It has been just over a year since I stopped writing my Wiccan column for Spirit&Destiny magazine. Everything happens for a reason and as it turns out, I left not a minute too soon, because I was immediately up to my eyes in essays for my therapeutic counselling diploma. In the past few months I have written over 40,000 words in psychotherapy essays! I have been super stressed-out and when the course ended in July, I was glad to see the back of it, but I did feel a little cut adrift.
With no column to write and no essays to focus on, I had time on my hands to wonder if I'd done the right thing in deciding to switch genres. Yes, the Mind, Body, Spirit genre isn't nearly so lucrative as it once was, but maybe any writing was better than no writing at all and I felt like I was in a writing desert.
To add to this, there were major changes going on within the publishing and media houses I work with - changes that had nothing to do with me and which were beyond my control. For instance, my favourite long term editor decided that she would retire this year. Losing an editor you've worked well with for years is always traumatic for a writer, because it could mean that the new editor won't support your work in the same way. Writers need editors to champion our ideas at board meetings - without the editor rooting for us, writers would never get published, so it's imperative that a writer has an editor who is totally on side and supportive of our creativity and ideas. When that editor leaves, there is always a chance that the new editor will bring in her own pet-writers.
At the same time, a re-shake of the entire media house was going on, with magazines being out-sourced and editors switching from one magazine to another. This does happen periodically, but it means that most commissions are put on hold until the changes have been made. To add to the confusion, one of my book publishing houses was in the long process of merging with another house. So it was all going on at the same time and freelance work was very slow.
I had all the same feelings that any writer has when the work is going through a lull; feeling that maybe that was it and I would never receive another commission; that I would never write another word; that I should have stuck with MBS and been grateful for it, unless the genre disappeared altogether. In my mind, the words of all the naysayers of my past were coming back to me - how I'd just been 'very lucky', or 'it's just a hobby' and how it was all just 'a flash in the pan'. Fortunately for me, I didn't believe them back then and I certainly don't believe them now, after 20 successful years in publishing! But it was a very anxious year and I had to be extremely firm with myself to keep the faith that something would change for the better soon.
I really needed my holiday in the Highlands! The mountain air, the space, the freedom of the place, all helped to clear my head and keep my spirits up. While I was there, I decided to cast a sea spell in Oban Bay, because it never hurts to have a good dose of magic on your side! As soon as I'd cast the spell, I felt an immediate shift of energy and I knew that the spell had worked. I gave thanks and walked along the esplanade back to my hotel on the sea-front. It was a beautiful September evening and I felt a gathering sense of optimism growing within me.
A few days after my return home I received a new freelance commission, for a psychotherapy feature, which marks the continuation of my switch in genres and the beginning of a whole new publishing outlet. I am now writing for a new editor, with a new media house, for a new look magazine. It is great to know that I am making the cross-over into more therapy based writing, and that my reputation as a reliable contributor of MBS is actually helping me to make this switch in saleable writing expertise.
Yes, switching genres is a bit like starting all over again and it will take time to build a firm publishing platform and body of work in this area. But I have so much enthusiasm for this kind of writing, because I enjoy making it unique, with its own style. It is a relief to know that I have new editorial support for this style of work and for my ideas in general.
I have mentioned that, in the past, certain individuals have tried to throw a spanner in the works with my editors at Spirit&Destiny, and that I had made plans to work with a whole different publishing outlet; one that those individuals know nothing about, in order to prevent their spitefulness having any adverse effect on my writing career.
Well now I have achieved that goal. Spitefulness isn't enough to stop me. I love to write. It's my job and what I get paid to do. And now I am writing features in my new genre of psychotherapy, for a new media publishing house and building up a working relationship with a lovely new editor. I got exactly what I wanted. But then, I always do! So here's to a whole new chapter in my writing career...I'd better crack on with it.
 |
| Invictus |
No comments:
Post a Comment