Even though I know better, it’s still difficult to keep a blog up to date. My mother used to describe me as the watcher: I would watch other children play instead of joining in. In many ways, writing a blog is like being a watcher – it requires you to stop doing and start observing or reflecting.
Reflecting on the last six or seven weeks since I first reviewed the submissions I’d had, I realise that there’s so much more to making books than making books. It’s something that comes up again and again in the organisation that I work for, who support creative individuals with their enterprises. If you want to make a living from what you love doing, it inevitably involves doing some things you don’t love doing (unless you’re generating enough income to simply pay other people to do the things you don’t want to).
I made a decision to respond personally to each person that submitted and give some feedback. This is proving quite tricky – especially when I can see massive potential, but the ideas aren’t quite fully formed, or I’m not sure about how the content and the format sit together. In an ideal world, I’d love to work with the artists to develop the ideas, but not only do I not have the time to spend on such activities, I also think that not all artists want to collaborate.
It’s interesting to note that I’m generally compelled to create when I have some stimulus to work from (usually someone else’s work) and that a blank page seems complete; not lacking, not waiting for some thing. Perhaps that is why I enjoy editing so much.
But, on the business front, I’m starting to negotiate three different titles. I’ll probably say more about that when I have a clear idea of what they will be.
In the meantime, I’ll be looking to the Christmas break as a time to step outside the frenetic activity of the last few months and to make some important decisions about what happens next.
