One of my students at my teaching dayjob asked me recently why I needed a day job if I am a ‘real’ author (as opposed, I guess, to being an unreal one). I explained that , like most authors, I need a day job to supplement my income. She was a bit puzzled by this, and went on to ask why I bother with writing if it doesn’t make me enough money.
Although I answered her with several reasons, I’ve been thinking about this conversation – and all the wonderful things I love about being an author – and have decided to kick off a new semi-regular series of posts (semi-regular meaning I’m not sure how often I’ll do it) celebrating the good stuff in my life by talking about the good parts of being an author.
So, here goes – five cool things about being a children’s book author:
1. 1. Holding a book in your hands with your name on the cover and knowing that you wrote it. You.
2. 2. Holding that same book and knowing that kids (and maybe adults too) are going to read it – and picturing that happening.
3. 3. Getting to go into schools, and to festivals, or online venues such as blogs and forums, and talking to kids about your books and the sheer joy of reading and writing.
4. 4. Getting to do silly things and pretending it’s research for your next book.
5. 5. Fan mail! Young readers say the nicest things – sometimes through snail mail, sometimes by email, and other times in person. I have had notes scrawled on the back of festival programs, or corners torn from notebooks, which have become prized possessions.
These are not the only five cool things about what I do – and not even necessarily the top five things, but they are the first five things that came to me when I started to write.
I’ll be using the five cool things format again to talk about different topics. Stay tuned! In the meantime, I’d love to hear what YOU think is cool about writing for children.
Thanks for your comment. Glad to share the joy 🙂
First to leave a comment! wow …Anyway caught you on twitter this morning and followed the link. I love your 5 reasons why … I could read your 'joy' between the lines and for that I thank you as I'm sure so would all your readers.