Ciara Flood: From City Lit Student to Published Children’s Book Creator

My first author/illustrator picture book, Those Pesky Rabbits was published in 2015. Since then I have been asked to write a few blogs, usually as part of a promotional piece on a website or for a publication in a magazine.

So I should be okay by now at doing it.

But the truth is I still feel an anxious, self-conscious twist in my stomach whenever I am asked to write a blog about myself and my career path.

That same feeling of inviting people to your party and then spending the hours beforehand wringing your hands and stressing that nobody will turn up.

Stories have characters and plots that the writer can hide behind. 

Blogs when written on a personal level like this feel like the equivalent of standing on a table in a room full of guests, waving your arms around and shouting, ‘Shush! You are all here because of me and you must now listen while I tell you about myself.’ Cringe. And there are only so many pleasantries (thank you for coming, hope the traffic wasn’t too bad) that you can rattle off before you have no choice but to get on with it.

When I was 8 years old I had the loveliest teacher, (please don’t panic, I know I’ve started quite a while back but I promise I won’t subject you to a detailed account of my childhood). This teacher wrote on my end of year school report, “Ciara has a real talent for writing and drawing stories”.

In secondary school I was again lucky enough to have an encouraging art teacher who steered me towards doing a Visual Communications course in college. I began that course with a strong desire to illustrate children’s books. I left however four years later with hardly any confidence in my drawing skills.

So here I am on that table, standing between the cocktail sausages and the crisps (yes indeed, no expense spared at these parties of mine). You’re all looking up at me wide-eyed and wondering what beans I’m about to spill. Who am I going to blame? Am I swaying dangerously, mug of ale in hand, ready to vent and cry bitterly?

Not quite. My mug these days is more likely to be filled with peppermint tea than ale and swaying can be hard on the knee joints.

Overall I really enjoyed my time in college, had some great tutors and learnt a huge amount.

But the truth is that one tutor did have a big, negative impact on me. This tutor never complimented my illustration work and the criticism often felt vicious rather than constructive. I was convinced that there was no future for me in illustration and instead concentrated on a career in graphic design.

I should make it clear at this point that I very much enjoy working as a designer.

It challenges my creativity in a way that illustration does not. And yet, illustration satisfies me in a way that design could never do. My fingers don’t itch to create an ad for a washing detergent in the same way that they do when I imagine a picture book character.

A few years after college I moved to London. A friend recommended a life drawing course she had taken at City Lit. I dusted off my sketch pad and booked the class.

It felt amazing to draw regularly again. Amazing too because I felt encouraged and supported by the tutor. Everyone in the class had different levels of drawing experience and yet each week we all felt happy to share our work for feedback.

Positive, constructive feedback. For me that made all the difference.

It sounds very corny to say this (perhaps it’s that peppermint tea making me soppy) but I fell back in love with illustration after that. 

I booked another City Lit course – a short beginners class for children’s book illustration. The course concentrated on sketching from life and using sketchbooks for inspiration. We had a class trip to St James’s Park, another to Trafalgar Square and another to London Zoo. The insightful and enthusiastic tutor of this course helped me realise that working in the children’s book industry was definitely something I wanted to do.

So I did the next logical thing. I wrote a children’s picture book story and created a dummy book for it.

I poured all of my spare time into it – hours upon hours of sketches. I sent it off to a few publishers and waited. And waited. And waited. And nothing ever came of it.

The rejection hit me hard but not as hard as the truth. I had invested so much time and energy into the illustrations and ignored what I had suspected all along.

To put it simply, it was a rubbish story that no number of good illustrations could save.

In an effort to ensure my next picture book story was a lot less rubbish I realised I needed some help. I’m sure by now you can see a pattern?

Yes, I did indeed book myself onto a City Lit writing for children book course. It was during this course that I wrote, Those Pesky Rabbits.

On a follow up workshop course with the same fantastic tutor, I wrote two more stories that went on to be published. To say these writing courses proved good value for money would be quite the understatement!

As a student at City Lit, I met knowledgeable teachers who encouraged, advised, and guided me in a positive way. It was a revelation to feel confident once more in my illustration work and what I might be able to achieve with my writing.
It feels good to have returned to City Lit as a tutor and I hope to replicate that same confidence within any students that I have the privilege to teach.

Thanks for sticking around until the end. Help yourself to the cheese straws and a glass of your favourite beverage. And before you all leave, could somebody please give me a hand down off this table?