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My Writing Life: Rebecca Colby

Rebecca Colby is an award-winning author, poet and screenwriter. She has had 46 children’s books published, with 7 more forthcoming. Her scripts have been longlisted for the BFI and shortlisted for the Pitch Film Fund. Before writing, Rebecca worked for a Russian comedian, taught English in Taiwan, travelled the world as a tour director and worked as a librarian.

1. What book should every writer read?

Motivational books have always inspired me. For writers starting out, I’d recommend, Reject Me, I Love it! by John Fuhrman. It’s not a book written for writers, however, it speaks to perseverance and resilience—qualities that most writers require in spades!

As to books on writing, I always enjoyed Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. The big takeaway for writers is not to become daunted by the enormity of writing a book. Rather, they should break it down into manageable chunks and focus on writing one chapter (or section) at a time. Eventually, the writing will build up and the book will get written.

2. What is the one thing you wish someone had told you before you started your writing career?

Not to be so precious about my work, and that I should allow thinking and daydreaming time and view that as part of the writing process. Also, that you can be a successful writer but not earn a living.

3. Who has been an influential figure in your writing career?

Dr Suess. I love his books—so much so that as a child, I hid my library book, The Lorax, under my bed in the hopes that my mother wouldn’t return it. When I had my own children, I introduced them to Dr Suess right away. Many of my children’s picture books are written in rhyme. They’re not as clever as Dr Suess’ work, but he certainly influenced my love of rhyme and children’s stories from a young age.

4. What is the best advice you’ve ever received about your writing?

There’s been lots of good advice over the years, but the one thing that helped the most, wasn’t so much advice as a proposition. A critique partner proposed that we become accountability partners. At first, I didn’t see the value in this as I’m disciplined and self-motivated and viewed a weekly accountability meeting as valuable time that would take me away from my writing. But I agreed to see how it goes and I’m so glad I did. Not only did my productivity increase, but my accountability partner and I were able to help each other find work and opportunities that elevated our careers. It’s highly probable that if I’d said ‘no’ to that proposition, that I would no longer be a career writer—or at least not a full-time one.

5. What was the proudest moment of your writing career?

Making my editor cry. Perhaps that’s not most writers’ idea of a proud moment, but I knew when I’d made her cry that the book had resonated on a deeply emotional level. But my proudest moment will be when it comes out in 2026 as it’s a book about parental love that’s near and dear to my heart.

6. What is your typical writing day like?

Except for my 5.30am wake up time, every day looks different. Some days I write children’s books or adult screenplays, some days I have meetings with a co-writer or an illustrator, other days I tutor university students on their writing skills. There are also occasional author visits and speaking engagements, and lots of admin to do. If I’m at home, I tackle admin first and get it out the way (which reminds me, another great book for anyone—let alone writers—is Eat That Frog!: Get More of the Important Things Done Today by Brian Tracy) I take a short walk before sitting down to write. The writing is often conducted on an exercise bike with a laptop stand. Lunch follows, more writing and a second walk. Evenings are spent researching or reading, unless it’s salsa night, and then I attend dance lessons.

7. What are you reading right now?

I plan to produce one of my short films so, at the moment, I’m reading The Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook by Chris Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe.

8. Bookmarker or page-folder?

Oh, my goodness! I can’t believe I was asked that question. Aren’t all writers bookmarkers?! I can’t bare to see pages folded. I worked as a librarian for 10 years and books would be returned with folded pages. To me, it felt like a crime had been committed and I wanted to reprimand these book borrowers.

This article originally appeared on our Substack channel.

Photo by Joshua Young.

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