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

 

 

Smiley with strong arms

Talloires under the snow

'The review is in Swedish and I've made a quick attempt to find a translation without success.'

'Send me the link,' my husband texted, from five-thousand kilometres away.

'I'd say the listener thinks that you have a nice smile and good arm muscles,' he quipped.

'Ha. I'll take that,' I wrote back, chuckling to myself.

It had been a couple of weeks since the audiobook version of But you are in France, Madame had appeared on listening platforms and I was keen to see if there had been any activity. To my delight, both library borrows and purchases had occurred around the world - including apparently in Sweden. 

Big high fives all around using my strong arms.

In other news, during the week I received the monthly e-bulletin from Talloires, my French village. To say that I was proud of my French home would be an understatement. 

Alongside the expected practical updates such as the arrival of the snow and subsequent snow plough activity, the articles covered 

• the opening of a new centre for the youth of the village, 
• an opportunity to reduce one's fuel costs by opting for a group order (limiting the travel and costs of the fuel trucks, which are then passed on to the consumer), 
• the announcement of a free bus service into Annecy every weekend up until Christmas (reducing congestion and limiting emissions), 
• a local workshop exploring ways to act for the climate, 
• free health checks for individuals aged over 60, 
• the village festival on 15 Dec and village Christmas market featuring local artisans on Dec 9,
• a winter program for parent-children activities at one of the local cafes, 
• dates for contributing to Lake Aid whose purpose is to assist refugees in need, 
• the village cinema program, 
• ski enrolment details for school children plus alternatives to families driving to the mountains to ski (tick, tick again for the environment), 
• an invitation to attend a public meeting to discuss the Annecy climate-pacte objectives,
• details of the annual stand-up-paddle race that attracts competitors from all around the world, 
• &
• tips and eco-labels for environmentally responsible businesses 

We are a small village of approximately 1500 inhabitants in a magical natural setting with diverse winter and summer attractions; a Michelin-starred restaurant; cinema; tennis and boules courts; bakery; newsagent; superette; and multiple hotels, restaurants and cafes, but we are also dynamic and community minded. 

One beaming Talloirienne here.

Catherine's books (including Books 1-3 in her 'French at Heart' series celebrating her French-Australian life) 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

As a special request, if you are buying a print copy of Love, fear and a return to France, I would be so grateful if you could do so through my friend Kristi's page. Kristi has provided fun, family-centred posts of her life in France in her French Word-A-Day blog for many years now and relies on reader contributions to maintain her wonderful efforts. Should you use the link above on the left sidebar of her blog, Kristi will benefit and it will be at no extra cost to you. 

Plus, I will be standing by with a big smiley face. 😊 

Yes. Italy.

 

Yes. Italy.

There, I said it. You are my witnesses.

 

Many of you know our story: that of a young Australian family with three school-aged children who went to France for a year, stayed for much longer than that, and brought France forever more into their hearts. There, we learned to live with passion and joy - savouring moments differently; appreciating tastes and sounds more intensely; developing new seasonal routines that somehow embraced flexibility; and resisting, before acknowledging, an unfamiliarity that ultimately became who we were.

 

Then we returned to Australia.

Please don’t be angry or judge me as I know that there is plenty of beauty in Australia too with daily opportunities for fulfilment, and a sweet and generous quality of life, but for me, that largely indefinable thing that fires my senses is elsewhere.

 

To backtrack a little, I went to France as a French speaker, a teacher of French with decades of language study behind me. It was still challenging but at least I had some certainty that I could get by in the language, and that that skill would facilitate my family’s integration.

 

I don’t speak Italian.

I am learning, though, and motivated to make fast progress. It helps that there are similarities both with French grammar and vocabulary. Not so, pronunciation. Will I, am I contorting the French language currently as a result of the incursion of a new sound system into my subconscious? ‘Fraid so. In minor ways. They still make me cringe.

 

My husband’s roots are Italian. He can sound Italian, after all his mother’s voice has been with him his whole life. But he doesn’t speak Italian. He grew up in an era when children of newly arrived Australian immigrants were ‘sheltered’ from the ‘inconvenience’ of having non-English-speaking parents. Mind you, no such restraint was practiced when preparing his pickle and salami school-lunchbox sandwiches. They succeeded in marking his difference just as effectively.

So, why not just return to France? Why Italy?

 

Growth, challenge, desire, anticipation …

 

Growth. I cannot exclaim proudly that we grew linearly as a result of our French living. Frequently, I shrank, struggled and hid, but something beautiful eventually came from periods of incomprehension and darkness.

Challenge. Our family adventure in France was filled with challenges. I expect that this new direction will provide even more but, perhaps obtusely, challenge drives us.

Desire. Does that even need an explanation?

Anticipation. Can we do this again? What awaits? Who will be a part of our journey? Do we know these people yet?

On a practical level, our Italian experience cannot be a duplicate of our French one. I have no easy European access as I did then. Brexit took that privilege away from me. So, amongst other constraints, we have time limitations. Plus, our children are no longer living with us, so we will not have the regularity of a school year and the immediacy of a school family to lean on. Plus, we don’t know where in Italy. A random opening of the Lonely Planet guidebook led us to Annecy. What will decide our destination this time?

 

There, I have put it out there. You are all my witnesses.

 

After all, if not soon, when?

Catherine's books (including her books celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

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

Merci mille fois

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

Love, fear and motherhood

Stormy days. Stormy nights 

‘I need help,’ the text message read.

We had chatted on the phone not long before and my daughter’s weary voice had clearly conveyed the pain that she was in and the effort that walking the few steps in the heat uphill to her room in Corfu would require. Signing off, she had promised that she would remain where she was until she felt that she had the necessary strength to do so safely.

 

Her ordeal had started several nights before.

“Perhaps the effects of partying too hard?” her boat captain had suggested.

“I don’t drink, so that is not it.”

“Sun stroke?”

“No. I take precautions against the heat.”

 

In her disorientation and needing full-time access to a bathroom, she had cut short her sailing trip, forgone a pre-paid bed in a hostel and booked a room in a guesthouse, not realising that it was on the other side of the island.

 

Still, there, she had no support, no easy access to medical help and the sliding door on her balcony, which adjoined that of other apartments, did not lock, giving her an additional preoccupation as a single, female traveller.

 

Receiving the above text message from her not long after our call came as no surprise. The content however punched with the full force of being seventeen thousand kilometres from her side.

“I’ll ring reception for you,” I said, simultaneously wondering how I was going to manage that conversation with my non-existent Greek and Googling to see if there was a local ambulance service.

 

“Take little sips of water and check in with us every fifteen minutes,” my husband texted independently, aware that dehydration could sneak up insidiously.

 

I got no response at reception, there was neither local doctor or chemist available and any chance of getting an ambulance on the island was slim.

 

Assistance finally came hours later in the form of an observant cleaning lady.

 

It was hard, so hard, to be on the other side of the world, feel my daughter’s distress and be unable to help.

 

But would I want to curtail her wanderings in order to minimise the likelihood of such events?

 

No.

 

Did I consider jumping on the next flight to Greece?

 

Yes.

 

Does this make me want to continue encouraging my children to seek adventure?

 

Yes again, as I believe in their desire to travel and their openness to encounters and rejoice in the beauty of their discoveries.

 

PS I’m nonetheless extremely relieved that she is now on the mend. 

Back to the beginning

Catherine's books (including her books celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

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

Merci mille fois

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