Robert’s Time Out blog

This being my first blog, I thought I’d start by telling you more about myself. But first I’d like to thank everyone that helped me along my journey to publishing. You all know who you are and without your guidance and help none of this would have been possible. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I started writing children’s stories about five years ago but I’ve always enjoyed writing, even way back in high school.

I was also actively involved in the production of the school’s newspaper and school magazine. But since leaving high school, I never believed in myself enough to actually continue writing.

I worked in the publishing industry for over 12 years and for eight of those years I was a Photo Editor working on a number of photographic Magazines. I enjoyed sourcing photographic material from world-renowned photographers. It was an amazing job and I made a lot of friends.

But it wasn’t until I left fulltime work in 2007, to become a stay-at-home dad, that I began to take writing more seriously. I had a great excuse to spend hours in the children’s section of bookstores. Also, my own children helped as well. All I had to do was to observe them and the ideas started rolling in.

Over the next few years I submitted many manuscripts to numerous publishers and received many rejection letters in the mail. With every rejection letter I received, it only made me more determined and stronger as a writer to continue submitting my work. And the long journey to publication finally paid off!

I wrote my picture book No Matter Who We’re With (published in 2013 by IP Kidz and illustrated by Cheri Scholten) following my separation in 2008. Not only was it rough for me on a personal level, with so much upheaval and sadness, but for my children too. So I decided to write a story that would not only help my children but also other children going through a similar fate to cope with the many changes experienced when parents separate. I couldn’t find any picture books in the market place that dealt with this issue so I thought I’d write a picture book about it myself. And it paid off. Here’s a hint: write what you know.

I’m living proof that the good old slush pile really does work. So to all you budding authors out there - keep persevering and don’t ever give up! I always dreamed of being an author, but I never thought I would become one. The hard part about getting published is finding a publisher who will agree to take the risk.

I love picture books and the way they express emotions and ideas in simple ways. Two of my picture books will be released in 2013, along with an early reader chapter book. I have been published in anthologies and received awards for my children’s writing.

There’s a lot more I could write about but I’ll stop here for now and hope you will drop by again to read another update.

Thanks again for dropping by.

Robert Vescio