Farewell 2018 - it's been a good one!

What a year 2018 has been. I have seen my dreams come true (and a son get happily married). I have spent years wondering what it would be like to have a book published and many a dark moment thinking it would never happen. Well, I was wrong and it did. Last summer Firefly published Flight.

Wonderful cover designed
by Anne Glenn

This was a novel I started working on after a long discussion with Imogen Cooper about how a previous novel was just not working and we agreed it was time to walk away. This had been a difficult decision as I had been working on the previous novel for several years but it was definitely the right decision. A friend, Annaliese and I have decided Imogen is the 'Book Whisperer' as she has this innate ability to get under the skin of books, to get to the nitty gritty of them, to really understand them. As do many of my colleagues at the Golden Egg Academy.

It being published was just the beginning though. Some of my fabulous author friends said incredible things about Flight, which I was truly humbled by. Then the reviews started coming in and they were amazing. People I have respected and admired for years like Amanda Craig and Charlotte Eyre loved it. The wonderful Megan, who does the publicity at Firefly, would let me know that there was another good review in and she would laugh at me because each time I was genuinely surprised and grateful. She kept saying 'You do realise it is a good book?' I think (and still do) I kept expecting to wake up from this dream or for someone to turn  around and say 'Only Joking - we haven't published your book!' There are of course the Book bloggers, like  BookLoverJo, My Book Corner and Fallen Star Stories who also published lovely reviews. The teachers and teaching assistants have been amazing with the work they did with the story. Telling me tales of reluctant readers becoming totally engaged in the story - isn't that one of our dreams when we write? Thank you in particular to Scott E, David K, Dan M and Jo for their constant support and encouragement. Scott E even included  Flight in his #PrimarySchoolBookClub vote which was thrilling and helped raise its profile. I made a surprise visit to a school book club where they treated me like a celebrity. This is why I write books - not to be treated like a celebrity - but to see their faces when they talk about the book.

Parents of readers shared their fabulous stories. One told me how their son had read it multiple times since buying it only a few days previously. Why? Because he loved it so much. Another parent only yesterday tweeted a picture of their daughter refusing to interrupt their reading in order to eat dinner. I remember being like both these readers and when I started writing it was one of my dreams to write a book that would inspire children to get as lost in my stories in the way I used to get totally lost when I used to read. I think maybe I have done that. I have pinched myself several times this year to prove that dreams do come true.

It has been an amazing year but it is also a year full of doubts as you constantly worry you are not doing enough. Social media is a wonderful thing but it can also make your life miserable if you let it as you watch the world shouting about what they are doing and all their successes and the places they are going. Matt Haig has a very pertinent line in one of his books 'Do not compare yourself!' This is my mantra because I can't do everything. I have three jobs. I love what I do and I will do everything to the best of my abilities.

What will 2019 bring? Lots more exciting things I imagine. I have school visits planned. I know of schools that are using Flight. I have writing planned. I have an article coming out and another two planned and maybe a feature to pitch. There are masterclasses to organise for Golden Egg Academy.  It is going to be an interesting year.

I want to say thank you to everyone who made 2018 so incredible and also wish you all a very happy 2019 and I hope it brings you the dreams and joy you are looking for. See you next year ;-)

I am posting this song because it reminds me of a happy time in 2018 and just because I love it: Jack Johnson - Better Together

Labels

I have been thinking about this blog post for many months. It first came to mind when my friend Alistair Green highlighted a brilliant campaign his company was involved in. The campaign was #Labelsareforclothes by River Island, which was outstanding. They turned stereotypes on their heads

Signing my debut novel Flight
Photograph by Candy Gourlay

while highlighting that labels are for clothes, not people.

This campaign came at a time when I was getting used to attaching a label to myself again. A label which for many years I haven't really spoken about yet now I was shouting about it...and with good reason. 

Like so many before me I have had lots of labels attached to me over my lifetime:

Daughter

Sister

Wife

Mother

Ex-Wife

Divorcee

Single Mother

Businesswoman

Carer

Student

Doctor

Lecturer

Senior Lecturer

Consultant 

Mentor

Grandmother

Writer

and then the label I mentioned above

Disabled Writer

I've been disabled for nearly twenty years. If my body hadn't misbehaved there's a good chance several of those labels might not have happened. Becoming disabled opened doors for me so I don't regret it happening. I have spoken about this before here.

In the main, I have kept quiet about my disability whilst working in academia, rightly or wrongly, proving to myself that I can achieve regardless. However, in the world of children's publishing where inclusivity is so important, it is vital that I shout loud about my disability and say, if I can do it, so can you. I must be honest this does not come naturally and has taken quite a bit of adjustment. I have spent my life fighting against any label I was given not just the disabled one. I never want labels to define me. There have been many ready to prejudge because of labels they were far too quick to attach.

There is a risk with any label that it will define you too much particularly if attributed by others, putting you in a box while potentially feeling limiting. Perhaps that's why rather than a disabled author I would instead see myself as an author who happens to be disabled as that is something I feel comfortable shouting about. I know it is all about semantics, but sometimes that is all it takes to give you the power back.

As we move rapidly towards 2019 make sure you define yourself the way you want to be, but be proud to be that person, whoever that might be. Don't hide it away. In the same way don't be so quick to attach labels to others. Give everyone a chance. #labelsareforclothes, not people.

A classic but it seems appropriate Gloria Gaynor's I Am What I Am