The Sweet Taste of Success

Lately all I am doing is writing. Writing and submitting without worrying about whether I will have success. No, that’s not entirely true. In fact it’s not true at all although I try to convince myself it is.

I send every submission off with a quiet wish to see it land on a publisher’s desk and they immediately offer me a contract. So unlikely, but if you can’t dream it, what are you doing?

Writing is it’s own reward, it’s true and those of us who have this compulsion aren’t always wanting contracts. But at the moment, it’s my dream! I want more books!

So the email I received from Just Write for kids letting me know my junior fiction story, HOCKEY ANYONE? had been selected for their upcoming anthology of literally hilarious junior fiction stories was exciting, validating and totally unexpected.

I’m not a funny person. I’m not, but apparently my story, based on a true story, mostly. Well little bits are true. Captured their attention and will be in the Anthology coming out in August 2026.

So that’s another success story with junior fiction. If you measure success as a contract. And at the moment, I do.

Don’t get me wrong, I still write because I love writing but for now, that’s not enough. I write with the aim of being published. I’ve caught the bug.

A picture book with my name on the cover is the dream and I continue to write and submit. It’s been my driving ambition since I began this journey into writing for children. And it’s this foundation that gave me the confidence to try longer form work. It gave me a community, the kidlit community, I value as my tribe.

So for now I write across kidlit genres as well as the ocassional dabble into my adult writing.

And I’ll keep writing even if the contracts don’t eventuate. I love it. But I can dream.

Still working on updating my website. So stay tuned!