Archie hits the big time
It’s been a crazy week for Archie Nolan and for me with well-attended book launches in London and here on our home turf in Sheffield, where the Donor Conception Network and Archie Nolan were both conceived.
Even more exciting, Archie got a lot of rather fabulous press in the Observer, Guardian Online, Daily Mail and in the local press. Most impressive was the full-page spread about the book in the News section of The Observer.
It’s all been a bit of a roller coaster for me emotionally. To first publish a book and then get a lot of fuss made of it in the press is pretty much every aspiring author’s dream but, as with lots of dreams, when it came true, it wasn’t quite what I expected. Reflecting on it now I think I’ve been suffering from a bad case of impostor syndrome. All this noise about little old me who has just written a little book for a charity. It didn’t even go via an agent or a ‘proper’ publisher. It’s not that good. So went that annoying voice in my head.
As a person for whom honesty is important, reading quotes allegedly from myself likening the book to those obscure books Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Tracey Beaker and Boy in a Dress by little known children’s author, David Walliams was tricky. Just to be clear I DIDN’T SAY THAT STUFF!! That was my aim, to write something along those lines and I hope that some people find my work as effective but I wouldn’t dream of suggesting the comparison myself. I understand the quotes. It’s the way PR works. I’ve seen it before. They come from the charity who are chuffed to bits with the product and those comparisons make it sound great. And so goes the media bandwagon. The hype has got some great exposure for the book and for the charity even though, as far as I’m aware, none of the journalists had actually read the book.
And then there was the matter of Spike Gerrell, the fabulous artist who, as far as I’m concerned, made the book what it is and, even though his artwork has been splashed about the national press, his name is barely mentioned. Which doesn’t feel right to me at all. I guess we always admire people who do the things we can’t but surely drawing all those pictures is at least as impressive as writing the words? Apparently there is a bit of a campaign to get illustrators’ work more widely recognised. I’m all for that.
I actually felt pretty dreadful about the whole thing until the launches happened and then it all felt ok. It was particularly lovely in London to meet donor conceived children and their parents who were so encouraging and supportive about the book and what it meant to them. There I felt back on safe ground, chatting to children about books. I wrote the book for them and if they like it then I’m happy. In fact, the best moment for me so far has been seeing my first review on Twitter today from Heather Moss-Black who said, “Daughter (9) read this cover to cover after school today and gave it 10/10.” Phew! I don’t believe the hype but I do believe 9 year old daughter and I’m proud to have given her some pleasure and perhaps some reassurance about her own journey. Life is a bumpy road sometimes!
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/15/archie-nolan-donor-conceived-detective-childrens-book