I'm delighted to announce the birth of a new book. My picture book, CATCHING TIME illustrated by the wonderful Kirsti Anne Wakelin published by Red Deer Press/Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
The process of creation is an interesting and circuitous one -- there's the initial euphoria of creation, the doubt and loathing of the various and multitudinous stages of editing, the inevitable putting away...
This book was started in the nineties, fiddled with endlessly, forgotten, then rediscovered.
When I rediscovered it, I found that I loved the concept but that the story didn't work because the VOICE wasn't right. (I've posted before about the importance of voice.) It wasn't the voice of a child, and as such it didn't echo and resonate with the emotional core of a child.
Once I re-wrote the story in a real child's voice, it quickly found a home.
Perhaps it's curious -- or not -- that this story, about catching time, should have taken so much time to come to fruition. Time, that wily old trickster, at play again.
After the story was accepted by Red Deer Press, it still went through endless fiddling and editing, (I was fortunate to work with Peter Carver, a wonderful editor) repeated reading aloud to taste the ebb and flow of the words, before it was ready for print.
By that point, the book felt like a surly teenager I couldn't wait to see the last of.
And then...and then, the book comes back, all bound and printed, and suddenly it's like the surly teenager has grown up.
So a new book is born -- now as a grown up.
What a beautiful description of the birth of this book. I really enjoy your posts, and hope many people find their way to your insightful, concise blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shuffle-sister. It's encouraging to know someone's reading it!
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