The power of perseverance… with editor Naomi Jones

I was 21 when I decided I wanted to become a published children’s author. I was halfway through an English degree, and everyone around me was starting to think about what they were going to do when they graduated. I’d always loved reading and writing children’s stories and what I really wanted to do was write.

So, I bought a copy of The Writers and Artists Yearbook for Children and started to focus on my writing. I had big dreams that my first book would be bought by an agent (who would fall instantly in love with it), and then a publisher who would obviously do the same, before it became a huge success. What actually happened was a very different story.

After university, I moved to London to try and get a job in children’s publishing. Working on other people’s books felt like the closest thing to making a living from my own stories and I have to say, I loved working in publishing. I spent eight years working in Rights with some brilliant people, on some fantastic lists and even got to travel abroad regularly.

During this time I kept writing. I wrote middle grade stories, picture book texts, teen fiction, poems, flash fiction. I submitted bits and pieces to journals and magazines. I also took part in a Writing for Children Course led by Sophie Mckenzie at City Lit and met up with the critique group that formed out of it every month. I actually still meet up with them monthly since we went virtual during lockdown, and have always found their suggestions and support invaluable. The course and the critique group helped me learn to step back and look at my work objectively, working in publishing gave me an incredible understanding of how the industry worked. It also meant I read a huge number of books for children of all ages, which definitely helped with my own writing.

In my late twenties, I finally felt like the teen book I’d written was in good enough shape to approach agents with. So, when my submission package was ready, I duly sent it out. I was thrilled to be taken on by an agent and after some revisions, they submitted the teen book to multiple publishers. This was it!

Except, it wasn’t. The book didn’t sell. So, I did what many authors have done, first I felt sorry for myself, then I dusted myself off and tried to write another book. I couldn’t get it to a place that my agent was happy with, and we ended up parting ways amicably as they didn’t want to hold me back. At the time I was 9 months pregnant with my second son and struggling with prenatal anxiety. I decided to temporarily park my ambitions of being a writer.

Having children of my own changed everything. Sharing picture books with my boys when they were small was such a joy. My kids were, and still are, a constant source of inspiration. I also think having such limited free time helped me focus and made me realise what I did want to do with it – and I wanted to write.

So, I started writing picture book texts, (even though my previous agent had told me my voice didn’t suit them). I persevered, jotting down ideas whenever they struck and writing in the tiny free chunks of time I had between everything else. I had started book reviewing during this time and working as a freelance editor and mentor but I still made time to write. I kept going until I had several texts ready that I was happy with them. Then I started to submit to agents, again.

I still feel very lucky to have been taken on by the amazing agent who said she wanted to represent me, and even luckier to have found not one, but two fantastic publishing homes at Oxford University Press and Farshore with my picture books.

I was 21 when I decided I wanted to be a published writer and 36 when my first picture book, The Perfect Fit, was published. It was not the straightforward journey I imagined back at university. My second picture book, One More Try, publishes this May – it’s about a circle who wants to build a tower like the squares and the hexagons do. It’s pretty tricky for a circle to build a tower, but he refuses to give up and keeps going until he finds a way to make his dream come true.

Circle’s story sums up what I’ve learnt from my own writing journey; the importance of putting one foot in front of another, even after knockbacks. The importance of learning from feedback, evolving and ultimately holding onto a belief in yourself and your writing. There can be such power in perseverance.

Naomi is the author of four picture books: The Perfect Fit, One More Try, The Odd Fish, and How to Catch a Rainbow. You can find her on Twitter @NaomiJones_1 and Instagram @naomiandjamesjones. She is available for mentoring and reports – please contact the Cornerstones office for more details.