To celebrate the publication of her new book, Elsetime, Eve McDonnell has written this guest blog post all about writing for children and her road to publication - thanks, Eve!
You’re here, so I’m guessing you’re a children’s writer, and you don’t need me to tell you the road to publication is long – filled with ups and downs, scary junctions (far too many!) and, unfortunately, the odd roadkill manuscript! But, if you are anything like me, once in that driver’s seat of ambition, we are there to stay, stubborn as mules. If we are going to make it from A to Z, one thing is pretty obvious: we need to stop for fuel in order to get to the final destination – the seemingly unmapped town called Publication.
Puddling about in a career as an artist, my writing journey began when a fortune-teller shrieked at me to Write! Write! Write! I went home, opened up a blank page rather than a canvas, and began my first children’s book. Like a brand-new car, the words flowed so smoothly! The ideas felt shiny! And within minutes I experienced one of those eureka-OMG moments – this is what I should be doing with my life!
I went full-throttle, and with every word I wrote, the dream of one day seeing it printed grew bigger. But, here’s the thing: books take time. SO much time! As an artist, I was used to putting the effort in and all I needed to do to effectively have it ‘published’, was nail it to a wall. Job done. If it was good, it brought smiles – my ultimate goal. However, in that time between the first brush stroke and hanging it on a nail, I had something precious – bubbling up inside me was a fuel that spurred me on, even through the trickiest bits. A fuel called hope.
I was always one for enjoying the buzz of the run-up to Christmas rather than the day itself so whether a painting was successful or not didn’t matter. As long as I had hope, I kept going. I quickly realised this was the best fuel for my writing journey too, and where I found it was at a serendipitous meeting with Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin of Writing.ie.
The Writing.ie and ILFDublin’s Date with an Agent competition was soon closing, and she encouraged me to go for it. Not knowing if my work was truly awful or held potential made pressing the send button difficult, but press it, I did. Immediately I filled up with that wonderful fuzzy feeling of hope! Regardless of the outcome, I had all I needed to change gear and motor on. A couple of agent dates and manuscripts later, I took a sharp turn and began to write a children’s book called Elsetime.
As my courage grew, I sent what I thought were finished drafts (lol!) to more competitions and, later, agents. Even rejections were worth the anticipation and hope they had delivered! Then, came some good news including longlisting in the Bath Children’s Novel Award and winning the Wells Festival of Literature Book for Children competition. These earned me not only joy but something else too – a precious shortcut for my journey. With each win or long-listing, Elsetime hopped up a few places on agents’ slush-piles until it stood proudly near the top where it might, at least, be considered. My tank of hope was ready to burst!
Flash forward a couple of years and I write this just as my phone beeps with photos of Elsetime appearing in bookshops. I can’t put into words the feeling that brings, suffice it to say every bump on that long road was more than worth it.
Maybe DO consider that writing competition that grabbed your eye. Unlike Premium Unleaded, hope is cheap – and sometimes free – so put your foot to the pedal and get your work out there.
Enjoy the ride!
Eve x