Vanessa Harbour

I have wanted to be a writer since I was very small. My sister recently found a book I had created for her when I was about six, we think. It was full of stories and poems I had written for her when she was training to be a nurse. My eldest sister who became a teacher used to encourage me to read poetry and lots of stories also used to encourage me to write a lot.

Life then got in the way for quite a while. Having children and stuff that was going on. I kept ignoring it apart from the odd poem or story I would write to cope with everything. However, I did a lot of different types of writing when I set up my own business after my divorce. I wrote software manuals, newsletters, press releases and wrote for the property pages of the local newspaper. On the quiet I would still write poetry and occasional short stories that no one ever knew about.

When I was taken ill writing poetry to deal with some of the issues became even more important to me. It wasn’t until I went to university that I had a chance to write for children though. When I did it was like someone had switched a light on in my head. I felt so at home writing for children. I have no idea why it hadn’t occurred to me before. The stories just kept flowing.

The most daunting was making the decision to give up on my PhD novel and move onto Flight. It was definitely the right decision, but it was also quite frightening in a way as it was the first time for a long time I had written something that hadn’t got an academic framework supporting it. Imogen Cooper and I had a conversation where she suggested that I write something new. She voiced everything I was thinking for which I was hugely grateful as she gave me the permission I needed to walk away.

I was able to carry on because of Imogen’s faith in me but also the exciting prospect of being able to write whatever I want.

I haven’t done a school visit yet but my youngest son many years ago announced he hates books. He has his reasons, but it broke my heart! He has said he might read my book though as it has his name in it! I have dedicated the book to all three of my children.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild was one of my favourites. Another dream had been to be a ballet dancer because that had been my mother’s dream that was before I got into horses. Recently the wonderful Cathy Cassidy sent me a special edition which is very special, and I re-read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it though it is very dated really. Pure escapism.

I am un-agented and I would say to anyone that it is manageable but I recommend you be a member of the Society of Authors because they are amazing and provide incredible support. They are fabulous at giving advice and looking at contracts. It is very definitely not the easy route though. You must feel brave and strong. (Which I don’t a lot of the time!)

As for un-published authors. Keep going you never know when it is going to happen. Flight is my fourth complete novel. You must keep writing and understand you never stop learning. Joining groups like BI-SCBWI is important as well as making the decision to invest in your writing if you are serious is vital too.

There are a lot of people who say you have to write every day. I am afraid I can’t do that. I write when I can. When I do write I write quite fast. I carry a notebook with me so if I get a moment I can write where and when I can. I sometimes write longhand other times I write straight onto the computer. If I am doing a lot of marking or a lot of editing I find my head is full of other people’s words I must work to empty my head of their words, so I can work on my own. I do that by reading poetry because it is a different form. I might also do some freewriting where I just ‘vomit onto the page’ for a few minutes without thinking or considering the grammar. It is literally whatever words come out of my head. I often won’t look back at that for a day or so because I want to focus on having a clear head read to start writing. When I do look back I sometimes find nuggets of inspiration tucked in there, so no writing is ever wasted.