Career Options
Children's author Simon Rose is a career-transition survivorFrom corporate to classroomCalgarian Simon Rose is a long way from his native Derbyshire and a long way from his corporate career in advertising and marketing. |
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 [ 2007-07-07 ] |
And while he left England in 1990, the award-winning author has only been a professional writer since 2003, the year the first of his four children's novels was published. A fifth is set to come out in September.
"You know, I really thought I would miss the corporate world," he said in telephone interview. "I thought I would, but I don't."
The 46-year-old father of two pre-teens planned for his new career well, plus he quickly realized the rules all change once you leave the workplace and strike out on your own.
"If you don't work, quite simply, you don't get paid," says Rose.
Looking back, he now realizes that he's been writing one way or another since he was a pre-teen himself -- short stories as a kid, science fiction as a teen and, later, silly poems while on business trips.
"I quite enjoyed it, so I thought I might see if I couldn't get published," he said.
His first book was finished in 2001 and he sent it off to see what the response was. Within two years it was in print and he's published a new book every year since.
"It was daunting at first," says Rose.
"I had to figure out how to survive as a writer, but I knew there was a market out there for visiting writers," he said.
He got the word out that he was available for school visits and workshops and slowly began to build a reputation as a speaker, presenter and teacher.
Now he travels the country, visiting schools, libraries and summer camps from Alberta to southern Ontario and speaking at workshops and festivals both in Canada and the United States.
Rose is also developing another less-likely market. "I also offer my services as an author and storyteller at birthday parties. It's a unique idea and is so far generating a lot of interest."
To reach Rose, go to his website at www.simon-rose.com.
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