RACHEL E. BROOKER

It’s been a while since I updated this blog.

There are many reasons for this. The biggest one is due to not having time. When I was working as a housekeeper, I had days off, but they were focused primarily on selling my books, and writing. The least important task was adding articles to my website. Now? All that has changed, and this is something I’ll go into later.

During the days I was working, I was able to get ‘Will Worthington and The Black Rainbow’ into bookstores, including Waterstones in both Exeter and Bridport. It was a pivotal moment for me. All my life I had wanted my book inside Waterstones! It didn’t feel real, and that night, I celebrated in the best way I know how: Eating pasta. If that wasn’t extraordinary enough, I’d learnt that two of the copies had already sold in Exeter, just a few days later. Going forwards, my goal is to get more copies into those stores, and all the others in the UK. It’s a huge aspiration, but if there’s anything I’ve learnt over these years, it’s that with the right drive, determination and persistence, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.

In other news, I recently resigned from my housekeeping job after four years. It was an incredible experience and I made friends who I hope I’ll keep for life. Why did I leave? Well, I was finding it challenging; both mentally and physically. I mean, I was the girl in PE classes who hated exercise, so it’s a miracle I survived this long to be honest! There was also a time I couldn’t attend a Waterstones event. It was at this point I reached the conclusion that maybe it was the right time to exit and concentrate on doing what I love: Writing, and being an author.

Is it weird? You betcha. Do I miss the structure? No. It’s nearly eleven o’clock on a Tuesday morning. It’s rainy, and dark outside. I have a ton of things to do today, including uploading this new blog entry, marketing on Instagram, looking at invoices, and calling the local bookshop in Axminster (which also stocks my book.) There’s a sense of complete freedom. I’m very proud of myself, too. I’m keeping a diary. I’m setting myself reminders. It’s almost as though the A.D.D. is sort of giving me a break, and letting me dive headfirst into author life.

Yesterday, I had a mini signing outside the local gift shop in town, where I sold two books and entertained the kids as I talked with my singing and dancing cactus. I’ve had to rearrange my signing for Friday, due to the weather, so yesterday, I wanted to see what it would be like. I’m looking forward to it. There’s another signing in The Bank House Cafe on Thursday, and then I’m at a fete in June with a book stall, and The Gone Wild festival in August, where I’ll be with Waterstones, Exeter in their marquee. In the last week, I applied to a handful of literary festivals and emailed the local school to arrange a creative writing workshop.

Just a quick quip: What I really struggle with is when people don’t understand that being an author is still a job. It’s frustrating. I’ve worked so hard and for so many years. It’s not been easy getting to this point. There have been tears. There have been late nights. There have been sacrifices, (even small ones, like not going out clubbing with my friends at university.) I have studied for this. I trained in an editorial academy. It’s not as easy as putting words on paper. In order to do this properly, you need to be fully committed, extremely hard working and the writing side is only the half of it. Although I hope to do this forever full time and to earn enough in order to make ends meet, I do it for the love of it.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to concentrate on marketing more widely, although I have had 11.3K views on my Instagram in the last 30 days. That’s an achievement! 🙂 I’ll be calling more schools, writing and editing, and sorting out the accounting. There’s a lot to learn, but I know I can do it.

If you’re still reading, I commend you.

This has been a long one.

Until next time, where I’ll be talking about how the signings went.

Rachel x