We were lucky to catch up with Sibylla Nash recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sibylla, appreciate you joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

This is not so much a lesson, but a piece of advice. I used to work for a tech company years ago. One thing my boss said that has always stuck with me is to “Always keep the end in mind.” You should know where you want to end up. It helps you to be more intentional about your decisions. To me, it comes down to knowing who you want to be in life and how you want to be remembered, as an artist, and as a person. If we’re not careful, it’s so easy to do things that don’t necessarily align with our goals or purpose, and they take us off our path. I know I’ve done that plenty of times, and mostly it’s because either I was unclear about my goals or I didn’t believe in them enough to stand by them. Now, I write them down, and when I have to decide on something, I think about whether it will take me closer to my goal or lead me further away.

Sibylla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a freelance writer, I’ve had the opportunity to interview some really interesting and accomplished people as well as those who were just starting out in their careers and have gone on to blow up like Russell Crowe, Jamie Foxx, and Will Smith.

Like many artists, though, I’ve worn plenty of hats. I’ve been an extra in movies, starred in a national commercial with my daughter, waitressed at a bingo hall, and held down a desk in a talent agency, among other things. At my core, I’m a storyteller. An avid reader as a child, I loved to get immersed in stories and transported to another time. I had a sprawling imagination. I wanted to tell my own stories in worlds I created.

I love looking at the page and figuring out how I’m going to draw the reader in. Writing fiction and introducing audiences to characters they may know but have never experienced on the page, that’s my jam. When I was growing up, there wasn’t a lot of diversity in books. Thank goodness things have changed, and all types of kids can see themselves as the hero in a book.

I write novels that I would have loved to have read as a child and as an adult. My latest book is a middle-grade fantasy called Wishless. It’s been fun watching the reaction of kids. They enjoy seeing the cover with a little Black girl who is also a fairy. I’ve also written contemporary novels such as Bumped and DreamCity and I have my first book with a legacy publisher, Simon & Schuster, coming out in Summer ’25. It’s part of the Robin HIll School series called, Juneteenth.

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

Writing can be such an isolating experience. It’s just you and the page. When you’re ready, and you think your piece is as good as it’s going to get, you send it off into the world. Unfortunately, many times it will come back to you rejected for a myriad of reasons, some as vague as “It’s great, but it’s just not right for us.” I once got an email with the subject line that said Declined, and the body of the email said, Thanks.

Putting your art in the world can be a tough grind. Even when your work gets accepted somewhere, you don’t always get feedback. You don’t know if people are connecting with it. It’s like sending your little kid to kindergarten, and they get ignored on the playground.

I absolutely adore hearing from people if my work has had a positive impact on them. I once received an email from a reader of a column that I had written more than a decade ago about being a new mom. Her grandmother had saved my columns. They were printed in an actual newspaper, and she would cut them out. The granddaughter read them years later. She wrote to tell me she enjoyed the piece and as a new mom herself, she shared my hopes and fears about motherhood.

Knowing that my work touched someone enough to reach out to me means my writing is doing its job and making an impact in the world. As an artist, it’s not why I create, but who couldn’t use an “Attagirl” every now and then for motivation?

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

Well, technology plays a large part in the accessibility of information that we have at our fingertips nowadays. When I was just starting out, I had to make a trip to the library to find resources about writing and publishing. Now it’s just a click of the mouse. I don’t even know where I would be right now if I had the robust internet we have now when I started my career.

There are a bunch of different resources that I use on a regular basis.

I subscribe to newsletters to help me find writing opportunities like Sonia Weiser’s Opportunities of the Week (bi-weekly), Amber Petty, The Create Daily by Felicia Pride, and Erika Dreifus’ The Practicing Writing. For inspiration, I enjoy The Wordling by Natasha Khullar. Galleyway is also a great site to check for writing fellowships and residencies. I wish I had tapped into ProFellow Insider before I got my MFA. They are an amazing resource for fully funded graduate programs and scholarships. Don’t get me started on Facebook groups that are just a wealth of information like 20 Books to 50k.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.sibyllanash.com

Image Credits
Wishless Cover – Ninekyu