After working for months on an exciting potential project for my adult books, I have had news today that it is not going ahead, and I have one more picture book due to be published next year, but nothing else at the moment, so I am in that unsettling situation so many creative people experience , when I don't know what, if anything, will happen next.
I was first published in 2014, aged 49, whilst I was still caring for my parents. I have been so lucky as a writer in these last ten years. I am now 59, and have had 26 Children's books published already thanks to my agent Anne Clark, one more next year, and two novels for adults published thanks to my agent, now retired, Jo Unwin, and I have a lovely new agent, Charlotte Colwill, with whom I also hope to do some exciting things. However, there are no guarantees in publishing. Some of my Children's books have already gone out of print, and the publisher, Catnip Books, which published all of my Middle Grade books, is closing down, so all three of my middle grade books will go out of print at the same time in early 2025, and I don't know if they will ever be in print again. But I hope that all of the books I have written have given joy to their readers, and I just have to remind myself to let go of them.
I just want to send solidarity to all my fellow creatives who aren't quite sure about their future. I went for a walk today in the countryside and thought about how fields are deliberately left fallow for a reason. Sometimes we have intensely productive periods, but sometimes we realise we need to, or are forced to, rest for a bit, and then hopefully the soil will recover and new shoots will sprout. I do need to earn money, and that is a bit of a worry, but I think if I can cover basic needs with any work, creative or not, then I have to trust that the creativity will take care of itself. Maybe my words need to grow in replenished soil, and I just have to let them emerge in their own time, and in the meantime, I can be grateful for the words which grew and were present in stories for a while.
Good luck to us all!
2 comments:
So sorry to hear this, Anne. That's an undeservedly hard patch you're in right now so take care of yourself and good luck with the job-hunting.
People imagine books are 'forever' but when changes come in publishing, everything seems to come toppling down at once. I do admire how positively you're viewing it all - in this post, at least.
It's tough when something like this happens - as it will, to most of us. But on we go - doing other useful and enjoyable things, and writing because we enjoy it, and in the hope that it may go somewhere in the end. Good luck, Anne, and I look forward to hearing about whatever comes next!
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