From Reading to Writing Books: My Journey as an Indie Author by Jane Buckley
I left school at sixteen in Derry, worked a year as a secretary, then went straight to England. No grand academic ambition, just a young girl eager to earn a living, help her family back home and create a new beginning. I walked the streets until I found a job in a hotel. I learned the ropes, made mistakes, learned again. I worked in offices, on phones, cold calling, climbing the ladder from one job to the next until I reached senior level at American Express and later the Bank of Ireland. I was building a life, married, family, stability. But there was always a restlessness in me.
The Troubles shaped me. Growing up with army checkpoints, British Saracens or Pigs as we called them, bomb scares and riots, that was the backdrop of my early years. Then came London. At seventeen, I was full of hope and escape. But leaving home didn’t mean leaving Derry behind. The memories followed me.
Always a reader, I began writing in my fifties, not because I thought I could, but because I realised I had a story to tell. I naively believed that once the words were down, success would follow. How wrong I was!
Boxes of Books
The first printer I used, determined to support local, printed a large run of books. I invested, I hoped. And when the boxes arrived, pages were missing. Whole sections gone. I stood in my living room surrounded by boxes of books without half their chapters. A nightmare. I had to pull them, argue, reprint, and pay again. Foolishly, I trusted the same printer for the second book. Another mistake. More returns, more disappointment. My heart sank each time.
All the while I was building Oakleaf Press Indie-publishing because agents said no and publishers said the Troubles were too sensitive, too raw. These days, the want romance.
Then came the critics. People condemned the books before they had even read them. ‘You’re biased,’ they said. ‘You don’t understand the other side.’ Some never got past the first chapter. They judged because I wrote from a Catholic background, because I told a story many wanted to forget. The Troubles is a difficult subject to write about, but I believe, a story that must be told. I just felt it.
Learning to format a book, design a cover, upload to Amazon and Ingram Spark was overwhelming – still is! I wrestled with trim sizes, ISBNs, printer templates and distribution. There were nights I sat up until two in the morning, eyes burning, trying to make sense of margins and bleed. Marketing is a nightmare. Rejection worse. The silence when no one orders, the blank charts, the ‘We don’t review self-published books.’ But I kept going. Because I had to.
Today, I look at the revised Stones Corner series, Turmoil, Darkness, Light, and Hope, and I’m proud. Proud of leaving school without fuss, but with a strong work ethic. Proud of working my way up. Proud of making my dream come true.
I wrote books, I published books . . .
I have grandchildren in New Zealand, and I want them to see that I wrote books, published books, wrote stories for them, and for readers who assumed the Troubles could only be told by others. I found my voice.
Writing isn’t glamorous. It’s body and soul. Late drafts, rewritten chapters, over and over, the ache of honesty. It’s standing by what you believe in when others say it’s old news, or no way. But the stories of Derry, of division, hope, factories and love – matter. They matter to those who lived them, and to those who didn’t. They matter to me.
So I took the risk and went for it. I set up Oakleaf Press. I invested, stumbled, and fixed. I sent my books out to festivals, knocked on doors, wrapped books, delivered them myself. Word of mouth became my engine. I still remember the first review: ‘Held me tight then left me wanting more.’
Yes, I met bigotry along the way, readers who refused to read because of politics, reviewers who told me to stick to ‘nice stories’. But I ignored them. I kept faith in the belief I had built for myself. Because the only real failure was not trying.
If a reader finishes one of my books and says, ‘I didn’t know that… I feel something…’ then I’ve done what I set out to do. If they understand what it felt like to live in war-torn Derry in the seventies, to step off a London train in the eighties, to work in office after office, to love and be hurt, then I have succeeded.
My journey from school leaver to author-publisher has been shit at times! The misprints, the misaligned covers, the sleepless nights, the prejudice. All true. But it’s changed me. Because now I have a legacy, for my children and grandchildren, for readers who will hold these books, turn the pages, and remember.
Writing changed my life. Publishing changed my life.
And I’m still going.
(c) Jane Buckley
About Turmoil by Jane Buckley:
A Catholic girl from the Bogside and the Protestant heir to a prominent local employer…In her youthful innocence, Caitlin believes their love can overcome the triple obstacles of politics, class, and faith. Meanwhile, Robert, newly recruited to British undercover forces, is closing in on a terrorist strike in the heart of the city centre.
Against the backdrop, two opposing psychopaths on different sides of the sectarian divide are set on the same destructive and violent path, one that can only conclude in disillusionment and heartbreak for innocent bystanders in a country wracked by turmoil.
Order your copy online here.
And read more from Jane Buckley on Writing.ie here.
