No imposters here...

August, 2024

​‘Spring has sprung,
the grass is riz
I wonders where dem boidies iz?
Dey say da boids are on da wing,
But dat's absoid,
Coz da wings iz on da boids.’

So many people recall variations on this piece of doggerel, and I think I first heard it recited by American comedian Jimmy Durante when I was a child watching old black and white movies on a 32 inch TV, but attributions claiming its origins arise from disparate sources. Since August ends winter here in Australia and heralds spring, this crazy piece is inevitably recited in our family.
 
August brought a range of exciting writing events and projects to the fore, culminating in a writing workshop for Writers SA titled The Story Arc, during which I guided fourteen keen and engaged participants through a six-hour intensive focussing on building the story arc in their current projects. Participant feedback was very positive, and I enjoyed the energy and connection with writers.

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I always offer a ‘burning questions’ option where participants can pop specific questions on Post-it notes to be addressed during the workshop and the question that resonated was ‘Why do writers always suffer imposter syndrome?’ If the term is not familiar, it simply means that writers feel they cannot be considered themselves as writers and what they are really doing is being imposters. We discussed this as a group and an agreed definition, verified by similar online forums, is that a writer is an artist who creates through using words, and an author is a writer who publishes work for public consumption. Then there is the whole conversation as to what constitutes an author: novelists, poets, scriptwriters, journalists, copywriters, traditional publishing, self-publishing, ‘vanity’ publishing and so on. However, what sat at the base of the discussion is that so many writers feel like imposters because of a combination of self-perception and perceptions of observers. As participants expressed, the value of being a writer seems to be equated with questions like: ‘Oh, you’re a writer? How many books have you published?’ or ‘How much do you earn through writing, then?’ or ‘A writer? Literature or genre stuff?’ and a crowd favourite: ‘Really? Yeah, I’ve always wanted to write a book, too.’ The questions, in themselves, are not unreasonable, but for writers who are diligently developing a project, who cannot seem to attract an agent or a publisher’s interest, who fully intend to self-publish because their work is never intended to be a best-selling blockbuster, who are passionate about creating with words, the questions cause self-doubt and being unable to produce a published work or a manuscript to prove that writing is taking place then leads to guilt that what we are doing is simply wasting time. No economic value equals no value in what we are doing. Anyway, we rallied from the question and agreed that, like so many artists, we are all writers because we are passionate about our art, we commit ourselves to creating and crafting, we have intention to complete our projects irrespective of whether the ultimate goal is to be published or not, and we enjoy what we are doing. We all not only have stories to tell, but we are actively involved in writing them. We ARE writers.
 
For myself and my projects, progress continues, and some changes are in place.
 
The initial bad news – both Science Fiction novels were rejected by their first publisher offers (positive feedback, but not what the publisher would normally publish). No big deal and not unexpected. They will now go to the next possibilities.
 
The Dragon Kin fantasy book three is moving very slowly. The core aim of book three is to move towards resolution for the Dragon Queen, Shadrael, her Alfyn nemeses, and the humans caught in the conflict. I know how the story will end (roughly), but the plotting leading to it still challenges me regarding detail. I will chip away at this project.
 
Several readers contacted me in recent weeks asking how they can obtain the now out-of-print Dreaming in Amber novels and that has prompted me to begin editing the existing manuscripts, design covers and prepare them for release through Amazon (and other sources). This was to begin in 2025, but I have decided to start the process this month and work through one book at a time, releasing one a month, hopefully from October-December/January. Once they are done, my 1992-2008 backlist will be available from me and from Amazon.
 
Thank you to the readers who bought Girlie and have since given me very positive feedback. I have started drafting the companion novel, Bill, which will be a project in 2025, and in a similar vein it will tell the story of my father’s youth, leading up to marrying Eileen. With scant details, it will require as much research as Girlie did, and most likely a lot more speculative content. I’m looking forward to it.
 
The four The Last Wizard fantasy novels will begin to be offered to overseas agents this month.
 
For NanoWriMo, the project will be to totally focus on the men’s novel, now with the working title Comes the Moment. I’m hoping to punch out most of that novel in the four weeks of November.
 
Into September we dive, full of energy and creativity and joy. Spring has sprung indeed!