Last night I attended The East Grinstead Writers Association’s
‘An Evening with Ali Sparkes’. Ali is a
children’s author who fell in love with reading when she discovered Enid Blyton’s
The Famous Five at the age of eight. She won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award
in 2010 and has a great following and it’s easy to see why when you meet
her. Ali was a delight to listen to and has a
wonderful sense of humour. In the space
of an hour she told us the highs and lows of her writing life so far. I was inspired by her confidence and total
belief in her writing. How refreshing
and wonderful!
We all know that as a writer you need to be a little thick
skinned if you want to be published, as there will be many rejections along the
way. The trick is not to give up; to know
that each and every rejection is the path to being published. It shows that you are putting your work out
there and you just need to hold on to the belief that it will happen for you. One thing that I love about writing is that
there is no age limit. It is something you
can do from the moment you learn to write until the day you put your pen down
for the very last time. As long as you
are inspired and enjoy what you are doing, keep going.
For me the evening only strengthened my love for books and writing. What we read as a child can have a profound
effect on the rest of our lives. I look
forward to sharing the books I loved as a child with my four year old as well
as discovering new stories together. I
also look forward to the day when I can share my own stories with him too. J
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