Zoë Scholtz

Times are tough, global economies are struggling, unemployment levels are high and most of us are battling to make ends meet. Yet, in the midst of all of this, hubby and I found ourselves in the somewhat bizarre situation where our homemade apricot jam and peach chutney were in high demand. In fact, we couldn’t produce stock fast enough to keep up with the orders. Weird? You bet. Hard work? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Yes. (Although it's probably safer to ask this question once we’ve had a few months to recover.) To rewind a little, some six years ago “we” (meaning the hubby) decided it would be a super idea to plant some fruit trees in our backyard. With somewhat limited space in our garden, we settled on a tiny peach tree and an even smaller apricot tree. In 2020 both these trees made their presence felt [you can read more about that insanity here: The Fruit Situation ]. In a valiant attempt to avoid a repeat performance of 2020 we planned ahead in 2021. One thing led ...

'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 ...