A much-needed boost

After the agony of the past week or so and my very real confidence crisis, I have just received a much-needed boost. Through an online group of children’s writers I’m part of, I discovered that a few people were using a well-known Australian author for manuscript assessments. I’m not going to mention her name publicly here as I want to clear it with her first, but I will say she’s had a lot of success over many years. I previously hadn’t had a manuscript assessment done because I am all too aware that there are a lot of people out there who will gladly take your money and give you very little helpful advice whatsoever. When I heard who the manuscript assessor was, my ears pricked up. I’ve been reading her books for years! If anyone could give me a few pointers on what to improve, I was pretty sure she could.

Knowing what I don’t know

I’m at a bit of a crazy place right now in this writing journey. In the scheme of things, my successes have happened very quickly. The first picture book manuscript I ever submitted was accepted (only to be canned at a later date due to external forces) and since April ‘08 I’ve had quite a lot of things to celebrate. I have two contracts with Stanborough Press in the UK for picture books and am waiting for the contract from my Australian publisher (who are sourcing an illustrator). It has been a great start to my writing career, but right now I feel like I’m totally out of my depth.

Now that I am a writer…

For the past 12 months I have been focussed on a single goal: finding a publisher. Assuming everything works out according to plan in the next little while, it appears that I have achieved that goal. I have a publisher for my Christian children’s books and I have a publisher for my mainstream children’s books. Everything is hunky dory. But it’s taking me a little while to adjust.