creative writing | creative life
We have a new bakery in our little town, dear reader. It's actually the old bakery rejigged. They have revamped and stoked-up the ancient wood-fired oven and they're making posh bread and fancy biscuits. And they have a hole in the wall where they serve totally ACE coffee. And it's all VERY exciting. Yesterday when …
Continue reading "Australian House and Garden. Keeping it Real."
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 …
Continue reading "How I Became a Kidlit Author, and How I Can Support Your Kidlit Dreams, too"
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 …
Hello dear Reader!Yesterday (Tuesday Nov 5) was ANNOUNCEMENT DAY.Yep, we announced the winners of the 2019 Scribbles Creative Writing Awards (or CWAs as we affectionately call them).Now. Girl and Duck is a smooth machine. But we’re a small machine. So, in order to pull off a competition of this magnitude (and trust me it was …
Continue reading "Scribbles Creative Writing Awards Winners! Plus, Behind the Scenes!"
Lights! Camera! Book Week! I LOVE dressing my characters. I have to know what they're wearing, in order to get a true sense of them. Over the years, loads of readers (and their parents) have sent me their Book Week, Truly Tan pics. But there's plenty more inspiration in my books. Here's my own little …
Continue reading "Let’s dress up! Book Week costumes a-plenty. Send me your pics!"
Melbourne, Australia. May 2018 Weather? Yeah, right. Big weekend for the children's book industry. Kid Lit Vic. Scribbles Masterclass. Book launches (Jess Racklyeft, Lucinda Gifford). I cooked roast lamb. Himself cooked parsnip soup. As I said, BIG. Following the ruckus, there have been heaps of posts and comments and ruminations flying around the Duck …
Continue reading "Creators! Are you feeling fragile? This might help"
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 a minimum. But last week Geek Duck came to me and said, 'I want to write a blog post, do you mind?' 'Go right …
Continue reading "Geek Duck’s Top Ten Tips for Partners of KidLit Creators"
Does your writing sometimes feel a bit, erm, pedestrian? The following post will give you some fresh ideas, help you shove more energy into your stories. Dear Diary Will letters, notes, doodles or lists add interest to my stories? Yours sincerely Inventive Author These days kids have words and images coming at them from all …
Continue reading "Oi! Here’s an easy way to liven up your stories"
I've read loads of manuscripts that start out funny or entertaining or full of potential. Then the dialogue kicks in and, quite frankly, it's a birdy's breakfast. Nothing will baffle an editor faster than poorly tagged dialogue. Do not overlook this if you want your manuscript to win friends and influence people. If you want editors and publishers …
Continue reading "Who said what? The importance of tagging dialogue in kid lit"
If your story isn't taking off, maybe you're telling it from the wrong perspective. The wrong point of view. I've been known to go on about this. But it's important. I've grappled with it so often it's become a fallback for when things are going badly. If my story is dragging its feet, I reassess. I think, okay, can …
Continue reading "How Point of View can save your story (Part One of two posts)"