How do you become a writer?

There are some questions that children will always ask and this is a favourite: "How do you become a writer?"

Got a pencil and a notebook/pen and paper/electronic gadgetry ready?

Get writing! It really is as simple as that. Don't put it off, worry about the finer points later - to start off, just get writing. Do it!

Children are amazed when I tell them that I got up one morning and decided to be a full time writer, and this is where it got me!

Of course, I want to encourage them to believe in themselves as creatives, and that they can make exciting things happen for themselves, and it's not sensible to burden infant school age children with some of the harsher realities of making a living. But the reality isn't too different - it's more or less what I did.

I believe that three things are important in order for me to be able to create: emotional support, financial security/backup and available time.

I had scribbled long long letters to anyone and everyone I could think of all my life, for the pleasure of writing and for the need to express my ideas. I had to write or my head would go off bang. I was too busy bringing up my family and not sufficiently nurtured to believe that I was capable of writing anything as astonishing as a book.

But my life and circumstances changed dramatically, and I found myself in a position where I was supported, nurtured and encouraged to try out my newly found creativity.

I was drawing and writing regularly, and had created the original set of characters with several stories for pre school children. It was at that point when I woke up one morning and said "I am going to work full time at writing and trying to get published.
I had not an inkling at that point where that decision would take me; how much I would learn, and still have to learn, how much I would grow personally and creatively, who I would meet and work with. It has all been the most fantastic adventure, yet having come so very far, I have so much further to go. Where will we be in another five years?

(PS: Maybe I will have learnt how to format this blog! TSK. Why does it always re-arrange my line breaks??)

In the beginning....

I have the sort of job that people want to know about, which is great for getting the opportunity to tell everyone about my books.

But I choose carefully what I tell them depending on who I'm talking to - I hate seeing that eager spark of excitement when I say I'm a publisher, quickly followed by bitter disappointment that I only work with Frog the Dog!

I've been running Sniff and Wag Publishing since Sep 2004, intending to keep it small and local. I thought I'd approach three choice retail outlets, make a handful of school visits per year - just enough to make enough money to print the next batch of books, which at that stage I printed and bound myself.

The reaction I got was way beyond what I hoped for - rather than just three shops, I found myself stopping at twelve because I couldnt physically make any more books in time for Christmas, and the schools loved the way Frog the Dog workshops inspired their kids.

So, after some flapping about over printing issues and funding, I had to make some big decisions about the future of Sniff and Wag.

In Sep 2008 I re-launched and re-branded Sniff and Wag with a range of professionally produced products for the retail and educational markets, and they've been very well received. Now I have set myself the target of being a recognised global brand within ten years. How hard can it be??

Since April I have worked with two other companies to submit a proposal to BBC children's TV CBeebies for a pilot show on mid morning TV, I have sent Frog off to the New York Licensing Expo to gauge interest, and I am still in negotiations with ASDA UK (A supermarket chain owned by Wal-Mart) to supply into a number of stores in my area.

It's starting to get a bit exciting - time to start taking notes about how it all comes together and what happens next!