After the Launch Party--What Comes Next?

By  this time next week At Yellow Lake will be a published book. Two weeks from now and I'll probably just be getting over my At Yellow Lake launch party hangover...

So what wll happen next?

The road to publication has been exciting, but very long and (as long journeys often are) somewhat exhausting and even disorientating. But now, this journey  is almost over and another one will begin. As a newly published writer I have very little understanding of where this will lead. For some (all right, a few...)  writers, publication is the first stop on a journey to fame and fortune! Think JK Rowling and Suzanne Colliins! For others, it's the beginning of a thrilling  (so it seems to me) cycle of awards, events, festivals. For most writers, though, the pre-  and post-publication worlds are probably very similar. There are still day-jobs to work at, children to take care of, dogs to walk, houses to clean.

I don't have a dog, my children are reasonably able to look after themselves and I never was much of a house-keeper, but I still assume I'll fit into this latter category. I doubt that my life will change substantially. I'm going to the Edinburgh Festival this summer (!) and count this as a thrilling honour. I'll also be attending a CILIP event in Ireland in November. Unbelievable! But, like most writers, my day to day life will be largely untouched, except that I'll write blog posts for other people, try to arrange school visits,  hope for solid sales and respectful reviews.

And then?

I'll write some more. Hope some more. Brace myself for some more disappointments and discouraging times.

So nothing's really changed?

Well, I wouldn't say that. My dreams have come true--being taken seriously as a writer, seeing my book in shops, knowing that whatever else happens in my life, I've achieved something rather special--that's a change!

And looking back on the past two years of working with brilliant editors, of forming working relationships and solid friendships with so many wonderful writers--that's a change!

What's unchanged, though, is the desire to write, and the determination to carry on regardless of what happens next. At this year's London Book Fair, Patrick Ness said that writing is such hard work and being published is such a privilege...

I couldn't agree more. I'm very grateful for the privilege of being published and am looking forward to more hard work!