Sometimes Being A Writer Involves A Million Little Tasks That Add Up To Something Great

A flattering view my food garden this week

It's been a productive couple of days. I submitted a children's story I wrote to a mainstream publisher.

I really really hope they like it. I'm making the distinction (in italics) because I also submitted 6 children's stories written by someone else to an indie publisher.

I hope admitting to forwarding someone else's manuscript is not going to come back to bite me on the butt sooner rather than later, because honestly, trully, sending your manuscript to another writer in the hope that they can help you to reach publishers is not a viable way to publication.

You're better off doing your market research and sending your manuscript to the appropriate editor at the right publishing house.

This person sent me her stories mid-2012, wanting to publish them through my small company, and at the time, I was completely absorbed in care-giver duties and was not ( and I'm still not) accepting manuscripts by other authors.


I liked the stories, even if I couldn't do anything about them, so I didn't delete the email. Just in case. So, I was "chatting" by email with another indie publisher who does accept works by other authors, and he asked me if I know local children's writers he could solicit manuscripts from for a project. He doesn't want to do a general submission call because he doesn't have the capacity to deal with hundreds of manuscripts.

I gave him a very short list. So, if you do write for children and you know I know you do and he hasn't been in touch with you, sorry I didn't think to include you. Email me and we'll chat about it.

I also took a chance and offered to send him Whatshername's manuscripts, as I thought her stories would suit him. He loved the stories and will get in touch with her. As for me, I felt like Supergirl. Or maybe a king-maker.


I also worked with a graphic designer to develop an organisational logo for a client. We're doing the whole branding thing.

The designer, Robert Heppner, is based around 35km from Phokeng and he's very talented. More than that, he's a pleasure to work with, even as the client and I do our best to drive him nuts. Thank you Robert, for your hard work and patience.

All this means I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked in the garden. So today was also about catching up with that. There was a lot of weeding involved, which stretched my back in ways I needed after sitting on a chair for hours and days on end.

I also harvested a lot of stuff - Swiss chard, kale, spinach, squash, onions, carrots, beetroot, basil, thyme and chives. Some of it I used or will use, some I gave away to family or neighbours.

Oh, and we also found out that the fix that I paid for to get the mobile phone didn't stick [the screen keeps hanging and then I end up having to re-initialise the phone.] So SIL is giving me my money back and then I'm adding to it to buy another smartphone.

I'm not going to be difficult and insist on reverting to my old Nokia 3500 phone, even though it has worked for many years without any problem whatsoever, and it could still chug along for years, thank you very much.

Tomorrow I'm working on another children's story and that's all I want to do with regard to writing. Then I'll download two client audios and hopefully, put a big dent in the translation job.