How can you know if you’ve got what it takes?

On the way up or down?

Not many writers have the career highlights to which Jack Heath can lay claim. Notably, how many of us have submitted a manuscript, our first, and had it picked up by a traditional publisher? Quite a few, you might suggest. Yes, yes. But how many of those lucky ones had their first manuscript picked up by a traditional publisher at the age of seventeen? I wouldn’t have a clue. But, of those who had their first submission selected for publication at the tender age of 17, how many have had that same book go on to become an international bestseller AND be named Young Australian of the Year for good measure a few years after that?

Hmmm. I would guess not many. Certainly not me on any of the counts.

 

I listened to Jack speak from the middle of the jam-packed dining room at the Carrington hotel in the Blue Mountains a few weekends ago. Microphone in hand, I was doing my best to blend in, fade, and jump outstretched legs to avoid undue intimacy, whilst attempting to reach those in the crowd who wished to ask a question of the esteemed speaker.

 

Audience member: Excuse-me, you’re blocking my view. (that was to me, not Jack)

 

Me: Oh sorry.

 

Audience member no. 2: I can’t see now. (that, too, was to me)

 

Me: Ah. Got it.

 

“Your turn now” (again, me, whispering as I placed the microphone in a different audience member no. 3’s hands and stood back to block the view of yet another)

 

Audience member no. 3: Jack, can you tell us how you navigated that period of not knowing whether you could do it? It is easy for you now that you have ‘made it’ as an author, but back then, can you tell us how you felt and what you did specifically to help with that feeling?

 

Jack: (laughing gently) I’m not sure that you ever feel that you have ‘made it.’ Today, this very second could be the zenith of my career. But, let me tell you that after the success of book one, books two, three, four, five, six and seven* were all flops.

 

Deep in contemplation of that number of failed manuscripts, I must have missed the next bit where presumably he spoke of his emotions and then said what I have heard over and again from writers about writing being his life, his incapacity to not write, or the urgent need to write …or maybe not.

 

I re-connected when I heard the word lunchbox (food tends to get my attention) and lost focus again for a few seconds. It was mid-morning after all.

 

Jack: I realised that I needed to be honest about my journey for those who are trying to get somewhere (I heard him say after having metaphorically consumed a pickle-and-mortadella sandwich of my husband’s school days).

 

Kind. That is so very reassuring. Now, all the budding writers in the audience (most I’d say) can feel confident that if their treasured words are not cutting the mustard with the industry gatekeeper publishers right now (or on their next six or seven attempts), when they get to their 40^th, 50^th or 69^th published book, like Jack, they can look back on his encouragement to just keep going and nod sagely.

 

Oh, I forgot to say that Jack’s first crime thriller was voted one of the 100 best books of all time … twice. 

 

*I might have lost count here

No, I am not up to number 69, but my 5 books (including Books 1-3 in my 'French at Heart' series celebrating my French-Australian life) are linked below.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

• But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps
• Weaving a French Life: An Australian story
• Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir
• With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s
• Talk and Play with your Child in French

No thank you for the music

Finding the blue sky on a brisk winter's day. Holyrood Palace

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s comment that the “cost of creating ‘content’ is close to zero” was recently passed under my nose. On the nose, I’d suggest is more accurate. For whom exactly is the cost close to zero? Could it be that Monsieur Ek is suggesting that every minute, hour, week -nay year- that I spend as a creative, producing content, is worth nothing?

 

Today, in local news items in Australia, yet another article on the increased salaries of company directors and CEOs was waved in my direction. This, as families struggle to make ends meet, forego purchasing necessary medication, cancel their children’s dance classes and skip meals to meet their elevated mortgage commitments.

 

Is this a rant? I guess so. But hear me out.

 

I ran into a neighbour yesterday and he asked how my writing was going. He is always interested, always impressed with what I do. I told him that I am about to start work on recording my second, third and fourth books for the audio book market. Excitedly, he pointed out that he knew a fellow down the road who had a studio – a proper recording studio – that I might be able to use.

 

“That’s a lovely suggestion but, financial constraints dictate that my ‘studio’ will continue to comprise a wall of foam blocks around my desk, a blanket under my computer, curtains drawn and another blanket over my head.”

 

I didn’t go on to tell him that I had received my audio book sales report that afternoon that showed that when listeners decide to play the system, listen to a full book, return it, and get credit for it, I lose money on the transaction. I don’t just give back what I would have earned, I actually pay for their sneakiness. Neither did I tell him that it hurts when some readers baulk at the cost of a book at $3.99 but will pay $4.50 for a cup of coffee. I also really wanted to tell him what my full year’s income as a writer is, but pride stopped me.

 

I love my neighbour’s enthusiasm for what I do. I thank him for his interest as I thank and appreciate every one of my readers. Is it possible that overpaid CEOs of the world might one day value me, my output, and my time in the same way? The sad truth is that they probably won’t.

 

I guess I’ll have to continue working a second job in order to justify the hours that I spend writing and marketing my ‘no-cost’ content.

With thanks for your ongoing support, here are my books (including Books 1-3 in the 'French at Heart' series)

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase. 

• But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps
• Weaving a French Life: An Australian story
• Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir
• With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s

Bright, beautiful moment on a windy day in Edinburgh