Exploring the mystery of creativity.
The delicious mystery of creativity
I’m Boring and I Like It!
Have you seen The Shining? Holy hotel in the snow. It’s feckin’ scary, right? When Shelley Duvall discovers what her husband has really been writing, over and over and over for the past however long, what he’s really been bashing out on that typewriter for WEEKS, we (the audience) know without a doubt that the …
Three common mistakes picture book authors make with voice
Three common mistakes picture book authors make. How to write a picture book.
How I Became a Kidlit Author, and How I Can Support Your Kidlit Dreams, too
Early in the 1980s when I was working as a nurse, I decided to write a children’s book.The first story I wrote was about a rat. A rat that lived inside a muddy riverbank, wore a suit and —worked in the stock market (go figure). I think it was some kind of Wind in the Willows rip-off.I …
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One Piece of Life-Changing Advice
Several years ago a stranger approached me (via email). She wanted to meet for coffee. She wanted to talk to me about creativity and writing and the world of children’s literature and…creativity. When you're an author you often get requests like this. And by-and-large my fallback is no. I mean, can you imagine what it’s …
Stop Looking at Me, Oprah! Or, Why Settings Are So Important to Your Stories
This time last year, (it was winter, I remember it well ), I went down to Melbourne for the weekend. I was catching up with family, having dinner with my publisher, doing a spot of shopping. All the nice things. Instead of staying in a hotel, I decided I try an air bnb, city stay, …
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Please take yourself seriously
Our society thrives on a covert and highly divisive code: Don't take yourself so seriously. Don't be so intense! Lighten up, dear reader! On the surface it makes sense. It seems jovial and jolly hockey sticks and weirdly generous. But when you go deeper, you see cracks in this logic. And, more importantly, you see …
A Little Rant About Kidlit Imposters…
Years ago, when I was working in kidlit publishing, we used to receive enormous bundles of unsolicited manuscripts in the mail. Bloody truckloads. Hard copy. You with me? So many manuscripts that I had a large cardboard box (the kind that nicely holds 15 bottles of wine...) full of potential children's books, sitting at my …
The Secret Language of Rejection
We had an amazing thread going in the Duck Pond, last week. We were talking about ‘quiet’ books. You know the type. Gentle, nuanced, often deep. The kind of books that leave a mark, make you think. Perhaps even make you clever… Manuscripts (whether adult fiction or kidlit) often get rejected on the grounds …
Why Did My Story Get Rejected?
It's the big question, isn't it? The big, sad, sorry question. Sigh. I have of late been working on the sales page for the Scribbles Academy. If you run an online biz you'll know that writing a decent sales page is a massive job. If you don't run an online biz let me tell you …