Tania McCartney Blog: The Self-Publishing Journey Continues…

Ok, so the time has come to start my next children’s picture book.

An irony that I’m more nervous about doing this since coming back to my comfort zone – Australia – than I was when living in the most populated and arguably one of the most challenging countries in the world – China.

I think that when you come home to your Comfort Zone, the problem is that you fit back in too well. You become one of the myriad tall blonde housewives who love to write and want to publish books. In Beijing, I was a little more unique. Not many tall blonde housewives publishing books there, that’s for sure. Tended to stand out a bit, yes I did.

Having said that, the support and interest in my work since returning Home has done nothing short of astound me. I guess when you believe in something firmly enough and work hard at it and produce something that’s even half way – well… good – things seem to fall into place.

So, now I have to stop TALKING about it and actually write the next in my Riley series of books. Riley and the Sleeping Dragon has been a runaway success in China and is also doing well here (it will soon be in bookstores Australia-wide – if your local store doesn’t have it yet, ask them to get it in! If you’re o/s, you can email me here).

The next book in the series will be set in Hong Kong and then after that – Australia. I’m not going to say where because I don’t want to start a national incident, but needless to say, I will be doing many more spots in Australia (and indeed – around the world).

Now, because I know there are a kajillion talented women out there who want to get published, I have decided to catalogue the journey of this next self-published book right here on my blog - warts and all. If you have a dream of seeing your work in print, no matter where you live in the world, I hope my foibles will help you achieve it. Trust me, there is nothing like it.

During this journey, please don’t hesitate to contact me with your questions or post your experiences. Let’s hold each other up… the courage this helps foster cannot be underestimated.