Philippa Rae - Building your confidence as a writer!

I’m Philippa and I have a great interest in children’s books.  

I have read many of them over the last few years and now I am trying to write some of my own!  My first book “Count the Sheep to Sleep” (Sky Pony Press, New York) is available in the UK in September.  (See the review from Kirkus).  I am currently just finishing my first children’s novel.

With anything creative or expressive we can see it is a personal reflection of what we like or who we are.  So it can be very hard to take criticism or rejection especially when you are just starting out.  The road for most people to get a book published in tough economic times is a hard one as there are now a whole host of other factors to consider.

As writers we are faced with criticism from the moment we write our first lines to the publication of our first book and beyond.  Criticism will often stop us from starting before we have even begun.  We are can be our own worst enemies at looking at our own work objectively.  When I was 20 I tried writing a short story.  Someone took it out of my bag and laughed at it.  I didn’t write again until having worked in children’s radio where we were asked to, as part of our job, to write stories and I found that I had some ability and enjoyed it. From there I decided to try and develop my skills as a personal goal for myself.  I was lucky to be already working in a creative environment but for others who perhaps work in entirely different fields it can be harder to get support if you are working in isolation.

To ensure our judgement of the potential of our creative abilities is not damaged, it is good to build up a base of affirmations.  This way when criticism and rejection come along which they inevitably will, it can be put firmly in perspective.  Many of us focus on the one bad thing we hear rather than remembering all the good.  It doesn’t mean that the criticism isn’t valid it just means to see it for what it is.

The first rejection we face is from ourselves.  How many first drafts never got beyond the first stage because someone gave up? It’s good to review other writer’s styles as there is much you can learn especially as fashions come and go.  But, you need to put the comparison of your work in perspective. If you write and you have never done a writing course or been part of a writers group then you have probably missed out on some potential development stages.
It was only after my first picture book had been published that I realize I need to go and study the craft as there is much that I could benefit from.

Firstly it’s important to find a safe environment to practice.  It could be taking an evening class or belonging to a writers group.  I belong to a writers support group on face book and it’s a really good motivator and support as well as being able to provide you with a few votes when you need them!!!

Secondly competitions can be a way of building up your confidence as well as your writing CV and portfolio of material.  They make you write material to a deadline as well as to a brief.  Once you have got initial piece into reasonable shape that you can just keep honing it.  As you start to have success from the first highly commended to a win in a national competition then you will find your confidence growing. And of course competitions are annoymous unless you are placed so no one will know!

  

I was lucky to work for the BBC and able to initially develop my writing skills in creative environment.  However it was having success in competitions being judged by people on my own merit which really inspired me to try and become a published writer.  I was a finalist in the poetry section in the 2010 Brit Writers Awards Unpublished with a collection of children’s poetry.  To have made the final out of so many people was a major turning point in my goals for the future as it was something I had done off my own back.

Again competition wins aren’t the be all and end all – there are people with book publishing deals who don’t do them but for many as well as myself they were a spring board for my confidence……

(More next time on rejections from agents and what it feels like to get a your first bad review!)