Happy Author Birthday

Six years ago tomorrow my first book, a children’s one, was published. It’s funny, when I say it, when I say ‘six years ago’ it sounds like an awful long time ago. And it is. And it feels it in many ways but, at the same time, it feels as though it could just have been a couple of years ago.

But. Six years. I’m not sure if I was convinced back in 2006 that I’d still be doing this. I certainly hoped I would be and I feel exceptionally lucky that I am. Lucky that I’m still enjoying it, lucky that it provides me with a living (well, of sorts!), and lucky that I’ve had a further two books published, and all at the grand old age of thirty-one. Most of all, I think I’m lucky that Im still able to produce stories and books that people like. That’s the big thing. That’s the acid test right there.

And I’m not going to pretend this last six years have been trauma free because they’ve really not. There have been tantrums and fallings out, good friendships and some relationships have died, I’ve been pretty miserable some of the time and some of the time I’ve wondered whether I really should be writing. And there’s been a lot of self-doubt, a lot of wondering if I’m good enough to be a writer. I don’t know if that will ever change. I probably wouldn’t want it to, to be honest.

But, mostly, these six years have been good. Really good. I’m proud of what I’ve written and I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I intend to keep doing it, one word at a time, for a long time to come. I hope I’ll be able to say something similar on here in another six years. I wonder what they’ve got in store for me.

Happy birthday, book.

 

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And, as it’s a bit of a celebratory kind of thing, I’ve a few signed copies up for grabs. If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning one, leave me a comment (and a way of contacting you). I’ll pick some names out of a hat at the end of next week.

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nikperring

Nik Perring is a short story writer, author, teacher of writing, and editor from the UK. His stories have been published widely all over the world. His books include the widely celebrated Not So Perfect (Roastbooks 2010), A Book of Beautiful Words; and Beautiful Trees; and he co-wrote Freaks!(TFP/HarperCollins, 2012).

19 thoughts on “Happy Author Birthday”

  1. Congratulations, Nik, and happy book birthday.
    Ah, those writerly doubts. I think if we didn’t have them we might stop trying so hard/getting better/striving for the elusive and that would be no good thing, hard as it can sometimes be to keep going despite them.

  2. Heyya Nik πŸ™‚

    It’s lovely to see that you are still going strong 6 years later. I’m still working on my first book and still learning to write over 2 years later. So 3 books in 6 years is a big achievement. πŸ™‚ I am only learning to understand the hard work and effort it takes to produce an end product that a writer has given up a large part of his or her life to write and perfect. I hope that one day I am as lucky as you that is to have had 3 books published. Happy celebrations to you and may the next 6 years be even more successful. You’ve got my email Nik, would love a signed copy of your book to treasure. Take care, Lee πŸ™‚ .

    1. Thanks, Mal. Technically it’s six years having books out there. I think my first published piece of writing was probably something closer to nine years. But I don’t like to talk about that because it reminds me how bloody long I’ve been doing this and how young I once was! πŸ˜‰

  3. Happy book birthday! My first book is about 6 years old, too. And it does sound like a long time ago when you say it, but it really doesn’t feel that way. Someone recently asked me when I started writing “seriously” and I said when my youngest was 1 year old. He’s now 21. How scary is that?!?! But I’ll promise to keep going if you do….

  4. Hi Nik, congrats on all your successes. I came across you reading some flash online and thoroughly enjoyed it. Would love to win one of your books. I can be contacted through the ‘contact’ page on my website, if I’m one of the lucky ones!

  5. Thanks all for your good wishes and for entering. The draw has been made and the three names out of the hat are: Pete Domican, Valerie, and Lee Howell. Congrats! Let me know which of my books you’d like and where I need to send them and I’ll get onto it pronto!

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