Isn’t it a strange thing when you think about something for ages and ages, even go so far as to think maybe you can, then surprise yourself and actually Dare to Do It?

It’s sort of what happened to me. I’ve always scribbled stuff. Diaries. Embarrassing Love letters. A magazine article here and there. A blog with friends. For years I imagined writing something more than five hundred words long. Could I? Dare I?  And then, a year or so ago, by some twist of fate I found myself at a dinner with Claire Strombeck (Rock Star Editor) who said “Come, try to write a book.” or something like that. And with her and Mike Nicol (Rock Star Writer) peering over my shoulder once a month for six months, that’s exactly what I did. And I loved it. Every single minute of dreaming up Being Kari and making words grow into a story was like the kind of fun my kids have when they have vouchers to burn in Toys R Us. Even the editing part was fun. I could make Kari laugh more, cry more, text less, eat another croissant and all it took was a few extra words and some backspaces.

The fun slowed down at the part where I submitted the manuscript to publishers. I’m not kidding, it really is a slowwww process. And not a happy place for any writer. Kind of like when my kids realise their vouchers won’t cover the biggest Lego box right at the top of the shelf.

There’s lots more to tell of course – about Being Kari, when you’ll actually get to meet her and some of the other odd bits on www.qwerky.co.za – but maybe this is enough for my first post. More qwerky bits another time. (Ok, truth is that I’m still in running pants and the school rounds are closing in.)

Thanks for having a look, keep in touch & let me know what you think

Q