear. It paid off as she became a very early reader and hasn't stopped since.
I have worked with young kids for 7 years now and still love it when they fall in love with a book! Let's see what the Daily Mail do with my letter tomorrow - please don't let them hack it to pieces and take out the bits that matter (which is just about all of it!)
The Daily Mail slipped by a day and published it today (Tuesday 7 July) with a nice colour pic, and although they cut the letter it still reads ok. Got an email from Bookstart thanking me for the mention!
Bought the DM yesterday - well done and lovely photo, Viv. The fact that you're selling lots of pieces to national magazines will help build your following (or 'platform', as those supposedly in the know are quick to tell you you need these days in order to be a published author.) I'm a firm believer in persistance. Stick at it and you will make it.
Thanks for the encouragement. I will certainly always be a writer, but whether that means being a novelist or developing all my other strings instead, only time will tell. The novel really is not the be-all and end-all, even though the public never seem to accept anyone as a 'proper' writer unless they have published a book!
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