Kids’ Book Review Guest Posts
Kid’s Book Review is one of the best online resources for lovers of Australian children’s literature, and Australian lovers of children’s literature. It’s a place brimming with reviews and interviews and resources for readers of all ages, parents, students, teachers and librarians. So it was with great pleasure I contributed twice to KBR in recent weeks. The first was a Guest Post entitled ‘Christopher Richardson on the Journey From Idea to Publication,’ and offers an insight into the twelve year odyssey from initial idea to the publication of Empire of the Waves: Voyage of the Moon Child in July 2015. As I reflected recently to a friend, there is perhaps too much self-mythologisation in the publishing world, so I wanted to be honest about my setbacks and disappointments, as well as celebrating my success.
The path to publication is seldom smooth, yet every setback can be turned into an opportunity to learn. Of course, it’s easy to say this in retrospect, but I’m glad my story was not published earlier. In the end, it felt like all happened at the right place, at the right time, and with the right publisher and editors… but it also felt like I was ready. Before I only wanted to be ready. And I was only ready having absorbed the lessons of those earlier defeats. I will write more about this in the future, but this brief guest post is a good introduction to my journey.
Somewhat less seriously, my second post was for the ‘12 Curly Questions,’ thus offering me the chance to exorcise a few more demons from my youth, and also to confess my love of the Pet Shop Boys, Marilynne Robinson and Barcelona.
To learn more about my path from idea to publication, or to find out what spooked me as a child, head over to Kids’ Book Review, for these and many more journeys in Australian children’s writing.