Becoming a writer for children

by Carolyn Wilson
(Cairns, Australia)

Hi Carl,

Firstly, I wanted to mention you have a fabulous web site. I just have a small query to ask you. I am a mum of 42, single with 2 boys and I am stuck as what I want to do work wise. I love writing and have a desire to write children's books. I used to write a fair bit of poetry when I was younger but I am not sure whether it is good enough to have published. Just poetry for myself. My problem is I come up with ideas like writing children's books, then say no this won't work because there are millions of children's books out there. How can I possibly be different. This is what I say to myself.

I am a bit of a loner and enjoy my own time. I am fairly creative and tend to get bored easily in mundane and routine situations. I like the idea of having the freedom to make my own decisions.

Are they any suggestions you can make to help me with moving forward in getting a direction happening for myself?

Thank you.

Response from Carl: Thanks for your note and kind words, Carolyn. I spent some time in Cairns when I was travelling down the east coast of Australia and had a great time!

Somewhere I'm guessing the next Harry Potter author is out there and perhaps it's you. I'm sure J.K. Rowling may have also had doubts before she started writing and imagine if she hadn't put pen to paper and started putting words on the page? Of course, her story is a unique one and for every success like hers there are many people who will try and perhaps never experience a fraction of that success. The point is of course that you won't know until you try.

I wonder if the question is less about trying to be different and simply being yourself? In other words, just write what makes you happy and put your ideas in writing and see where things lead? I've often read with successful writers that the hardest part is to just let things flow and to spend more time just writing what comes to mind and spending less time over thinking things. I tend to over think things myself so I can understand this point.

I wonder if there are local writing classes you might investigate (or perhaps a web-based resource) that might help to get you started in terms of helping you put together a writing process that makes sense to you? Maybe this might be your first step to figuring out if and how a children's writing career could be in your future.

Carl