I have had quite a few books published in the last decade, some with my own illustrations. For all that, I have no degree in English or creative writing, nor in art, and sometimes this worries me. Am I qualified to do what I do?
When this feeling comes over me, I think of a little girl called Bella. At the age of five, Bella decided she wanted to write and illustrate a book. And she wanted a proper, published book, too. Was she qualified to do this? Did she have a degree in English or art? Of course not – she was five. Did she let it stop her? No. She got on with it and wrote and illustrated her story. Ah, you might say, how sweet! You might think again when I tell you that not only was her book published, but she holds the Guinness world record as the youngest author of a published book. To achieve that, she needed not only a bona fide publisher who was prepared to invest in a print run, but also needed to sell at least 1,000 copies of the book. She did both, and wrote a second book, too. Quite an achievement for someone with no qualifications at all.
How do I know all this? Well, Bella and I are colleagues – we share a publisher. Ginger Fyre Press, who publish Bella's books are in the same ownership as Veneficia Publications who publish mine. They didn't ask to see my qualifications – and I'm pretty sure they didn't ask Bella for hers.
There's nothing wrong with qualifications, of course, and no doubt Bella will acquire some when she's older. The point is that neither of us let our lack of qualifications stop us from being creative. So the message from me, and I'm sure Bella would agree, is just do it. Neither of us would have become published authors unless we'd created a book in the first place. I can't say it too often. Just do it – you never know where it might lead you.
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