Mayhewmania: in which our hero Jonathan Mayhew launches Mortlock and a flock of SCBWI fans turn up

So yeah, I was supposed to still be blogging about Bologna - about Ellen Hopkins' really cool talk about writing for teenagers and how to win prizes as explained by Leonard Marcus and the making of Coralilne as told by Fiona Kenshole and various other cool bits and pieces that happened.

But events have overtaken me.

Specifically, the launch of Jonathan Mayhew's amazing new Victorian gothic book MORTLOCK (the young heroine is a knife thrower. How cool is that?)

I went to the book launch (originally, I wasn't invited but we SCBWI people have our ways and managed to force Jon to give up some invites).

It was a thrilling evening at the Water Poet pub in Shoreditch - if you ignored the fabulous shopping and cafes and restaurants, it's like, cobbled Jack the Ripper land. Here is a slideshow of launch photos (thanks to Kathryn Evans and Sue Eves for additional photos):



Did I mention that most of the attendees had a striking resemblance to Jon?

The Mayhew family. Jon said the heroes were composites of his children - or did he say villains?

The SCBWI crowd turned up dressed in Victorian black with a touch of raven and shadows.

 

Bex, Sue, Kathy, Paolo, Laura, Sue, Anita

A tall, dark and handsome stranger flung himself into Mr. Mayhew's arms. It was the Dark Knight aka fellow author of gothic horror Sarwat Chadda.

Dances with Gothic Horror authors

Actors acted.

 

Beautiful women threw themselves at Jon's feet.

He wrote my name down!

The book itself was a thing of beauty.

Red endpapers and pages edged in black

Congratulations, Jon! We are proud of you!

My First Publisher's Christmas Party

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

SCBWI Conference 2009: How We Live Now Part One

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!

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:

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!