Blog time. Go, Jen, go. K. The hunt is over! We bought a cottage in the country! OMG! This Easter we got ten substandard Easter Eggs and a 1930s cottage with two big trees, a wasp nest and a headless statue. Exhibit A: We move in winter. Lots of time to declutter — the house,…
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I rarely if ever have guest bloggers. Why? Because I can’t be stuffed. It all sounds like way too much verk. And you know how I like to keep verk to minimum. But last week Geek Duck came to me and said, ‘I want to write a blog post, do you mind?’ ‘Go right ahead,’…
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The other day my friend, Tania McCartney, told me about Bullet Journalling. Sounds like fun! I’ll follow it up. It made me think of Bullet Blogging. Could I try that??? Is that even a thing? It is now. Here goes: The hunt for a country house continues. We’ve seen millions (well, that’s how it feels).…
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You know how I used to have a blog called Baxter Street? Well I did. It was more personal that this blog. For 2018 I’ve decided to combine the best of Baxter Street with the best of Girl & Duck. Which means sometimes I’ll bang on about personal stuff that might not interest you. Other…
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Happy 2018 from girl and duck! This is not an official ‘blog post’. It’s just a quick note to let you know Questions and Quacks begins again tomorrow morning! Questions and Quacks, (or Q & Q Friday as we like to call it) is your one stop, kid lit, video wonderland. No exaggeration! It’s where…
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Creative writing is tough. Sometimes all we need is a tiny nudge to make us chuck it in. If you’re looking to bail but need more than a hall pass, here are some tried and tested, totally legitimate, OUTS. Great excuses. Guaranteed to save face. Your face. 1. If you get published you might have…
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I run a private Facebook group for aspiring authors and illustrators. You might have heard of it (ahem). It’s called The Duck Pond. Hop on my mailing list if you’d like to join. I also run a private Facebook group for those who are doing my online course, Scribbles. I love both groups equally…
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News flash Some people think I’m arrogant. They think, where does she get off, dishin’ out all this advice about creative writing? She doesn’t know everything. Shocking, I know. But it’s probably true. There is a slim chance I don’t know everything. Not every little thing But I can tell you when it comes to creative writing there’s not much…
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I’ve often been asked by aspiring authors if they should send three sample chapters to a publisher and try to get a contract that way. Alarm bells. If that’s what the publisher is asking for, by all means send them sample chapters. Always give them exactly what they want. That’s, ‘How to be an Author, 101’.…
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Up until a couple of months ago I had severe website shame. My author website was a shambles. It was out of date. It was clunky. It was a technical nightmare, built around grids and tables, unwieldy fecking boxes that made me wail every time I tried to tinker with them. Because I couldn’t access…
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