We recently connected with Jenny Carey and have shared our conversation below.

Jenny , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I started my new career as a student nurse in 2002. I had several placements, and wanted to thank them at the end of my placements, so for something special, I wrote a poem about the speciality placement, such as respiratory, I wrote a poem on asthma. Elderly rehabilitation, I wrote about strokes. I wrote several poems, and kept them for years. I eventually contacted a publisher, but although they liked them, they said that there wasn’t a market for them, but if I tried children’s poems, there was a market for that. I thought about this for several years, then during the pandemic, I contacted a publisher, who liked my poems, but didn’t like my illustrations, so I got the publisher to do the illustrations, at a cost, which were lovely. I had my first book, Fun Poems For Your Child published, then decided to write a story book, called The Travels of Mr Cat. Once again, the publisher did the illustrations. Both of my books have won several awards. I decided to have a colouring book published, which is the illustrations from my other two books. This is called, A Coloring Book For Children. My publisher is in the USA. I live in the UK. I have had a TV advert for The Travels of Mr Cat, which is on YouTube and across social media.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started working in 1971 at the age of 15. I got married to Andrew in 1981.I worked within the hosiery industry until 1988, where I worked within the building industry, mixing products and packing them. I was made redundant in 1992, then went on to the engineering industry, working with power pressing metal components. I left that to pursue a caring career at a nursing home as a care assistant. I won several awards there for my care of the elderly. I decided to move to an NHS hospital, which specialised in mental health. By now, I had gained NVQ11 and NVQ111, which was qualifications for being a nurse. I entered university in 2002 as a student nurse. I qualified in 2005 as a staff nurse. I worked within orthopaedics in Leicester based hospitals. I wrote poems for my placements as a thank you for having me, which led to my book of children’s poems, called Fun Poems For Your Child, Feeding your child’s imagination. This was published in the pandemic. I then decided to write a story book for children, which I called The Travels of Mr Cat. Both of my books have won awards, which I am very proud of, as it’s a huge achievement for me. I also have another book called, A Coloring Book For Children, which is the illustrations from my other two books. I have taken my books to several craft fairs, since I retired in 2021. I have since looked into what else I could sell that are book related, and I now have a permanent stall in a market, which my husband and myself have once a week on Saturdays. We sell all kinds of items for all ages. I also make resin crafts, and I also do landscape paintings, which I have sold many of. We call our stall Carey’s Curios, which can be found on Facebook. I also have a website, which is www.jennycarey.co.uk
On my website I have some blogs that I have written, which tells my story.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

When my book was ready for publication, I chose a very large publisher in the USA, as they had all the resources needed to get my book published. They are a great company for marketing, which they did do that for me, as I hadn’t got a clue how to go about this. However, they are very costly, and over time, this depleted my savings. I have learnt a lot now, that I could market my book for myself, by emailing libraries, putting the books on social media, and emailing schools. I also now know other authors, through book fairs which I am involved with. These other authors can give tips on how they market their books, which has been useful. I have found CapCut useful for making my books exciting, with the effects and music, then I can upload this to Tiktok, which is a great way to promote my books.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I find winning so many awards for my books really rewarding. There are two types of authors, bestsellers and award winning authors, and I’m definitely an award winning author. I feel that this adds validity to my books, by letting readers know that my books are well worth reading. I have had children telling me that they have bought and read my books, and they loved them, which is fantastic. One child told me they would take my book to school on International Book Day, which is incredible. Writing books for children is the most rewarding experience I have felt.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jennycarey.co.uk
• Instagram: @jenny.carey.963
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1CQs4AQJFC/

Image Credits

Capture Photography East Leake