Happy New Year! Last year was my first year of turning my hand to writing for children. I’ve always been a writer – blogs, academic ‘stuff’, poetry, even zines – but 2021 was my official first year where I not only began a new type of writing, but decided that a) I loved it, and […]
On Friday morning I had some amazing news that left me crying a little bit in Morrisons. I had an email announcing the Searchlight Awards ‘Best bedtime story’ longlist…and saw my story on there. I am beyond thrilled! Of course, I can’t say which story is mine as judging is still taking place. But I […]
I’m going to be vague about the details, of course, but I want to shout it from the rooftops – AN AGENT REQUESTED TO SEE MORE OF MY WORK! Even if this doesn’t pan out – and chances are, it won’t – this has given me the boost I needed among the endless form rejections. […]
It’s August. For me, September is definitely the beginning of Halloween season, and so that makes August ‘pre-Halloween’. It does, you’re just going to have to trust me on that. If you want more evidence, simply step into your local TK Maxx or Homesense and behold the orange and black displays of pretties that you […]
When you take the first steps from being a casual writer-for-fun to a ‘I want to get published’ writer, one of the first pieces of advice you read is: Join the SCBWI Join your local critique group If you’re anything like me, 2) is pretty scary. Meeting new people? Anxiety-inducing. Putting your work out there […]
This is Grumpy Crab. She’s an edible brown crab who features in a new manuscript I’m working on. Look at those sassy, beady eyes. I love her. I’ll probably have to submit this one to my critique group as usually when I’m in love with a story it turns out to be either inappropriate, mad, […]
So, so much waiting. Waiting for a publisher to reject my work – so when they do, I can submit it to agents. It was an exclusive submission, and they do usually reply. Waiting for another publisher to reject my work – so when they do, I can submit it to a competition. This was […]
‘Maybe’ is a recent release by author-illustrator Chris Haughton, published by Walker Books. The story centres around three little monkeys who convince themselves that ‘maybe…’ – in spite of sensible warnings from their parent – it’ll be fine to go and get those juicy, tempting looking mangoes. Definitely no tigers lurking here! The three playful […]
Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Getting rejections is part and parcel of trying to be a published writer. You learn not to take it personally – I barely flinch when the ‘thank you, but…’ emails come in. Of course it does get weary, receiving the usual form rejections without any feedback. That’s not a criticism […]
‘Picture Purrfect’ is a self-published picture book written and illustrated by Heather Dickinson. This is the story of a cat named Zuzu, who wants to paint a picture of her friends. Her friends comply, but soon get fidgety. The result is a hodgepodge of features which together form a surprise. The illustrations are beautifully done […]
