Fifth time lucky
Through lockdowns, surgery and book launches, Sandie Docker’s family has her back.
Sandie Docker and family helping launch her fifth novel
The fact that writing is a solitary pursuit, is often talked about. Authors spend countless hours at our desks or in our comfy chairs writing, researching, editing, procrastinating. And when we talk about those moments that aren’t solitary, we often talk about our publishing team and our writerly friends, and how they help in our writing journey. But sometimes it’s the non-writing help that we need the most, and often doesn’t get spoken about. On socials we often post the ‘pretty’ side to this gig – launches, books on shelves, glowing reviews, adventures with our writerly friends. But, like every human on the planet, behind the social façade we project, there can be the not so pretty side.
My fifth book, The Redgum River Retreat, was released in March, and after my previous two books being released in separate lockdowns, I was so excited to have an in person launch for Redgum. Months of planning, special goodies ordered, lots of bookings. Fabulous. But, as we all know, life doesn’t always go according to plan, and three weeks before my launch, I had major surgery. And because life sometime likes to really put the boot in, the surgery also didn’t go according to plan and was much bigger and more complicated than it was supposed to be. So come launch day, I was exhausted, in massive amounts of pain, and felt anything but excited and celebratory. Cue my fabulous family. Hubby Chris and daughter Em may not read my books, and don’t understand the industry the way my writerly friends do, but when it counts, I’d rather have no one else holding me up.
I chose this photo, to celebrate them.
Yes, writing is a solitary pursuit, but without that amazing crew behind me, I wouldn’t be able to do it.
Sandie writes about love, loss, family and small country towns. Her debut novel, The Kookaburra Creek Café, was released in 2018, The Cottage At Rosella Cove in 2019, The Banksia Bay Beach Shack in 2020, The Wattle Island Book Club in 2021 and her latest book, The Redgum River Retreat, was released in March, 2023. Sandie is also the founder and director of The Northern Beaches Readers Festival.