I got to see the mock-up for the cover of my new book coming out summer 2021, and the blurb on the back. Can't share it just now but I will as soon as I am allowed. Nice wee illustration that so captures the subject, and the blurb made me want to read the book - so that must be good.
Meanwhile, I am writing loads - completing four biggish projects a year since I retired from teaching. Not all of these projects will catch the eye of a publisher, I know that.
Just read "If You Should Fail: A Book of Solace" by Joe Moran... pretty amazing book... I want to shout about how good it is and to give copies to all my creative friends and even to my friends who are not creative (though I suspect everyone is in some way creative really). I have written 18 complete novels/novellas and am about to have the third of those 18 go into print. I don't expect the books to bring me fame or wealth or a following. That's not the point of writing... for me at least. Of course I want to be read, but the act of writing and immersing yourself in a subject is itself a wonderful thing. That I am able to do that is what makes me a successful writer no matter what happens to the things I write. It is a cliche I know, but I do write to please me - sometimes I don't quite understand why what I write does not please others to the same degree that it pleases me, but that's a totally separate issue.
So, to all my writer friends - of course I wish you success and I look for your work in print and look forward to finding it on bookshop shelves or in libraries... (I once wrote a story and bound it in card and sneaked it into a library and slipped it between two books on a well stocked shelf!) ...do not be dissuaded from continuing writing... I know it gives you pleasure to be creative and I believe that should be its own thing. It's like 'play' after all and children play for the sheer joy of playing and not for any other reason... adults sometimes forget the joy of playing and if writing is your 'play' and it gives you joy then I think it is ok to just enjoy it and it is even enough.
Success and failure are human constructs... that is something to remember.
