Zoë Scholtz

'Never judge a book by its cover...' (English idiom), I can't recall how many times I've heard this. Except...  I   do. There I said it, I absolutely judge a book by its cover, in particular when its   my  book!  The next phase of my writing adventure started out well enough, I emailed the final draft of my manuscript off to the publishing team, attended the introductory meeting, and then thought (hoped?) I could sit back and wait for the finished product to arrive. Ha! How wrong I was, I came to realise that my hard work had only just started! The writing aspect,  pffft  that was a walk in the park compared to this next phase. Strike one  I have always maintained that sometimes it's better to not know what I am getting myself into, and rather just take whatever process I am in as it comes. This was a prime example of such a situation, and only served to reinforce my belief. I started to appreciate the requirement for active involvement when I rec...

Early in January 2020, it was a weekday, a day like any other. I was at the office minding my own business, working away at a spreadsheet. My phone vibrated, signaling incoming email. I glanced at it, but since I didn’t recognise the sender (Renate from  The Writing Room , something about not mucking about …?) I assumed it was spam and ignored the mail. When I finally got around to checking the many notifications on my phone later that afternoon, I realised that the email seemed to require my attention: Apparently, my mom had signed me up for a book writing mentorship and I had to complete and submit forms. Wait… What? Incredulously I started at the screen, rereading the email whilst I wondered what on earth my Mom was plotting this time around. There had to be some mistake. Writing a book was something that proper authors did, not a task to be tackled by a bean counter with a full-time job. There was no way that I had the talent or the time to spend on such a gargantuan projec...

  When someone asks me to elaborate upon why I am qualified to do something, my accountant brain immediately starts processing (I know, I know, Mrs. Analysis Paralysis). My first thoughts typically go to the more obvious stuff, such as qualifications and certificates. Should I assess that I fall short in the formal qualification category I resort to whether I have any experience. I went through this process when I was asked to answer the question why I am qualified to write this particular book. Initially, post my assessment, I concluded that I had neither the qualifications nor the experience, I felt very unsure of myself. 'What on earth did I think I was doing? Why did I agree to do this and what could I possibly put on paper to convince someone that I can do this?’ I wondered quietly. Nevertheless, I diligently sat in front of my computer and cranked out a few efforts. Ugh, none of those attempts resonated with me… My first draft sounded idiotic – Not even I believed what I had ...