On May 15 this year, my novel for ages 9-14, The Finding Place, will be published in both Canada and the States, by Red Deer Press. I’ve been asked quite a few times about my experiences with this novel, so I thought I would share some of those here, with a second blog entry to follow when the novel appears!

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Like a lot of our campers, I wrote my first novel before leaving school. Through university I continued writing, but despite winning a few awards and publishing stories in literary journals, a major publication deal eluded me.

After that, I moved on. Craig and I emigrated to Canada and opened Centauri Summer Arts Camp. Since then, we’ve trained thousands of young arts enthusiasts, run nineteen international tours, opened an adult arts retreat, and established the Arts Academy in Toronto. But I kept writing. Won more awards, wrote three more novels, got published in literary magazines, and continued to dream.

Then in November, I was hard at work in the camp office, when an email came through. It was from a  publisher I had sent my novel to, almost a year earlier. Another rejection, I thought, and opened the email without enthusiasm.

But it wasn’t a rejection. Far from it.

Craig and Aaron nearly jumped out of their skins as I leapt from my seat with an involuntary scream and rushed through to the Studio. Craig followed me. Read it, please, I asked him. Read it, and tell me if I’m right about what it says.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Red Deer Press wanted to publish my novel, The Finding Place.

In that moment I learned something. Whatever your goal, work hard, keep trying, don’t stop believing. You may achieve it – perhaps it will just take longer than you expected! And I’ve learned so much more, since then. I’ve learned that most published novelists have at least one unpublished (and likely unpublishable) novel on their hard drive. That’s how we learn our trade – by writing. I’ve also learned that on average, a writer with potential will still take about ten years to get their first novel out. Think about it: a few years of writing, to grow all the necessary skills and to write that apprentice novel that will likely never see the light of day. A couple more years writing the first draft of a publishable novel, then a year or so of reworking. Unless you beat all the odds and get snapped up by an agent or publisher right away, you can expect a couple more years, at least, to go by until your novel ends up on the right desk. Then usually, you may wait 2-3 years more until your novel reaches bookstores. Around ten years in total. Give or take a few.

So what does this mean for writers? Start young. Take writing classes. Attend readings. And write. Write a lot. But while you do all this, build yourself a career in something else. Don’t put your life on hold – even if you get published, the money you’ll earn likely won’t pay the bills. Whatever you study in university, whatever your career, keep writing and do it regularly. Chances are, you won’t be happy otherwise. You won’t feel fulfilled. Write a lot, and often. Work hard. Learn your craft. Meet other writers. Read voraciously. Go to conferences. Submit to publishers and agents as often as you can. And trust that even if it doesn’t happen as quickly as you hoped, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen at all.

Julie Hartley
Director
Centauri Summer Arts Camp