Redefining success as an indie author with Damien McKeating

And what do you prefer writing? Are you more, do you prefer short stories or longer stories for children? You seem to have had a go at all sorts.

Yeah, definitely.

I sort of developed this habit of habits, a belief of you don't know.

So just do it and see what happens.

It's really easy to second guess yourself.

I did it with Tallulah Bell.

It's out now.

It sat for a very long time because I was like, no one else is going to like this.

It's just sitting there.

And short stories are great for that.

that quickness and that feedback.

So you very quickly learn, I didn't feel great about this one, but I've sent it in anyway.

Oh, it actually has done really well.

You start to trust the judges and the editors, whoever's putting it together, that actually they know what they want.

They know what work they're looking for.

So I'm just going to do my bit and I'm going to send it.

And then it's my job done.

I don't have to worry about it.

Someone else will read it and they will make the decision.

And the lovely piece of advice I saw somewhere was, just because your story doesn't win or doesn't make it into an anthology, it doesn't mean it was a bad story.

You don't know what else is in that anthology.

You don't know what the judge was looking for.

So maybe you've just written something that just didn't fit at that time, but you've still got a story and you've still enjoyed the process because you should be enjoying the process.

It should, you know, it started writing when I was a kid.

You wrote hundreds of stories before anyone saw anything out there in the world.