Embracing the Gail in You: A Writer's Journey on the Creative Side Roads

By Rachel Bright | Guest Blog

As writers, I think we all need to have a few of the characteristics of Gail in Snail in Space in spades.

As writers, I think we all need to have a few of the characteristics of Gail in Snail in Space in spades. Indeed when you choose any creative profession, you’ve already stepped off the convention superhighway and onto the side roads – which come with bumps, twists, turns and dead-ends all over the place – or to quote the new story:

‘Her journey would be hard and long,

But Gail was tough, and Gail was strong.

She ventured over humps and hills

Through sloooOOoow climbs,

Hard times (and some thrills!).’

…but when we choose this way…boy what an exciting journey it is! And so worth every unknown and hardship on the way, when you realise what resources you have inside.

In this story - when Gail sets her stalks on getting to the moon (something no other snail has ever done), she is simultaneously having to blaze a new trail – go places no other snail has gone! And whenever we challenge ourselves, we have to go on an internal journey alongside the external one. A journey which requires us to dig deep and find resilience we didn’t know we had. And of course this not only benefits us but everyone who observes our journey.

I’m often asked where my ideas come from. I suppose the broad answer is that they come from everywhere – by being like a sponge – soaking up all the sights and sounds of life – being interested – and using this curiosity to trigger an idea for a new story. But so often when I look back in hindsight – and with some of my most favourite books I have written – I find I have been writing about something I am learning (or re-learning / remembering) myself. I try and write soul stories – big ideas encaptured in the small package of a picture book. Such a special type of story which is often a shared experience between grown up and child – and often read aloud – so it must be fun to say and hear and earn its’ place in the precious story time moments of the day (a privilege I never take for granted).

I have been a Gail many times in my life. I’ve been told to do what’s expected. I’ve been discouraged from taking what seemed to others a foolhardy path. I’ve stumbled, tripped, failed, picked myself up and tried again. What human and what creative hasn’t? To my mind, it’s the dusting off and going again that builds strength (especially internal strength), resilience and opportunity – which is what I wanted to capture in this book – albeit in a funny, silly, playful rollicking way.

I think you can take big ‘serious’ ideas and have a lot of fun with them (a bit like life! It’s the joy and play which makes it all wonderful!). That is why this story had to have Gail as the protagonist! I met her before, for the first time, in Slug in Love, my first collaboration with the wonderful Nadia Shireen and I just had to know her backstory – what made her become who she was! And so his curiosity became intertwined with my own remembering – that when you have a really strong purpose and passion and you had perseverance into the mix – amazing, wonderful, life-changing things can happen!

On every hero’s journey (the story which is told and retold throughout literature), there is usually some adversity to overcome. It’s the story of us all – big or small!

My advice to any writer is to keep writing. Keep digging deep and sharing your experiences – however hard or different – with the world – because – like Gail - every time you do you create a light – a beacon for someone else to be able to follow – you blaze a trail – perhaps without even realising it – and that is something really wonderful.

‘Dream Big! Talk Loud! Be You! BE FREE!

Head in the Clouds! Make History!

No ‘ifs’ or ;buts’, just ‘what’ and ‘when?’

Scale that cliff and climb that hill,

Believe you can…

..and then you will.’