R.J. Timmis

"The harder I work, the luckier I get."

That's a quote by Samuel Goldwyn (definitely not a quote from me - a quote from me would be more along the lines of "If a little chocolate is good for you, more must be better" or "Fail to plan, plan to - where did I put my glasses? Brett, have you seen my glasses?").

Anyway, back to Samuel.

He was onto a winner there - the harder I work, the luckier I really do get, in all aspects of life. I've been writing and drawing since I could hold a pencil (kind of a while ago), and yet I feel as though I am brand new, only just scratching the surface of what it means to be a writer, an artist, a creative person. The learning never stops. It's pretty awesome. And all that practice, the hard work and failures and sacrifice, really pays off.

I was twenty when I started writing 'David and the Heart of Aurasius', the first novel I would actually finish - there were many unfinished ones before that. To me, that story was one I would have loved reading as a kid. Magic, myth, adventure, even a few funny bits. Characters I wanted to get to know, who felt real to me while I wrote about them. I was so proud when I finished writing that book, even if it was a whopping 5 years after I started it. Then came trying to find a publisher, marketing, promotion ... phew! But all that hard work was so worth it in the end, to see my story in the hands of readers, and to get emails from people who loved the book and wanted to know when the next one was coming out ... even to walk into a shop and have the lady behind the counter say "Hey, you're that author!" (I think she recognised me from the local paper. Wasn't much happening where I lived at the time.)

But the hard work continues, and I've since written two more books, one of which - 'The Brothers of Turoc' - was short listed for the Text Prize in 2011. It also made it into the quarterfinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest in 2012, which was super encouraging. It took a little longer to get my next book out - 'David and the Scavenger Prince', which is the sequel to 'David and the Heart of Aurasius', as I took a little break to have a baby (turns out those things can be hard to make, have AND look after! Who knew, right?). But it's out now, which means it's time to get back to work and keep going on the next one ...

Just as soon as I find my glasses.