Notes from the Slush Pile

Guest Blogger Fiona Dunbar: a Mother's Day Tale

2010-03-12T15:55:00.004Z

It's Mothering Sunday this weekend and to mark the day, my guest blogger and friend Fiona Dunbar has written this moving tribute to her mother, who herself had writing aspirations. Fiona is the author of the Lulu Baker trilogy which has been turned into the TV series Jinx, and the Silk Sisters trilogy which features a girl with the power to change like a chameleon. You can follow Fiona's blog here. Welcome to the Slushpile, Fiona!

I have killed my father.

He lies over the desk in the study. The angle of his neck is wrong and from where I am sitting, I can see the side of his dead eye and thick blood at the corner of his mouth…

So begins a science fiction story called The Medusa Plant that, to my knowledge, has never been published. Or maybe it was – if so, it’s all lost in the mist of time now. It was written by my mother.

For years, I strenuously avoided turning into my mum. Having completely idolised her as a child, I then morphed into a teenager, and the rose-tinted spectacles came off. I vowed not to be loud and embarrassing in social situations like her, or have such disastrous relationships with men, or fail repeatedly at achieving goals, such as getting one’s work published.

I really don't know why Fiona doesn't want to turn into her yummy mummy

Not that I had any such ambitions at that time. In those days, my creative impulse was channelled not into writing, but drawing. (I have always written, but back then, the words were a mere adjunct to the pictures). Everything I produced was pronounced a marvel by my mum – and therefore, as far as I was concerned, utter rubbish.

Cornwall 1971: Interesting this photo because grown up Fiona so looks like her mum (see black and white pic below of Fiona with her kids)

This is the First Law of Motherhood:

You can’t win.

Say your kids’ work is lousy? Consign them to years of therapy. Say it’s wonderful? Ha! What do you know? "You would say that, wouldn’t you? You’re my mum." (I’ve had that one too, from my own teenage daughter).

Fiona and her own kids (taken a few years ago)

As for my mother’s own creative endeavours ... well, she never fully realised her ambitions there. Why? It’s not as if she wasn’t talented. In fact, I think she was really good. Good enough to have had an agent, and to have had a couple of things published ... but knowing her and her work as I do, I think there was a great deal more that could and should have happened, and never did.

One of her mum's manuscritps

I think she’d have made a good YA author – only back then, there wasn’t really any such thing. She was most at home with short stories, citing Saki as an influence, and wrote both for adults and for children.

Her writing was perceptive, lyrical, macabre and darkly funny. As far as I can remember, she had just two short stories published: a riveting children’s science fiction story called The South Gate Sea, and an adult story about, ahem, losing her virginity. (Yes, I actually read it. And yes, it was thoroughly cringe-inducing). There was also a TV play with Dennis Waterman that I didn’t rate much – but I was pleased for her that it got made.

As you might judge from the above, it probably didn’t help that she was so diverse.

Her concept for a children’s TV series called The Upside-Down People, (featuring characters called Sagacious, Prod and Umpulk) never saw the light of day; nor did a ghost story called Walking To Coverack, inspired by a holiday we took in Cornwall in – oh wow, I’m dating myself here – 1971.

An 80s Fiona poses with her mum

Reading it recently gave me goosebumps – not just because it’s spooky, but because it evokes so wonderfully the sights, sounds and smells of a part of the country I first fell in love with then. And more than anything, because it was written by her.

The last twelve years of her life were hampered by ill health. But she took a keen interest in my own nascent literary efforts, and when, in 2004, she was invited to the launch party of the first of my Lulu Baker books, The Truth Cookie, she was as excited as I was.

Wooden spoons for invitations! Yes, we were going to do this in style. Alas, the party never happened; the night before it was due to take place, she was struck by a brain haemorrhage. She died two weeks later.

So, did I succeed in not turning into my mum? Well, I don’t think I’m loud and embarrassing in social situations – though my kids might disagree. I’ve fared more happily on the relationship front: my husband and I have been together for nearly twenty years. As for the publishing: well, like most of us, I have a drawer full of stuff that didn’t go anywhere. But The Truth Cookie is still in print, has been followed by six other titles, and has inspired the CBBC TV series, Jinx. I have a contract for a new series, and right now, I’m about to embark on one of them…a ghost story, set in Cornwall.

The Lulu Baker books re-released with the Jinx covers

So you might say that yes, I succeeded in that objective.

Except that this is not the whole picture, of course.

There were so many wonderful things about my mum – her warmth, her humour, her wit and compassion ... even, yes, the economy and cleverness of her writing – that I aspire to myself. The big difference is this: she didn’t believe in herself enough. I’m not doing better than she did because I’m more talented – I don’t think I am. I’ve just stuck with it.

Flight of the Undiscovered: Voices Coming Soon on a Children's Bookshelf Near You

2010-02-25T19:33:00.010Z

This was their moment!

Suddenly, after years of being supplicants to the great and good of publishing, our SCBWI heroes find themselves the object of a schmooze-for-all, with agents, editors and publishers eager to check them out at the launch of the Undiscovered Voices anthology for 2010.

In 2008, the first ever SCBWI British Isles Undiscovered Voices competition led to all 12 winners (including me, yay!) being signed by agents.

And here's who we have to blame, The Saras (Sara Grant and Sara O'Connor) - who conceptualized the Undiscovered Voices and made it happen. Should you run into them, please be sure to kiss the hems of their skirts (or trousers), they have changed some lives BIG TIME - including mine.

Sara G and Sara O

Of the 12 2008 winners, eight now have book deals and an array of nominations, shortlistings, longlistings for the gamut of prizes available in the children's book world, including:

The Blue Peter book award
Barnes and Noble Top Teen book for 2009
American Library Association Best Book for Young Readers
2010 Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize
Branford Boase First novel award
Borders Book of the Month

Steve Hartley, Sarwat Chadda, and Harriet Goodwin - the first three of the original Undiscovered Voices to see their books in print - were present as were copies of their books for signing.

Okay. Apologies to Harriet (right) and Steve (left). But that's what comes from not taking the time to pose properly. You should really try to be more like Sarwat (center). Just smile.

Here's the cheat sheet that all guests were provided with so that they could target their desired author with appropriate ardour:

It's quite remarkable to think that the lives of these 12 somewhat shy people are about to change forever.

Watching the winners screwing up their courage to talk to agents they had previously feared, I remembered what it was like two years ago when I spent the launch party cowering in the company of friends rather than schmoozing the great and good.

Now I am a great fan of the Undiscovered Voices patron, Melvin Burgess, but I just could not get a shot of the man with his eyes OPEN. Here he is with Natascha Biebow, SCBWI BI's regional advisor:

Luckily I managed to film his evocative speech with my trusty ... erm ... mobile phone. Turn up the volume to get the full impact - it was a moving tribute.

At the dinner afterward - which I gatecrashed along with Sarwat - Sara O'Connor toasted the winners and their soon to be golden tomorrows.

Sarwat and I were bemused by the guests that each winner took along, who all wore nametags that said 'Plus One' (as in added guest).

Lisa Joy Smith (Slugs in the Toilet) with her Plus One, Graham.

These are the powers behind the throne, we thought. So after Sara's toast, I offered another one: to the Plus Ones - these are the people who make it happen for us writers, the ones who have to take the moodiness, the lateness and who keep us going into the light. Most likely, these are the names who will grace the dedication pages of future UV books!

More Plus Ones, lined up against the wall!

I'm afraid I didn't manage to photograph all the winners or the agents for that matter as the white wine was rather distracting. But here's a sampling of the evening:

Jude Ensaff (One of a Kind) and Nick Cross (Back from the Dead)

Editors Jasmine Richards (OUP) and my editor, Bella Pearson (David Fickling) ... and of course Melvin with eyes closed

David Cousins (Fifteen Days Without a Head) has been signed by agent Sarah Manson (that's why they're toasting)

Natascha introducing Melvin

Katie Dale of UV 2008 who finally made it after missing the first launch because she was travelling; Lauren Sabel (Vivian Divine and the Days of the Dead) flew in from the US just to attend; Chris Snowdon, managing director of Working Partners, the generous sponsor of the anthology

Sorry again if I didn't manage to photograph anyone who should be in this piece. You can read more about the UV launch on Nick Cross's wonderful blog Who Ate My Brain? (catchy title, Nick). Nick wrote Back from the Dead. Yona Wiseman (Becoming Invisible) has also blogged about it on Daylight Procrastinator. Anne M Leone (Adele) blogged about it on Critically Yours.

Left to right foreground: Yona Wiseman, Lisa Joy Smith, David Cousins, Anne Anderson, Paula Rawsthorne; back row: Nick Cross, Melvin Burgess, Jane McLoughlin, Lauren Sabel, Abbie Todd, Claire O'Brien, Emily George (not in picture, Jude Ensaff)

Meanwhile, congratulations to all the winners. May your tomorrows shine. Write well.

My signed copy of the anthology!

You might want to read my interview with Melvin about his experimental Twitter short stories. Scroll down.

Guest Blogger Gillian Philip: the landscape of us

2010-02-13T18:21:00.004Z

When I read Crossing the Line, Gillian Philip's evocative teen novel, I was amazed at its unabashed Scottishness. Being from Somewhere Else (sunny Philippines), I struggle with the need to frame stories from within my cultural identity while hoping to appeal to readers in the West where I live. My very first novel (yet to be published - perhaps never), had English characters and a European setting. It had SNOW no less - at a time when I had yet to see the stuff though no longer. I was genuinely afraid anything I wrote would be labelled an 'issue' novel or too foreign to be commercial.
An agent gently told me in so many words that it would be tough to sell a debut novel by an author who had no cultural connection to the story. So I decided to have a go at a novel with a Filipino element. It was only when I began to build worlds with Filipino characters that I felt my words began to sing . . .

And now here's Gillian!

‘Identity,’ Candy suggested, and I went ‘Gulp.’

I was thrilled to be asked to guest on Candy’s amazing blog, and delighted that she made a suggestion for a subject (because I’m not very good at thinking of them), but as soon as I thought about it my mouth went all dry. I’m not very good at identity either, I realised. But ‘I was very struck by the Scottishness of Crossing the Line,’ Candy told me, ‘which is why I suggested identity.’

Which set me wondering why it did have a strong Scottish flavour. Yes, the book is set in Scotland, though like my other novel Bad Faith, it never says so. Generally speaking, though, readers seem to ‘get’ the setting (Keren David, the author who guested here a couple of weeks ago, got one location right to within about twenty metres). I don’t think I could have set those books anywhere else. I don’t think that’s a strength. It’s probably indicative of a typically Scottish insularity.

I was an expat wife in the West Indies for twelve years and because I was without a work permit for a lot of that time, and childless for all of it, you’d think I would have used my vast quantities of spare time to write. I’d always wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t like my career was going places other than a beach bar at the bottom of our hill.

A gruelling life in the West Indies

Well, I did try, some of the time, at least before sundown. I sold some short stories, and then some more, and I felt pleased with myself though I didn’t enjoy it, because I knew I could never write a whole novel. Nothing occurred to me (see above). I did wring a flimsy sodden half-novel out of my rum-fuelled brain, and while the plot hung together and the story wrapped up rather nicely, it was a load of old tosh, because I believed none of it. The only character I believed in was the rum-sodden beach bar owner (I wonder where that came from) who was, of course, Scottish and homesick.

I suppose no writing is ever wasted and it was all good practice, but I’m happy to say I burned that one. My next project was romantic novels (I was under the all-too-common misconception that these are quite straightforward). I believed these ones, more or less, but Mills & Boon didn’t, so that was that.

Then, in 2001, two babies arrived and I said ‘I’m going home,’ and home we went, and back in the right landscape my brain was hit by an avalanche of stories. It wasn’t just the hills and lochs, I might add, though those came into it; it was the mean streets, the flashy streets and the downright dull streets. It was the weather, it was the light. I was just in the right place, and writing the right stories (between nappy changes). But it wasn’t the people.

Moving to Scotland to take a rest from all that cruel sunshine.

I think it’s a real failing that I couldn’t write a convincing story in a tropical landscape (mind you, I’ve read a few books that think the landscape, some quaint locals and/or oodles of rich people are enough, so not writing was preferable to producing something like that). But in a way, I don’t think I didn’t write about it.

The island where I lived was a small country with a small country’s quirks and disadvantages as well as its charms; so is Scotland. That island’s politics and personalities seeped into my writing; they just became Scottish, and it wasn’t as awkward a transition as I perhaps thought. Virtue and venality, they both travel. I was just writing about people. The way you do.

I think that’s why I haven’t identified Scotland in either Bad Faith or Crossing The Line. It may be my muse (whether I like it or not) but it would be a distraction, to me if to no-one else. That’s not to say I don’t want a strong sense of setting and landscape; I want to write stories that do happen in one place, but could happen anywhere. For Bad Faith I cherrypicked incidents from current affairs all over the world, but set them firmly in an unnamed Scotland. I hope they happen convincingly there, just as I hope that the events in Crossing The Line could happen, with different accents, in another country.

Scotland informs and influences my writing, whether I like it or not. It even kick-starts my writing. I love my birthplace, and at the same time there are things about it that drive me demented with fury and resentment and frustration. I didn’t belong in the West Indies but having lived there for so long, I don’t belong entirely in Scotland any more (now that is a very Scottish phenomenon, just to blow my thesis out of the water). So I would resent being in thrall to the place.

I’ve talked myself into a corner as usual, and I’m not sure what I’d conclude from thinking about this. Perhaps just that I like grounding my stories in a landscape I love; I’m grateful for the way the landscape sparks those stories.

But characters, they travel. They go anywhere and come from anywhere. You can’t confine human beings to one playground. And who’d want to? I have a Scottish identity and it means a lot to me, but I have another identity: I’m a writer. And that means I can really and truly be anyone I want to be.

Gillian Philip blogs on The Awfully Big Blog Adventure. You can find her website here.

Guest Blogger Kathryn Evans: fat fibs and proper work

2010-02-03T15:33:00.002Z

Guest blogger Kathryn Evans is possibly the only belly-dancing-farmer’s-wife- mother-of-two practising to be an author in West Sussex. Nearing the end of her 10,000 year writing apprenticeship, she is currently seeking a home for:
SKIN: Surviving cryostasis for 250 years is the least of Laura’s problems. When her little brother Alfie falls dangerously ill, Laura risks more than her own life to save him. A twisted journey of discovery for 12+.
DYLAN AND MOUSE: Lonely Dylan befriends Mouse, a rodent with a hamster complex and an endless supply of inappropriate costumes. A series of comic adventures for 7+.
All enquires to her agent Sophie Hicks

When Candy asked me to be a guest blogger, I nearly said no. I can’t follow on from Keren David's guest post! I’ve read Keren's When I was Joe, it’s brilliant.

I am unworthy, unpublished and …ah, in need of publicity. I swiftly changed my mind, before Candy could change hers. After all, this is Notes from The Slush Pile, That I can write about.

I take it seriously, my author apprenticeship. I spend half the week on farm work and the other half writing. By some miracle of parenting, I also find extra bits of week in which I look after my family.

It isn’t easy and makes for conversations like this:

Daughter: ‘Mummy, I need to talk to you about something reeeeaaalllly important.’

Me: ‘Can it wait half an hour darling? I’m working.’

Daughter: ‘You’re on Facebook, aren’t you?’

Me: ‘No. I’m working.’

Daughter: ‘But Mummy, I reeeaaallly need to talk to you.’

Me: ‘Can I just finish this chapter?’

Daughter: ‘Oh, so it’s not proper work then? Good, because I really need a haircut and I don’t know if I should dye my hair red and Mr B*****t was so annoying today and it wasn’t my fault and can I go out on Friday? And, and, and……’

Don’t misunderstand me; I want to listen to my daughter download her day but then, I have to write late into the night. I could just go to bed. No one is going to tell me off. I’m not breaking any contractual obligations.

But I don’t.

I work until my eyes are gritty.

Why?

What is this passion?

Where does it come from?

Maybe it started in 1978, seeing my first poem published. The thrill, the utter thrill of putting words together and seeing them in print; basking in the heart swelling warmth of Miss Heathen’s approval.

Volcano
by Kathryn Hodgkiss
Age 9

I am a volcano, under the sea,
I also live in Italy,
I’m dead now, but my old days were good
As I set off my flames, as fast as I could…
(There were more verses but luckily for you, I can’t remember them.)

Kathy in bellydancing mode: what some folk will do to get noticed

Or was it 1977, when my siblings and I wrote and performed ‘The Water Babies’ for an excited crowd of six. All went well until Lisa, such a Prima Donna even at three, refused to take part unless she had her own hairbrush. Little upstart, we booted her off the show, replacing her with an orange. That orange was as wooden as the bowl it came from, we had to rewrite the whole play.

Spot the Difference.

Or maybe it was 1984, when I started telling big, fat, fibs to make myself sound more interesting? Like the night I had to leave a party embarrassingly early and told everyone I had a modelling job next day. They looked at my 5 foot 2, very ordinary self, with disbelief. I showed them my hands. My dainty fingers were insured for thousands, I bragged, you’ve probably seen them on countless adverts for cuticle cream. I’d never admit Dad had said, be home by half past ten.

In honesty, I don’t know what made me seek this career fraught with poverty and rejection. I do know it isn’t the first time.

For most of my life, I wanted to be an actor (that was definitely to do with ‘Orange Water Baby’).

During my degree in drama, however, I accidentally fell in love with the suntanned neck and broad shoulders of an agriculture student. I couldn’t imagine life without his easy smile so I married him.

Farming and theatre work are not an ideal mix. And I wanted, wanted, wanted to be with my kids as they grew up and, though I did take them filming on occasion, you can’t build an acting career on the odd bit of work that passes by your doorstep.

I look rough because I was acting, note the hands though, insured for thousands ...

I don’t remember replacing acting ambitions with writing ones, but that is what happened.

Maybe it was having a FRANKLY BRILLIANT, story idea. I typed it up, smiling at my own cleverness. Oh, look at me, I’ve written a book, la la la, stick it in an envelope, la la la, send it off to a few editors la la la wait for the offers to come in.

I got a snowfall of standard rejections.

I wrote another story, only this time, I reread my script and even corrected some of it. Surely, my genius would shine through.

No.

But I did have a rejection from Natascha Biebow. She took the time to critique my work and gave me a brilliant piece of advice. If you’re serious, join SCBWI, learn your craft.

I joined and read and wrote and learnt. The rejections still came but they were more detailed. Beverley Birch even sent me one three pages long. It was the best rejection letter I ever had.

I ‘finished’ SKIN and sent it to an agent. An email came back.

‘I like this,’ said Sophie Hicks, ‘let’s talk.’

SOPHIE HICKS!

Kate Thompson’s Agent. *Swoon*. Eoin Colfer’s Agent. * Double swoon* My heart leapt out of my chest and did a little dance all by itself. This was it, I’d made it!

Gratuitous photo of bestselling children's writer Eoin Colfer with whom I share an agent

Not quite.

Making it to print (and staying there) will always hinge on the next person loving what I do - be that agent, publisher, bookseller or reader.

So bring on the late nights because I do have obligations. If I want to be read, I have to be good. It’s a competitive business and I owe it to Sophie, and everyone else who reads me, to be the best I can be. And one day, one day, maybe I’ll say to my daughter:

"It is proper work."

And I won’t be telling a big, fat, fib.

Thoughts on Surviving This Digital Revolution

2010-01-29T12:46:00.003Z

On the launch of the iPad, some thoughts on how tools are driving content and an interview with Melvin Burgess about his Twitter Tales

If you can't see this video, watch it on YouTube.Thanks Jeannette Towey for posting this on FB

"Over 10 years we have lived through a revolution." Ed King head of the British Library's newspaper archive

When Ed King said this, he was referring to the digitisation of his archives. But it's so true in everything that we do - from reading a book to booking a plane ticket. Our lives have been transformed by technology.

With the launch of the iPad, the blogosphere is buzzing with people who want to declare how much they love it or hate it.

The iPad is yet another step into a Tomorrow that we are only just beginning to imagine.

It fascinates me that a gadget like the iPad is predicted to transform the world of story and reading.

Through the ages, tools have dictated the development of content: the printing press led to books, the zoopraxiscope led to movies, the camera to photography, and so on.

From Wikipedia under Creative Commons License

But it's important to remember that the tool is nothing without the content it provides. And as authors, who are the creators of content, it is our role to shape the future that these tools are set to deliver.

Some are already experimenting with the new media available - the Japanese download text novels on their mobile phones, today I heard about augmented reality picture books, and authors like Kathleen Duey are experimenting with twitter novels and short stories (an aside: this is not new media, but has anyone listened to the BBC's Out Loud archive of poets performing their own work? Brilliant!) ...

Deep Love, the first ever cell phone novel

I've been following the Twitter short stories that author Melvin Burgess (my review of his book Nicholas Dane here) has been posting.

Melvin Burgess. Photo by John Coombes

They are odd, poetic and strangely affecting. Melvin says they are "not to everyone's taste" but there's something compelling about them.

I was just mucking around – trying out Twitter and wondering what tweets were. Of course, all a tweet is, is a not-too-long sentence – but I was thinking of them of having some particular quality to them. Then one day I came up with the sentence – You're pushing a pram down the road. An old lady looks inside and says fearfully, "Your babies are not human."

It reminded me of something I used to do years ago, while I was learning how to write – I’d sit down in the morning and just launch off with a sentence – anything, like they used to make us do in school – and just see how it went. So I thought I’d try the same thing here. That was the first twitter story, The Dancer. I’ve kept it up because the results are surprising and interesting – and because after writing novels for so many years, it’s a real reliefe to do something that can just take me wherever it wants to go. It’s fun.

I think the Twitter Tales are exciting (and surprising is a really good word for it)... but since I don't like to stay connected to Twitter all the time, I have to go back to his website to catch up. Says Melvin:

Twitter is bad place to post stories because they go up backwards and people find it difficult to keep up with them. I think a lot of people, like you, went to the website to catch up, so lately I’ve been trying posting links on my website. It makes them easier to read, but I don’t think it gets so many people’s attention.

Indeed it's very tempting to explore these new forms. When I first heard about Japanese text novels I was sorely tempted to try and write one. It's funny how the limitations of a form seems to promise endless possibility! It would be, as Melvin says, Good Fun (if, that is, you like to write).

Various people do story telling on twitter – many try to make a story out of a single tweet, which is another thing altogether. I’m not aware of anyone doing exactly the same thing though. And yes, it certainly is satisfying – I love it. I’d really recommend it to anyone who likes to write – it’s a really liberating way to work. So far, most of them have turned out kind of OK, but I’d be quite happy to ditch one if it turned out duff. No pressure – good fun. And the fact that you do it one sentence at a time makes it easy to write, somehow.

There is a poetic quality to the stories ... like a novel in Haiku form. Says Melvin:

I do like the final product, although I think they still need a bit more work. One day I’ll go through the best of them and polish them up, As for story I like this as a form – well, maybe it’ll turn out to be something, I’m not sure. It is, as you say, poetic – a kind of free form narrative poetry, in a way. Whether or not it’ll catch on is another matter, but one, day, I’m sure I’ll use them for something. Maybe I’ll get them set up as Apps for iPhone or something like that …

Funny, that. I've been researching how to produce freebies for punters to download on my site ... all those picture books I've written that nobody seems to want to publish - I want to produce little e-books to give away to be read on mobile phones and Gameboys. But it's a bit beyond my technical ability (for now).

I asked Melvin what his Twitter short stories are telling us about technology and its impact on culture.

It isn’t just Twitter – everyone is running around trying to find out how they can use new media to tell stories. It’s an exciting area because no one knows how it will turn out. I did a TV and online project for BBC Switch a while ago called The Well, that had a big online element – a game in which new areas of drama were hidden. That was interesting too. The programme maker, Conker Media, is very much at the forefront of using new media for broadcast and online and I hope to do more with them. It’s something every writer should keep an eye on.

Still from The Well

Screenshot from The Well game

It's a brave new world out there for authors. What's next?

Who knows? I hav a couple of online projects I’m having meetings to develop next month. There’s possibility as well that we might try to film one or two of the twitter tales. Interesting times we live in!

Interesting times indeed.

Undiscovered Voices 2010: the beginning of an awfully wonderful adventure

2010-01-25T19:38:00.000Z

Got this in the post on Saturday!

It's the 2010 Undiscovered Voices anthology ... omg. I remember when ...

Congrats once again to all the winners, and those who made it to the shortlist. You are at the beginning of a brilliant adventure. I should know!

ADELE by Anne M Leone (Anne ML Anderson)

BACK FROM THE DEAD by Nick Cross

FIFTEEN DAYS WITHOUT A HEAD by Dave Cousins

ONE OF A KIND by Jude Ensaff (Najoud Ensaff)

FROM DARKNESS by Emily George

AT YELLOW LAKE by Jane McLoughlin

NOT JUST THE BLUES by Claire O'Brien

THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA FROST by Paula Rawsthorne

VIVIAN DIVINE AND THE DAYS OF THE DEAD by Lauren Sabel

SLUGS IN THE TOILET by Lisa Joy Smith

BLINDING DARKNESS by Abbie Todd

BECOMING INVISIBLE by Yona Wiseman

And here are the honorary mentions:

THE BIDDLES - OPERATION SUGARBERG by L.M. Bouri (Leila Bouri)

LOW LIGHT by Judith Bunting

HURRICANE ZEN by JC Button

VINDALOO VICTOR by Alastair Caygill

WIND-UP WORLD by Julienne Durber

MRS PINKERTON'S SECRET by Jennifer Gray

THE APOTHECARY'S APPRENTICE by Sue Hyams

THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY by Lucy Jones

SHADOW OF THE OAK by Sharon Jones

A TALE OF MAGIC, MISCHIEF AND MAYHEM - BOOK ONE: A SINISTER SECRETby Karen Laing

GURNER GOBBIT AND THE BLOODCURDLING BUG-EYED JAWBREAKER by Maureen Lynas

THE POCKET WATCH by Gareth Middleton

THE SECRET CHICKENHOUSE THEATRE by Helen Peters

TREE by Mike Pringle

THE VESPERTINE HOUR by Paul Romeo (Paolo Romeo)

THE SUMMONING OF FREIYA ROLANDSON by Benjamin Scott

SECRETORUM SECRETISSIMUS by Jeannette Towey

And of course, thank you to SCBWI and Working Partners for making our dreams come true.

Read more at the Undiscovered Voices website

Guest Blogger Keren David: rewinding the path to publication

2010-01-22T00:33:00.000Z

Guest blogger Keren David is a writer and journalist. Her debut YA novel When I Was Joe is published in the UK by Frances Lincoln books. The sequel Almost True will follow in August. Both books will be published by dTV in Germany, Walker Books in Australia and Frances Lincoln in the US. She lived in Amsterdam for eight years and Glasgow for two but it is London that feels like home. Connect with Keren on Twitter @kerensd or on her blog Almost True

I get a little embarrassed when I tell my story of how I got published. It is far from the usual lengthy saga of years of hope and struggle.

In fact I went from starting to write the book to publication in around 21 months. A plot-planning exercise at my evening class in March 2008 turned into a first chapter by April. Three months later I had an 80,000 word first draft of a novel.

2007, in Cambodia

I had an agent in November, a publishing deal the following February and When I Was Joe, a thriller for teenage readers about a boy in witness protection was published on January 7 2010. Oh and in the meantime I’ve been working on a sequel Almost True, which is going to be published in August.

Sickening, I know. If you’re a struggling writer with numerous manuscripts stuffed into drawers then I bet you hate me right now. Jammy cow. How come she had it so easy?

Well, now I come to think about it, maybe I’m exaggerating the speed of the whole process. Maybe my path to publication actually started in September 2007, when my family stopped being expats after eight years in Amsterdam and arrived back in London.

Adjusting to a very different way of life was traumatic and exciting at the same time. Watching my children start at new schools and make new friends helped me imagine my way into the head of a boy who has to change everything about his life, including his name and the colour of his eyes.

:
Family life

Or perhaps the starting point was actually March 1999, when my husband got a job in Amsterdam. Moving there with no friends, no extended family, I struggled with depression and loneliness. These were pre-internet days. Without that alienating experience of feeling utterly isolated, could I have understood how lost and angry the boy’s mother might feel?

Or maybe the novel was born along with my son Daniel in February 1998. Daniel never got to go out into the world, as my fictional characters will. He was stillborn, at full term, a terrible, inexplicable tragedy.

Losing Daniel gave me a far greater understanding of suffering - a dreadful thing to live through, a bittersweet gift to a writer. Losing him made me determined that some day I would do something worthy of his memory, something that might make a difference to others. It took ten years to realise what that might be.

Working at the Independent

Learning how to write a novel went back earlier though. Rewind to August 1981, when I screwed up my A levels and found myself unexpectedly lacking a place at university. Instead I landed a job as a messenger girl on a national newspaper, and even when I’d retaken the exams and got my college place, I couldn’t bear to leave. Decades of reporting, writing, and editing didn’t make a novelist, but they did give me essential skills to enable me to write - and write quickly. Write about what you know, they say, well, my training and experience is in news. I know about crime and justice and politics. And so that’s what I wrote about.

Let’s go back further - to the late 1960s. At infant school I met a girl called Hilary, who became my Best Friend. We’d invent whole schools of children, drawing them, naming them, making up stories about them. We played with Barbies and Sindys, acting out lurid adventures. We convinced ourselves that there was buried treasure in the school playground and planned to meet in the dead of night to dig it up.

Our friendship nurtured our imaginations - and we were lucky enough to be at a primary school which valued creativity. At 11 we wrote a play and performed it to the whole school – and I experienced the joy of making an audience laugh. Even when I was terminally bored at secondary school, even when I was busily building a career or buried in motherhood I never quite forgot the sheer fun to be had from losing yourself in a made-up world.

Or take it right back to the beginning. Somehow my scientist parents had a little girl who liked to watch and write and weave stories. Who knows where that comes from? Who knows when it started?

So, 21 months is just one measure of my path to publication. And it was fast, and it did feel urgent and during those months I had my share of luck and desperation, determination, rejection, dejection and complete elation. But the real story is longer and deeper, and I’ve hardly told you any of it at all.

I just hope that I can keep on writing, because now I’ve discovered that I can write books, it feels like it’s what I was always meant to do.

Writing Advice from 28 YA Authors

2010-01-18T18:16:00.001Z

If you can't see the video, go directly to YouTube

This suggested by Liz Kessler (of kickass mermaid fame) from the Scattered Authors Society message board: a video from YA author Jackson Pearce in which 28 YA authors give you advice on writing, publishing, and everything in-between. And they do it TO SONG.

Authors, in order of appearance:
Jackson Pearce (AS YOU WISH, SISTERS RED)
Kristina Springer (THE ESPRESSOLOGIST)
Aimee Friedman (SEA CHANGE)
John Claude Bemis (THE NINE POUND HAMMER)
Cyn Balog (FAIRY TALE, SLEEPLESS)
Barry Lyga (GOTH GIRL RISING)
Ally Carter (, GALLAGHER GIRLS series, HEIST SOCIETY)
Aprilynne Pike (WINGS, SPELLS)
Shani Petroff (BEDEVILED)
Carrie Ryan (THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH)
Neesha Meminger (SHINE COCONUT MOON)
Jaclyn Dolamore (MAGIC UNDER GLASS)
Brenna Yovanoff (THE REPLACEMENT)
Margaret Stohl (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES)
Erin Dionne (THE TOTAL TRAGEDY OF A GIRL NAMED HAMLET)
Maggie Stiefvater (SHIVER)
Jennifer Jabaley (LIPSTICK APOLOGY)
Michelle Zink (PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS)
Jessica Burkhart (CANTERWOOD CREST series)
R.J. Anderson (KNIFE, REBEL)
Kami Garcia (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES)
Jenny Moss (WINNIE'S WAR, SHADOW)
Tessa Gratton (BLOOD MAGIC)
Lauren Bjorkman (MY INVENTED LIFE)
Becca Fitzpatrick (HUSH HUSH)
L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT)
Sarah Prineas (THE MAGIC THIEF series)
Saundra Mitchell (SHADOWED SUMMER)
Javier Ruescas (CUENTOS DE BERETH)

Original song performed by Baz Luhrman, written by Timothy John Cox and Nigel Andrew Swanston.

Online Marketing for Authors: it's about Joy and Luck

2010-01-13T17:25:00.009Z

I just read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and what an amazing book it is. I am quite overcome. It's not just the magical writing - it's the story of my life!

Near the end one the characters talks about being born in the Year of the Tiger. I paid close attention because I was born in the Year of the Tiger. As was my mother. And my daughter.

...Then she told me why a tiger is gold and black. It has two ways. The gold side leaps with its fierce heart. The black side stands still with cunning, hiding its gold between trees, seeing and not being seen, waiting patiently for things to come.

It is five months till the publication of Tall Story and my gold side is leaping.

So little time, so much marketing to do. Not to mention another novel to write.

At the same time, my black side is cringing in the shadows. Is it too soon to begin trumpeting my book? Isn't it too crushingly embarrassing to tell people yes, it's really good? What if I set up a Facebook page and nobody becomes a fan? What if I come across as vain and annoying? Whatifwhatifwhatifwhatif?

Chatting about the business of networking with my nephew, who is an aspiring conductor, - he told me something that really brought home what an enormous task I have ahead. I paraphrase:

Our instinct is to be self deprecating. We don't want to shout about how good we are because we don't want people to dislike us. But there comes a point when this becomes a real problem. We actually have to get better at telling people that we are good at what we do.

Get over yourself, I tell myself sternly. Just get on with it.

So in the mornings, I write a few hundred words towards my new novel. And in the afternoons I work on a list of Things to Do to promote my book.

This includes building a Facebook page - and if you're an author still wondering how to do it, here's a good how to , and what you can do to add a little extra something to it.
I've tarted up the profile I use to review books on Amazon.co.uk - it now has 'Author of Tall Story' tacked on to it.
I've set up my author profile on Amazon Author Central even though the US launch is not until 2011.
Set up a profile on Author Hotline as well.
I've reserved some blog domain names for future use.
and I'm redesigning my website to try to look half as good as Amy Tan's website (which is gorgeous, full of story, and has cute videos of her dogs)

I'm sure I've missed a zillion other things that authors can do to promote their wares on the net. Any of you readers have other items, hints, tips to add to my list? Please feel free to add to the comments.

Lucky for me, I have managed to appear on some lists without having to beg too hard or at all - the Happy Nappy Bookseller (probably the best blog name in the world!) put me on a list of authors of colour

Becky at beautifully designed blog The Bookette put me on her debut authors list

My good buddy photographer/columnist Mandy Navasero (who once taught me how to eat a pineapple with one hand while driving with the other) added me to her new year's defining moments column

Neni Sta Romana Cruz, a fantastic children's writer from the Philippines, wrote a Sunday magazine piece complete with uncombed pictures of me and my kids (haven't seen it yet but my Mom bought hundreds of copies)

Fiona Dunbar, author of the utterly brilliant, smart and hilarious Silk Sisters and Lulu Baker trilogies, who not only introduced me to my agent but in the new year gave me an utterly luscious plug in her blog.

Gillian Philip, whose book Crossing the Line, had me raging and weeping and upset for days (it's a really good read .. but be strong) picked Tall Story for her list of books she's looking forward to in 2010

MC Rogerson of the Life Beyond blog put me on her reading list for 2010

Even my old high school, St Theresa's College put me on their website (oh my, the memories!)

The Noisy Dog Blog (Sue Eves is the author of the whimsical Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog, now out in paperback) picked my short story as a bedtime read

And WikiPilipinas added me to their list of Ten Pinay Pride of 2009.

Wow. I am quite overcome by the kindness of friends and strangers.

Thank you so much.

Beware of Illustrators and Other Tips for Authors

2010-01-07T22:42:00.004Z

My friend Jeremy is nine and is DEFINITELY going to be an author when he grows up ... or when he gets published, whichever comes first.

His idea of a cool website is Thesaurus.com and I managed to score some points with him by showing him how to access the thesaurus on Microsoft Word. Write Your Own Fantasy Stories (by SCBWI's own Tish Farrell) is his current bible, although he is quick to tell me that there are other genres available in the series.

He agreed to make this video with me in exchange for my revealing the ending of my unpublished adventure book Ugly City. I think I got the better half of the deal, don't you?

If you can't see the video because you're viewing this on a reader or on Facebook, go straight to YouTube

I was awarded the One Lovely Blog Award by Lucy Coats over at Scribble Central and by Mary Hoffman at Book Maven. For which, thank you so much!

Now I must pass on the lovely happy feelings to other blogs - I don't think I'm allowed to repeat those on Lucy and Mary's lists but no worries, there are so many great blogs out there and here are some of them!

1. The Book Thunker by 10 Year Old Boy Living in London

2. The Noisy Dog Blog by Sue Eves

3. Seven Miles of Steel Thistles by Katherine Langrish

4. Asia in the Heart by Tarie Sabido

5. Tall Tales and Short Stories by Tracy Ann Baines

6. Bewildered by Margaret Carey

7. Almost True by Keren David

8. The Bookette by Becky

9. Shoo Rayner's Blog

10. Sue Hyams' Blog

Oh! I forgot to mention I just discovered this cool blog The First Novels Club - what a great idea for a blog! I wish I got it first!

Notes from the Slushpile's Year That Was

2010-01-03T01:49:00.001Z

If 2009 were a story arc, it would be one with a happy but tension-filled cliff hanger.

This is the year I officially moved off the Slushpile into The Beyond. Or have I? Will getting published fulfil my dreams or create new miseries? Will life as I know it change for the better? Or for the worse? Will readers like my book or hate it?

My first post in January 2009 was filled with hope and happiness, I surveyed what kids in my neighbourhood read in 2008. Here's the video I made:

I celebrated my friend Sue Eves' new book The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog with an interview. I hear it's doing very well indeed!

In February, as the screws of the credit crunch tightened, I advised authors building an online presence not to go wide but go deep.

Let me quote myself:

If you are a children's author writing about aliens, you don't want someone searching for "book" to find you. You want someone searching for "children's book about aliens". It's the quality of the traffic that counts, not the number. You don't want to be found by just anyone. You want people who are actually likely to reach into their wallets

...If you are trying to use social networking sites to raise your profile ... it's better to have one social network that really works for you than half a dozen that don't. It's the quality of the network, not the quantity (ie. You don't want to friend 3,000 people who will never buy your book) ...

March was the month I read the wonderful Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd, who died in the summer of 2007. It made me so sad to think there would be no more Siobhan Dowd books to come.

April was busy, busy, busy!

There was the launch of the second Undiscovered Voices competition - the very same competition that gave me a leg up, helping persuade my agent to take me on.

Then I discovered that Kathleen Duey, author of the amazing Skin Hunger, was writing a novel on Twitter!

Then I posted a whole bunch of stuff from the London Book Fair including this piece on what UK editors were looking for. If you're my friend on Facebook, you might have also noticed me updating my status with LBF facts Twitter-fashion (that was fun because each update launched hilarious conversations amongst my FB pals).

Then I participated in a monsters and zombies Comics Jam (my lovely friend Sarah "The Mankiest" McIntyre was one of the cartoonists there) at the Crystal Palace Children's Book Festival organized by author illustrator Alex Milway (of Mousehunter fame). On the right is my drawing of the kids I took to the festival (as zombies ... they didn't really have leaky brains).

Whew. April. Come she will.

May blew in - it was sunny, remember? I helped my friend Fiona Dunbar (Pink Chameleon) edit her video, found out what a textonym was (the textonym for book is cool, isn't that cool?), drove cross country from Sarwat Chadda's magnificent book launch to the SCBWI retreat.

The coolest thing about the launch of Devil's Kiss, the dark un-putdownable novel by Sarwat Chadda (pictured with spear), was this:

One of the younger guests at the launch was so engrossed in the book he ignored all the proceedings. What a compliment!

Then I discovered the text to movie website Xtranormal via uber-blogging author Nicola Morgan (Deathwatch), whose DIY video had me rolling around under my desk.

For most of June I was busy with my day job and barely managed to post. Sorry about that.

I was still terribly busy designing websites in July and was shocked to receive some mail from the Vogon Postal Service ... as well as proofs of my very first little book, Animal Tricksters for Oxford University (Daughter is pictured holding it at right).

In August, I blogged about attending Arvon's Writing for Teenagers Course with Malorie Blackman and Melvin Burgess. Melvin kindly sent me off with this message of hope:

My friend Mark Hudson's book Titian: the Last Days came out and I helpfully made this video with his daughter - titled 'My Dad Wrote a Book' and scored to the tune of Bing Crosby's version of Yessir That's My Baby, the video was mentioned by the Guardian when it picked Mark's book as one of the best travel books for 2009:

In September, I attended a workshop on writing Fantasy led by Working Partners editor Sara O'Connor, who basically told us to slash and slash again. "KILL those darlings," she cried! "KILL KILL KILL!" Sara is pictured right, kindly advising attendees during the manuscript review session.

There was also a radio programme about how street performers built and kept their audiences and I was struck by the painful similarities to authors.

September ended happily with the launch of The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 by fellow Undiscovered Voices author Harriet Goodwin. After the launch, we took pictures of each other posing with random books. That's Sarwat with Twilight, Margaret with When Cats Turn Bad, and me with Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country.

With October, came Blog Action Day - the day bloggers get together and try to effect change. This year's topic was Climate Change which would have been a perfect time to plug the fact that I had a story in the new climate change anthology Under the Weather edited by Tony Bradman ...but there were more serious things going on. The terrible issue of Climate Change was horrifically brought home by a deluge of biblical proportions in my native Philippines. Thousands were left homeless and several hundred people died.

And then November came and with it, life-changing news.

Tall Story, my novel about a boy with gigantism, sold to David Fickling Books, of Random House. It felt like I was moving from one scary fairground ride to another.

From trying to get published:

To trying to succeed as a published author:

With all the possibilities ... good and bad.

The bad news that the Publishing industry endured in December ...

... gave us all a lot to think about.

All the good reasons why we do what we do as writers. And all the reasons why we should keep going.

For me personally, now that I'm on the cusp of becoming a published author, I've got to change mindsets - I've been blogging for an audience of writers, how do I reach the readers? Suddenly I've got to practice what I've been preaching on this blog! It's exhilirating and scary at the same time.

A graphic from the Facebook page I made for Tall Story:

One can only do one's best.

So farewell, 2009 - what a year that was!

2010.

Here we go.

Geeked Up for Christmas: TALL STORY has a Facebook Fan Page!

2009-12-25T20:41:00.006Z

At one of the London Book Fair seminars on marketing this year, one of the facts bandied about was that more people now use Facebook instead of email for online communication.

Not being totally on the ball that day, I can't provide you with the exact source/figures, but trust me, it must be true.

One of the websites I designed this year belonged to someone who didn't have time for social networking. When we reviewed the website's visitor stats however, we discovered that most visitors came from Facebook!

Indeed, Facebook has become such a distracting force in my own life that I have had to leave the house (and the internet) and work in coffee shops to avoid getting caught up in its allure.

A neat little app called 'My Year in Status' collated the best of my FB status updates - revealing how much I enjoyed hanging out on FB:

Click on the image to see it in readable size

If you've been living in the Real World, you might not know what a status update is. Facebookers post short status updates of what they're up to, what they're thinking, what they're doing. Status updates can be very entertaining and addicting especially if, like me, many of your FB friends are fabulously witty.

It's a bit like Twittering or Tweeting, except it's less ephemeral, and you can comment and have conversations with other commenters. (And please don't ask me what Twitter is.)

Last week my author friend Elizabeth Pisani sent me a link on how to build a Facebook Fan Page. To a compulsive geekoholic like me, it was a temptation not to be resisted.

SHAMELESS PROMOTION: Elizabeth's book is pictured right. Please buy it. You know you want to understand sexual health, prostitution and the politics of Aids funding.

Building an FB page for my book TALL STORY was a fascinating exercise. So was thinking through how to promote it and get people to actually become fans of the page (my KEY STRATEGY: uninhibited BEGGING).

I created this landing page for people who happen to search for TALL STORY:

You can read about how to create a landing page here. The page, that is, not the image, which I put together using Photoshop.

And once you become a fan, you get this page:

(The red heart and scrawlings are just me pointing out the fun stuff)

To make the page a bit more exciting, you've got to create an image that will tell people why the hell they would want to sign up as a fan. Graphic skills are very useful. Or a publisher's art department. Or an artistic teenager.

The word fan, of course, is a misnomer because TALL STORY will not exist in the real world until June 2010. I wish FB used the word 'follower' or 'person who thinks they might possibly like...' - but there you go. Fan it's got to be.

Now, I love adding friends on FB (I'm a bit easy that way). At last count, I had 457 friends. Oops.

Mini digression: I was writing in the cafe the other day when I overheard two women discussing teen novels. As they were leaving, one of them turned to me and said, 'Candy, is that you?' It was the author Keren David (When I Was Joe), who I had friended on FB. With her was Gaby Halberstam (The Red Dress).

As a result of the meeting, I managed to schmooze an advance copy of When I Was Joe and got to read The Red Dress ... and OMG lucky me, these two titles turned out to be terrific! Definitely on my list of STAND-OUT young fiction reads of the year!

Shameless but Sincere Promotion: READ READ READ When I Was Joe and The Red Dress!

Where was I?

Back to TALL STORY's Facebook Page: I begged classmates, friends and acquaintances to help me not look like a fool and become a fan. And lo and behold, the last time I looked (today) I had 136 fans.

THANK YOU, fan people. YOU ARE AWESOME! If I could pay you for your awesomeness, I would. Instead, I promise to make the page as interesting and relevant to YOU as I can.

And to all the lovely authors hoping to build their own FB fan page, watch this space, once I've managed to digest the tonnage of Christmas junk I've consumed during these holidays, I pledge to post a How To article taking you through the Facebook Page process step by step and in simple, ungeekified English.

It would be a cool way for Notes from the Slushpile to celebrate the new year.

Many happy returns this holiday season!

Me, the husband and kids pose for our annual holiday portrait

... and have a MAGNIFICENT 2010!

Selfridges goes for fairy tales ... with grotesque retail twists.

2009-12-20T18:03:00.002Z

Daughter and I were in shopping calvary on Oxford Street when we chanced upon Selfridge's fairy tale themed window displays.

A terrifying Goldilocks with petrified bears.

And Red Riding Hood is scarier than the wolf

And what a shapely Puss in Boots

And here's Cinderella's glamorous interruptus moment

And the mice flee with a golden slipper

And Captain Hook is stuck with a display of clocks!

And Snow White is good as dead (here shown with one of the seven dwarfs portrayed by clown faced child mannequins ... shudder)

All good fun with just that touch of darkness fairy tales are known for.

Christmas Bloodbath at Borders

2009-12-15T15:50:00.002Z

This made me sad today.

Christmas Advice for members of My Mum is Writing A Novel Anonymous

2009-12-10T10:13:00.008Z

I was going to do a list of book gifts for children but then I thought, why should I make one for THEM when nobody ever gets it right for ME?

Kids, don't be fooled when you see Facebook or Google on the screen. Your Mum really is writing a novel.

So here, selfishly, is a wish list for all members of My Mum is Writing a Novel Anonymous (or MyMumWanna, for short). It can of course also be used by members of My Dad/Wife/Husband/Aunt/Uncle/Grandpa/Grandma/Dog is Writing a Novel.

Members of My Mum Is Writing A Novel Anonymous taking a break from complaining that there is no dinner on the table.

And it is perfectly decent to forward this list to your other parent ... or relatives with big fat wallets (like Grandpa).

Grandpa

1 You might have noticed your mum hovering around you whenever you're on Sims2 or World of Warcraft. That's probably because she's desperate to use the computer.

Mums Who Write Novels NEED THEIR OWN LAPTOPS. If your Mum Who's Writing a Novel is still using the family PC or using Dad's old laptop from work running Windows 95 - then you should be ASHAMED of yourself!

To help your clever little mind focus, I heartily recommend the one I got myself this year after one of the children sat on my extremely expensive super slim Sony Vaio - the Asus EeePC 1005HA Seashell..

It's crap at making coffee though.

Why do I recommend it? Geekophobics look away now.

It's 10.1 inches. Its battery lasts for TEN hours (that's what they claim - mine lasts for eight with the wi-fi off. Still not bad)- excellent for typing up chapters in Caffe Nero while waiting for school to finish, or typing in the car while waiting outside ballet. I am a speedy typist and the keys, unlike other laptops, are slightly separate from each other. It fits in my handbag. It's only £250plus quid (less than that set of golf clubs).

And it isn't one of those sexy slim ones that are prone to getting broken in two by 10-year-old bottoms.

2 So does your Mum Who is Writing That Novel have a website yet? Could it be because she didn't have the technical know-how to set it up herself? Has it OCCURRED to you to HELP HER SET IT UP using all the free websites out there Wordpress and Blogger for blogs and Jimdo, Weebly, Squarespace for websites? Think how embarrassing it must be when she meets other writers.

"Do you have a website?"
"No."
"But you've got a teenager!"

For SHAME!

I mean, it's not like you've got better things to do, like save the world.

3 And while you're at it, register a DOMAIN for her website! Now that's a Christmas present that will make her grateful FOREVER (it costs less than a tenner too, if it's a co.uk)

In the olden days, only one or two women had their own domain. Virginia Woolf wrote, "A woman must have ... a room of her own if she is going to write" ... but that was before publishing became big business and authors had to learn to promote themselves!

4 So maybe your Mum Who Is Writing That Book already has a laptop, already has a website and blogs as well. What do you give the Writing Mum Who's Doing It All?

Get her a mini camcorder! I got a Flip Mino last Christmas (but you should get the HD version) and it's so easy to use, it plugs into the laptop via a USB connection, and has great sound.

As long as you make sure she gets to use it once in a while.

Fantastic for quick little videos to put on the blog, keeping a child amused while you're trying to compose that last line in the chapter, or recording sound.

Aside: it's not really designed for recording sound but I use it to record sound then convert it into MP3 because I haven't got an audio interface (Or royalty free music. Just saying). Didn't include them in the list because a bit beyond geeky for this subject. Ah well. Hint. Hint.

5 BOOKS are of course the obvious gift to a Mum Who Keeps Writing. But because life has been a little bit hard this year for the book industry (and obviously your Mum WANTS to support the book industry) it would be a REALLY THOUGHTFUL THING if you actually went out and bought the books in A PLACE WITH A SHOP WINDOW!

Get your electronic goods from Amazon by all means, but books? Buy them in a shop! And get one of those free bookmarks with the shop's logo on it, stick it in the book, and scribble - "I didn't just order this online, Mum!"

Bless.

Can bookshops do no Wong?

(Thanks, Kathy for the link)

Added later: It just occurred to me that readers might want to add their own items to this list. Like writing kit. Or books you would love to see under the tree instead of that four inch thick coffee table book about Michael Palin traveling around the world again. Or three book deals.

Christmas Blog Challenge: Love Reading? Love INDIE Bookstores!

2009-12-08T16:32:00.003Z

The bad news about Borders calling in the receivers has cast a shadow over the bookselling world.

It's Christmas time and I'll bet the temptation to buy all your presents from Amazon is huge.

Well here's the thing: the culture of READING is under threat.

Libraries are closing. Amazon has become all powerful. And with only a few big players left in the bookselling market - Waterstones and the supermarkets - our reading culture which is enriched by diversity and choice is under threat.

Liz Hoggard in an Independent article called on readers to support local independents this Christmas.

In the New Year, the UK Booksellers Association will be launching an Indiebound campaign based on a successful Indiebound campaign in the United States.

I think we authors and illustrators can also help raise awareness for Indie booksellers.

So here's a blog challenge for Christmas:

I have created a website called Bookshop Love on which I hope to feature independent bookstores up and down the country.

My challenge to you is to write short features about your local indie bookseller.

Post it on your blog or website and I will cross-post it on the blog! Send me your links on mumatwork AT blueyonder.co.uk (don't forget to change the AT to @!

It's not difficult - here's how to do it if you don't feel like marching up there and demanding an interview

Google your chosen bookstore and get hold of their email address.
Email them with the following message: I am participating in a blog challenge designed to support local independent bookstores and I have chosen you as the bookshop I would like to feature on my blog. I would be very grateful if you would reply to these questions and perhaps send me some photographs of your shop.
You can ask what you want - but do cover the following bases:
1. Please give me a brief bio of your shop
2. Tell us about your clientele
3.Can you recommend five children's titles (we're children's book people after all)

And don't forget to ask for pictures! Of the shop or of a window display!

Post it on your blog or website.
THEN send me a link and a short bio about YOU. I will cross post the article on Bookshop Love, ending with a short profile about the author (you ... so there's somethign in it for you too)!

Please join this challenge.

WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND SO MUCH (AS AUTHORS) TO GAIN!

(and do forward this challenge to an author near you!)
Thank you in advance,

Candy Gourlay

My First Publisher's Christmas Party

2009-12-07T17:55:00.003Z

Here's what Random House children's books people do when nobody's looking. You might want to play some lively music while watching it, as it's a silent movie.
If you can't see it here, you can find it on YouTube

I was relieved when I saw that the Book Brunch Children's Column had a report on the Random House Children's Books Christmas Party. I feel honour-bound to report it (it's my first publisher's party after all!) BUT:

1 I was so busy combing my hair (a mother at my daughter's school once called me "Never Knowingly Combed") that I forgot to take my camera. Besides, I was wearing a dress. Which hurt.

2 The party was so full of famous people I spent a lot of time artfully avoiding them.

3 I can't remember the names of all the nice people I met apart from an editor who confessed that he was a certain anonymous blogging editor (I remember his name but it would be pointless revealing it here!).

Anyway, what with trying not to have to talk to Philip Pullman (he looks just like his photographs but I didn't want to get too close in case he wanted me to say something about Original Sin), and worshipping Jacqueline Wilson without catching her eye (sorry, Jackie, that was me breathing down your neck), it was tricky being the new kid on the block.

Thankfully I did meet a bunch of people who live in and around my neighbourhood (what is it about the Holloway Road that attracts all these hacks and authors?). Also, at the pub later, David Fickling bought me a pint without realising it (there were people queuing and his was the fastest wallet).

I also learned a lot about publishing from various lovely people there who make up the very valuable cogs and wheels of the Random House factory - from supplies (she's Canadian) to marketing (he plays the piano) and publicity (she's pregnant)!

I know, I know, there is a shameful lack of useful information and photographs in this post, so to make it up to you, here is a Very Important Video :

Thanks to Philip Ardagh for the link.
If you can't see it here, go directly to YouTube

Eleanor Farjeon Awards 2009 - David Fickling's Big Idea

2009-11-30T21:00:00.004Z

There was such a dearth of reportage about this year's Eleanor Farjeon Award which was held on the 17th of November that I thought I would make a bit of noise about it.

For those of you who have not been paying attention - this is the award generously sponsored by the estate of Eleanor Farjeon (pictured right) given for distinguished service to the world of children's books.

Authors have won it ...notably Philip Pullman, Jacquelyn Wilson, Malorie Blackman, Michael Rosen, Shirley Hughes - all individuals easily referred to as 'National Treasure'. Other winners are more obscure - librarians, literacy campaigners, people who are passionate about reading. But national treasures, nonetheless.

Indeed, this year's winner is Moira Arthur who spent 31 years in library supply, specialising in children's books (Had to nick this photo of Moira with Jacquelyn Wilson from the Peter's website, my photos at the awards weren't good enough to put up!).

Please make sure to read about Moira and other nominees at the end of this post. These people are the heartbeat of children's literacy - and people like us, who want to write for children, should give credit where credit is due.

The guest speaker was David Fickling (my publisher!) - who had a very interesting proposition to the great and good of children's publishing assembled at the awards. Here he is, outlining the problem - that individuals and large corporations get rich on children's publishing while the institutions that create the culture that supports them suffers from a lack of funds -

David: "Non-readers form a very good anti-literacy rump, an anti-intellectual rump in our own society. If you come out of school and say 'I don't like books', you then VOTE against books. And you don't think libraries have any point whatsoever. 'We hate books' turns into 'What's the point?'"

And here is his big idea:

If you can't see the video, watch it on YouTube

Bestsellers funding Literacy?

We can only wait and see if any publishers care to take the idea and run with it.

This year's nominees:

Moira Arthur has spent 31 years in library supply – specialising in children’s books. She has been instrumental in developing Peters into the largest children’s library supplier in the UK. Her extensive knowledge of children’s books and libraries allowed her to develop the highly successful Romread, Peters Bookselling Services’ book review and order service on CD-Rom. In 2005 Romread was superseded by PetraNet and this gave customers, worldwide, access to the full range of children’s stockholding via the web.

IBBY’s founder, Jella Lepman, believed that books could build bridges of understanding and peace between people. Because of this strongly held belief, she created IBBY as an international organization that would bring children together by means of books. Fifty-six years later IBBY has seventy-two national sections that still work towards building bridges of understanding. The wars are still raging and children are still the victims. IBBY believe that every child has the right to become a reader and see this as a fundamental right and the doorway to empowerment for every child. As an organization IBBY believe that children who are suffering from natural disaster, displacement, war and its aftermath, desperately need books and stories as well as food, shelter, clothing and medicines. IBBY's programme of workshops and children in crisis projects around the world all work towards this goal.

Anne Marley’s day job is Head of the Children’s, Youth and Schools Library Service in Hampshire. She also manages the Branford Boase Award (set up with Julia Eccleshare) for first time writers and the Henrietta Branford Writing competition for young people, now in its 10th anniversary year. In addition, she organises the Wessex Children’s Book Festival. Her love of Children’s literature has seen her act as chair of several societies and groups including the Children's Book Circle, the Youth Libraries Group and CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards. Her wonderful work extends overseas also. In 2002, she was involved in persuading P & O Cruises to freight out 4,000 new children’s books to St Lucia and raising £6,000 for the libraries to spend on new books. She has also visited Kazakhstan and Trinidad and Tobago, working for the British Council, trying to improve the provision of books and school libraries in those countries.

Gill and John McLay
Gill McLay works alongside her husband John as an International Literary Scout for several European Children’s Book Publishers. After studying Marketing and Publishing at Oxford Brookes University, Gill began her publishing career at a small book publisher in London. She joined independent children’s book publisher Barefoot Books in Bath in 2000. Then in 2003, she joined Egmont Books overseeing key accounts including W H Smiths, Ottakars and latterly Waterstone’s Booksellers. Gill became a director of the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature in 2007 and oversees an extensive programme of author events in Schools throughout the South West region. Gill also organises the children’s publishing
seminars for London Bookfair each Spring and runs a course at Bath Spa University sponsored by NAWE for authors on running events for children and working in schools.

John McLay is an international literary scout for children’s and young adult books, working with some of the biggest children’s publishers throughout the world advising them on the best books to acquire and translate. He began his career at the BBC in London and after several years as a bookseller for Waterstone’s, he joined Puffin Books where he edited Puffin Post magazine for the Puffin Book Club. He then became an editor at children’s book packager Working Partners and helped launch series as Animal Ark, Rainbow Magic andPuppy Patrol. He set up the non-profit making Bath Festival of Children’s Literature in 2007 with his wife, Gill. The largest independent book festival dedicated solely to children’s books, the 10-day ‘The Bath Kids Lit Fest’ has just completed a record-breaking third year and has quickly become established in the children’s publishing calendar. John is also an anthologist, reviewer and lecturer on ‘Contemporary Children’s Publishing’ at Bath Spa University on their MA in Writing For Young People.

The Unicorn Theatre is the national flagship theatre for children and young people in the UK. It is the only purpose-built theatre for young people in the capital. In addition to the theatre’s own award-winning plays, they present the best regional, national and international theatre for young audiences. Integral to their programme is a multi-layered participatory, education and youth programme. All their work emphasises the vital role that theatre and the arts play in enriching children’s learning. Opened in December 2005, the Unicorn warmly welcomes families and schools to their two theatres, education studio, rehearsal studio and café. A permanent acting ensemble is at the heart of both their stage and audience outreach work. The oldest professional theatre for children in the UK, the Unicorn was founded in 1947 by Caryl Jenner whose unique vision inspire the building of this flagship theatre.

The Reading Agency is an independent charity with a mission to inspire more people to read more. They believe that reading changes lives, and that everyone should have an equal chance to become a reader. They specialise in spreading reading by working with public libraries, and run some big national reading programmes and partnerships. For children and young people these include the huge Summer Reading Challenge (involving 690,000 children a year); Chatterbooks reading groups, http://www.groupthing.org/ – a teenage reading website, and a new publisher/library partnership scheme called Children’s Reading Partners.

Ros Bartlett is Assistant Head at The Earls High School, Halesowen, but as a volunteer, joined The Federation of Children’s Book Groups eleven years ago. Previously she acted as chair but in her current role she supports the work of 32 Children’s Book Groups all over the country, as well as encouraging new groups to be set up. All of Ros’s efforts have been concerned with encouraging young people’s enthusiasm for reading. She recognised that getting young people to read meant that you had to read to them, no matter the age, and it is this interaction which supports children on their reading journey. In 1998, with a small group of volunteers, Ros established the Dudley Children’s Book Group which aims to bring a whole community together, from children to grandparents, writers to librarians. Ros encapsulates the wonderful contribution that can be made by an individual and represents the work of thousands of other volunteers dedicated to the promotion of getting young people reading.

SCBWI Conference 2009: How We Live Now Part One

2009-11-28T15:01:00.003Z

When I first started trying to get published, a friend gave me the worst advice in the world:

"Whatever you do, don't show your work to anyone!"

The novel was buried under an avalanche of rejections of course. Two years of not showing my work to anyone! What a big waste of time! Realizing that I had much to learn, I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and attended my first conference.

That was 2003. Six years later, here I am at the conference but there's a difference. It's not just that I've finally, extraordinarily got a book deal ... but this has been a bumper year for SCBWI with so many of its loyal members finally scoring publication deals. There is joy and a whole lotta hope as you can see from these highlights:

I have to start with a video, just because author Sue Eves' (The Quiety Woman and the Noisy Dog) school visit demonstration was such a delight (and oh, god, what a hard act to follow!). Note to self: enrol in clown school to prepare for new world of School Visits ...

If you can't see the video go straight to YouTube to view it.

This was part of a lively talk about Getting Your Work Out There - with Fiona Dunbar (who also gave a talk about writing trilogies) and Cliff McNish (who gave a talk on how there were only five plots in the world of story). Here are all three looking very demure just after their talk:

Of course we didn't see much of Winchester because we spent all our time indoors ... but SCBWI's Mister Intrepid, Paolo Romeo, got this shot the night before we retired to our classrooms:

Aww. Now we know what we were missing while we were indoors.

Nevertheless, it was all go at the conference - here are Ben and Addy selling SCBWI badges that made declarations like "Make Every Word Count" and "I heart Kids Books".

The badge extravaganza inspired me to create my own (well, it was something Ben said, actually):

I have censored it out of fear of what my Mum would say if she saw it ... but it's a fitting message to all the procrastinators (me included) out there.

This year we had a lot of mini events - artfully crafted to coincide with coffee breaks to reduce traffic! Here's author Lee Weatherly (who just sold a YA fantasy trilogy to Usborne - a first!) delivering a synopsis workshop - in 15 MINUTES!

Faster, Lee! Faaaster!

Part of the nefarious traffic control scheme (concocted by organizer Margaret Carey), included a Lucky Dip, in which our Lucky Dip was Oxford University Press commissioning editor Jasmine Richards (I am pictured schmoozing Jasmine below). Dippers got a chance to pitch to Jasmine who said yes, send it, or no thank you. I hear that some people got very Lucky indeed.

I attended Steve Hartley's talk about designing characters following a Jungian model. Apparently, you can divide personalities into four - Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives, and Amiables. It's the kind of talk improved by doing impressions - and yes, Steve, despite denying it, I think you can do a Billy Connolly impression. Here's Steve demonstrating what an Expressive looks like:

It was a fab conference and there's so much to write but I'll leave it there for now - haven't even mentioned Meg Rosoff's hilarious speech and Gillian McClure's wonderful pictures!

If you want a more sensible report of the conference, do visit Sue Hyam's blog.

But I promise I shall be back with more!

My Book Deal - thrilled to be moving from one roller coaster to another!

2009-11-14T11:46:00.002Z

So. It has happened. I've got a book deal! On June 2010, TALL STORY is going to become a real book with real pages and a cover and a publisher!

And not just any publisher, David Fickling Books!

AND not just David Fickling, but something very important to me - a publisher in my native Philippines in the form of RayVi Sunico!

OMG!

When I started trying to write novels NINE years ago, I thought, how hard can it be? I was a journalist writing hundreds of words a day. Surely children's fiction wouldn't be that hard. It would be great fun! I was a bit like a kid getting on a ride at a funfair.

I had no idea it was going to be like this:

And like this:

A lot of the time, it was more painful than fun. But it was still fun enough to keep going.

And finally getting a contract is like, well, changing the ride.

Going off into another unknown!

Up and up and up!

Am I ready for what lies ahead?

Well at the moment, it's all looking good!

But there's a lot of hard work up ahead! The stakes are suddenly higher.

And I must remind myself why I write.

I must remind myself that beyond getting published, the reason I write is because I love it.

Reason enough to keep going.

Thank you to the hundreds of emails and wow, what a buzz that was on Facebook and on the SCBWI message board and in the Philippines, oh, the Philippine flag was waving!

It really, really is beyond fantastic!

The X Factor, Rejections and Other Visitations

2009-11-09T22:21:00.001Z

Another shock exit on the X-Factor.

I have a morbid fascination for the programme. The process is not dissimilar to the whole submission-rejection mangle that writers must suffer.

Simon Cowell: "They're going to lose anyway."

Rejecting editor: "They're not going to sell anyway."

Oh the pain.

Meanwhile, one of my regulars, Hugo (10) has produced this image of me working at my desk:

Me working at my desk by Hugo. Click on the image to view a bigger version.

I've added in arrows to draw your attention to Hugo's eye for detail and sense of humour. The poster above my desk reads 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. His version reads: 'Keep scared and Freak Out'. He draws himself pointing an accusing finger at me and saying, "YOU TWITTER." Wow. I feel guilty already. He notices that I am not wearing any shoes and I appear to be humming with pleasure as I pound at the keyboard.

Thank you, Hugs. Very well observed.

What my desk actually looks like.

Meanwhile another of my young friends has been busy.

Naissa (10), whose parents happen to be acrobats, has just written and illustrated a novel! She spent the summer in Brazil (where the parents were busy wowing Brazilians) and wrote YUKIM. The hero (from whom the book gets its title) sets off on a magical journey with his companion, a doormouse named Domonic. Naissa's mum tells me she was much inspired by the Christopher Paolini book, Bresinger.

Well done, Naissa! (And well done, Christopher Paolini!)

John Green is Doing NanoWriMo!

2009-11-06T09:38:00.001Z

... and John says:

"Nanowrimo forces the writer to be disciplined and gives the writer permission to SUCK!"

If you can't see the video go to YouTube

A Return to Shamelessly Promoting my Writing Friends

2009-11-02T00:44:00.007Z

Time for one of those apologies.

Yeah. I've been neglecting the blog. I've kind of been busy looking at this:

And this:

Yes, it was sunny in Cornwall. Yes, this was taken in October. Climate change, wouldn't you know? And that climate change anthology Under the Weather featuring my story is now available on Amazon! But that's another blog post ...

As a result, I've neglected an opportunity to shamelessly promote the successes of my friends (what else is a blog for but to shout on behalf of your cohorts?).

Anyway, my friend Steve Hartley recently treated me to a proof copy of his first Danny Baker Record Breaker book (out in January) - with this brilliant dedication:

I don't think I am the world's best web designer, but hey, I'm a dab hand at Photoshop ... check out Steve all decked out in Leonardo di Caprio's body:

and posing with his hero, Gromit:

Check out Steve's website to see him in the bodies of John Cleese, William Tell and Russell Crowe

And then of course I should have been shamelessly promoting the launch of a TV series based on my friend Fiona Dunbar's wonderful Lulu Baker trilogy. Conveniently, an advance screening was held just up the road from my house and so I took my gang along to watch. Here's a picture of Fiona with my girls:

And here's Fiona with the lovely cast (note, the lady on the floor is Chizzi Akudolu who plays the fairy godmother - someone to watch: such a funny woman!)

My gang, by the way, are hardened followers of Fiona's books. They enjoyed the screening massively but were dismayed to discover that Fiona's carefully crafted baddy Varaminta (gold-digger and author of the deliciously titled bestseller Thin Like Me), had been converted from wicked-stepmother-to-end-all-stepmothers to a loveable wrongheaded marshmallow with a different hairdo per episode.

So much so they cornered the actress (she's the one at far right in the pic of Fiona with the cast) and demanded to know WHY VARAMINTA WASN'T BAD ANYMORE? The actress (I foolishly forgot to write down her name, for which, sorry!) was very accommodating and kindly explained that Fiona's trilogy had a beginning, middle and an end whereas the TV series would have to carry on and the character had to be reimagined for that purpose (as an author I was secretly chuffed to see they were so attached to the book!)

After the show, Fiona was mobbed, mobbed! for autographs! Wow!

I suppose one could call it, Fiona's Madonna moment ..

Glory! Fame!

And now they've reissued the books with new covers based on the series! OMG.

Way to go!

(Well, I've got a way to go ... but you guys are definitely on the right track!)

Jinx's first episode aired on CBBC on 31st October, Halloween at 10.30am. If you're based in the UK, you can view it again on the BBC iplayer - episode 1 Baker House Blend and episode 2 Dead and Butter Pudding (the Halloween episode is great!)

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change is Not the End of the World

2009-10-16T00:31:00.008+01:00

Today is Blog Action Day. That's the day when bloggers get together to effect change and this year's topic is Climate Change.

Which is super relevant to me because next month, my short story How to Build the Perfect Sand Castle is going to be published in Under the Weather, an anthology about Climate Change published by Frances Lincoln.

My short story is based loosely on the plight of an island in my native Philippines where the effects of a one degree rise in sea temperature and uncontrolled development have caused the rapid erosion of its beautiful white sand beach.

I live in England where Climate Change feels like this horrible thing that lurks somewhere in the far future. It is a dystopian fantasy, a worst case scenario that exists on the websites of environmental campaigners and mealy mouthed politicians.

Well last month, Climate Change made a personal appearance in the Philippines in the form of Typhoon Ketsana (locally known as Ondoy), which created a deluge that was biblical in proportion.

To mark Blog Action Day I made this video reflection on the epic flood. I took liberties with photographs and videos posted on the internet for which many thanks to the various sources (including my friend Mike Alcazaren and my brother Randy Quimpo).

The text is an excerpt from the powerful re-imagining of the Noah's Ark story by Geraldine McCaughrean, Not the End of the World. The music is Dapithapon by Joey Ayala from his Lumad sa Syudad album.

If you can't see the video go straight to its page on YouTube

Please give to the Red Cross Philippine Floods Appeal

Please help victims of the monster-flood in the Philippines

2009-10-02T17:04:00.003+01:00

It seemed to happen while I wasn't looking.

I've been away on a trip that involved a lot of driving, no mobile signals and no access to the internet. The first I heard of the floods in the Philippines was a series of messages on Facebook, my contacts in the Philippines sending out thanks and appeals.

The Philippines is used to lashings of typhoons but this is different.

Here's a video from CNN:

The New York Times has this slideshow of photographs showing the appalling conditions in the aftermath of the floods.

As I write, another storm has struck the Philippines. If you are based in the UK, you can help by giving to the Red Cross appeal.