The Journey To Publication by Elli Woollard

Publication, publication; that’s your final destination.

Think of words you want to say, then stare at Twitter half the day.

Publication, publication. Leave aside procrastination!

Write your socks off half the night. Read it over. Damn, it’s shite!

Publication, publication. Start again in great frustration.

Scribble on for years and years, shedding blood and sweat and tears.

Publication, publication. Now you’re living in starvation.

Type some more, then carefully edit. Have your friends and pets all read it?

Publication, publication; that’s your burning aspiration.

Email agents, press ‘submit’, then stalk them all (a little bit).

Publication, publication. Check your post in trepidation.

Here’s the postie, quick now, run! Rejection letters, every one.

Publication, publication. Punch the wall in aggravation.

Thump your keyboard! Chuck your pen! That’s not helping – try again.

Publication, publication. Use some more determination.

Write all day, your fingers sore. Write some more and more and more.

Publication, publication. Agents LIKE your new creation!

Fame and fortune, oh hello! Publishers, though, all say ‘no’.

Publication, publication. Sob in hopeless desperation

Have a minor nervous breakdown. Stuff a load of tea and cake down.

Publication, publication. What you need is motivation.

Try again, and this time – yes! Your book’s accepted. Yay! Success!

Publication, publication. Now you’ve reached your destination!

After all the years it took, eventually you’ve got a book!

Publication, publication, what a wonderful sensation!

Such a simply awesome shock! Oh no – you’ve now got writer’s block.

 

About Elli

At the age of four Elli wrote her first picture book, involving her best friend, a tricycle accident, blood everywhere, and the author emerging as the hero. Several years later she completed an MA in social anthropology, moved out to Thailand, taught herself the language, and has since worked variously as a Thai to English translator, a copywriter for a domestic appliance insurance firm (about as interesting as it sounds) and an assistant editor in academic publishing. Continue reading…

Books: WOOZY THE WIZARD: A SPELL TO GET WELL | WOOZY THE WIZARD: A BROOM TO GO ZOOM | SWASHBUCKLE LIL: THE SECRET PIRATE | THE GIANT OF JUM | THE DRAGON AND THE NIBBLESOME KNIGHT