Last Sunday morning, I was minding my stall at the Beechmont Market. The day was bright, sunny, with a chilly westerly wind. A woman picked up a copy of my book Stories from the Wildworld.
She looked at me and said “This is my favourite book. I try to give away lots of books, but I just can’t bring myself to get rid of this one. It’s my favourite book”.
Do you have any idea how wonderful it is, for an author and illustrator, to hear those words?
Stories from the Wildworld was born in Sandgate, Brisbane. Every day I would walk around the lovely Dowse Lagoon (Second Lagoon), amongst the swamphens and blue gums, the cockatoos and figbirds. On hot afternoons, flying foxes would swoop down and drink from the lagoon. In the springtime, dollarbirds flew high above, their calls rattling across the sky. Paperbark trees hid frogmouths and squirrel gliders, and kangaroos grazed in nearby Third Lagoon and Deagon Wetlands. These creatures became my characters, and the bushland remnants of northern Brisbane became the setting.
I wanted to write about the ecology and evolution of the native plants, animals and ecosystems of south-east Queensland. Just writing that sentence reminds me why I didn’t write a popular-science, non-fiction book. I tried, but I got bogged down in technical details. The words dragged, and reciting the facts sounded preachy.
My mother had passed away a few years earlier. I had resigned from my public service job out of sheer frustration and ill-health. I wanted to write and illustrate a book about Australian nature, but the book kept shape-shifting. It started as one thing, and then morphed into something else. I made many false starts.
Eventually I enrolled in a ‘Year of the Novel’ course at the Queensland Writers Centre. I was told it would be helpful for writing non-fiction too. And it was. But by the end of the course the instructor was really surprised when I asked him to review the first chapter of the manuscript of Stories from the Wildworld. “I wasn’t expecting this!” he said with a bewildered smile.
Neither was I. But when I sat down to write scientific facts about my local nature, a deluge of emotion poured out. The stories emerged easily, the scientific facts told by the animals and plants themselves, in a way that made me smile and feel. After years of writing scientific papers and dry government reports, it felt like a dam had broken.
All writing is autobiographical in some way, they say. This book became a home to some big feelings. Big feelings about nature, and the tragedy of what humans are doing to it. Big feelings about hope and courage to try to fight this. And big feelings about the important people in my life. Lots of tears and smiles as I wrote it. That little book with the blue cover that the kind lady held on Sunday morning – it was a part of my soul, and it was her favourite book!
I thanked her, but I can probably never thank her enough. It’s hard to self-publish, and I’ve found, of all my books, this ‘kid’s book’ – Stories from the Wildworld – which is also loved by adults – has been the hardest to sell. Having said that, I’ve sold most of the print run now, which I am really pleased about, and the book continues to sell, albeit slowly. Two other people – this time kids – have also said it’s their favourite book.
Back at the market, people drift by. Most walk straight past my stall and don’t even look. Some pause for a brief inspection. But then the smallest number of people, only a handful each market, will discover my work and get really excited. I hear their giggles, I read the wonder and recognition in their faces. I see the smiles, the eyes light up. We connect, somehow.
A book is a type of art, a deeply personal thing. Whether you like a book or hate it will depend on so many things. I don’t think my artwork or books will ever be mainstream. But I do know that my work resonates with some people – deeply. And that is more than enough for me.
Queensland blue gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) at Dowse Lagoon, Sandgate.
Stories from the Wildworld (2018) is available as a print book or ebook from my online store.
Print books are also available from the Queensland State Library Bookshop, Canungra Books and Art, and the Binna Burra Teahouse.
If this book means something to you, I’d love to hear from you!