Apparently (according to Wiki – and more about them tomorrow) this is a misquote, but we’re all familiar with the concept from the film ‘Field of Dreams’ of just doing it, however daft and impossible it seems, and having faith that it’ll all work out. In the film it was about building a baseball pitch in the middle of nowhere. In my blog post today it’s about putting up a niger seed feeder in the garden. In my life, it’s about writing Stonewylde.

At this new house we’d inherited a quadruple bird feeding station complete with squirrel baffle. We’d made friends with the lovely couple who’d lived here for thirty years and were now looking to downsize as the house, and particularly the garden, were just too big for them to cope with. Leaving here was such a wrench for them, and one of the lady’s worries was about the birds. I promised her I’d continue to feed them and keep the bird bath full, and in fact I added my own bird feeder too. In the three months we’ve been here we’ve had so much pleasure watching the garden and the amazing wildlife; the deer was practically at the back door today but I had no camera handy.

A good friend of mine from Dorset said I must add niger seed for finches to the bird-feeding station. I looked it up and the advice was only to invest in a special niger feeder if there were finches around. I’d never seen any here and when I e-mailed the previous owners, they said no, don’t bother with a niger feeder as they’d tried it but no finches had graced the garden. But my Dorset friend was insistent – if you supply niger seed, eventually finches will come. So I did – and the photo above proves how right she was. I’ve seen a pair of goldfinches feeding together (again no camera handy) and I’m hoping this will continue now they’ve found our garden. It’s not been a very hard winter yet and there’s probably still plenty of seed around in the nearby fallow fields. But at least they know we’re here!

And it feels like this with Stonewylde. It took a huge leap of faith originally to borrow the money from my step-father and self-publish the first book after all those rejections from publishers. Nothing happened for ages and then slowly but surely, people started to read the book. It was another leap of faith giving up my teaching career and re-mortgaging my house in order to publish the next two books and devote myself full-time to promoting and continuing with the series. After selling many thousands of copies of the first three books we then took another leap of faith. We decided to sell the rights to a major publisher who were very excited about the prospects of re-launching Stonewylde.

I’m not quite sure what we expected but now, as I’m writing the final Stonewylde book, I can’t help but feel a bit like Ray in the Field of Dreams when he starts to doubt that inner voice. Was it all just an impossible dream? Will the series ever be a real, best-selling success? Will Stonewylde, and the whole concept it represents, ever become a household name? The doubts nag at me as I face the enormous task of writing book five and trying to keep up with all the other online stuff I must do to maintain my presence as an author. But I know I must cast all doubts aside and ‘stiffen the sinews’. I must remember that the goldfinch came. And I must remember that life-changing inner voice experience from Oct 31st 2003.

“You will write – and it will be a huge success.”

7 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. K Caddy 12 years ago

    What an inspirational post…. Thankyou! xx

  2. Anonymous 12 years ago

    What an amazing eight years you have had though Kit. You are living the dream! The dream to do something that you enjoy doing and that brings joy to not only yourself but many other people as well…your readers. I writing and publishing the Stonewylde story you have also helped to build a community of like-minded, caring people who see themselves as one big, happy family, which in todays society is a precious commodity. So long may your success continue and more from Stonewylde, beyond Book 5….

  3. Julia Guthrie 12 years ago

    Wonderful post Kit. And one many people will resonate with, including myself!
    I also think that success is all about perception… if you could re-visit the Kit of so many years ago, writing the first book & wondering if ANYONE would ever read it, I’m sure she would say that merely producing an actual book & having readers would be a huge success!
    Some would say getting a publishing deal was a huge success…but when we reach these goals, there is always another one! 🙂
    Your books are wonderful & touch many peoples lives already. You are a ‘household name’ in my house for sure 😀
    xxxxx

  4. Wild Roses 12 years ago

    You built Stonewylde and look … we are all come! xxx

  5. Willow 12 years ago

    you have come so far Kit, don’t lose the faith now. even if it is a misquote… ‘they will come’…. many of us are already here 🙂

    I speak of Stonewylde all the time…. so people around me all know of it already…. so when they see your books or see you in the media they remember 😉

    keep the faith xXx

  6. Rose 12 years ago

    I’ve said it before Kit – you’re such a wonderful inspiration. You know I’m a teacher too and your story always makes me feel that there is more to life than my job much as I love it and that that you should always pursue your dreams. What a great blog to read and believe that all things are possible. Your books have touched all our lives – I love the SW community so much and have made so many new friends.
    BB )O( xx

  7. Firecracker 12 years ago

    Can only echo what the others have said Kit. Stonewylde are fabulous books and have already brought together a comminuty.

    I have no doubts that Stonewylde will do amazing and grow from strength to strength and before long everyone will know “Kit Berry and Stonewylde series” just as they know “JK Rowling and Harry Potter”!

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?