Skype visit part 2
I just had to share these beautiful photos that Mrs Foy from Valley Intermediate School in Pelham, Alabama, sent me after my Skype visit. These are three of the classes of gorgeous kids I met via Skype. And not only are they gorgeous, polite and friendly kids, they asked the BEST questions ever. Keep reading →
An author visit with a difference
All dolled up :)
Recently I did an author visit to my nephew’s school. This doesn’t sound like a particularly unusual thing to do, except that in our case, I’m in Ballarat, Australia and my nephew, Zeb, lives in Alabama, USA. Thanks to Skype, I was able to do a school visit to the other side of the world from the comfort of my own office. Keep reading →
A little bit of poetry
I’ve been inspired in the last few weeks by the antics of everyone involved in the Month of Poetry over at Kat Apel’s blog. I love writing poetry but I don’t do it very often and I usually stick to the rollicking ballads that tell a story for some family function. Through Month of Poetry I’ve been exposed to a few different forms of poetry that I have never tried or never knew existed. Today, for something different, I thought I’d post my efforts. I have no idea if they are any good but they’ve certainly been a fun way to hone my word skills. I figure anything that enhances my control over language is going to be a good thing for my writing across the board. Keep reading →
My S.M.A.R.T. Goals for 2012
Happy New Year! It is with great excitement I sit down and blog for the first time in 2012. Like the first page of a brand new notebook, I love the first day of a new year. The year ahead seems filled with untold possibilities and surprises (hopefully most of them good) and I indulge in a moment or two of imagining what delights might be in store for me in the coming year. The past few years have been rough for me on a personal level with so many changes and much upheaval and great sadness as well as great happiness, so I’m hoping that 2012 will be a year of peace and rest for my soul. Sitting alongside that peace is going to be a year of busyness on the writing front. When it comes to goal setting, I like to set smart goals.
The Day that was Made of Awesome Part 1
I’m back :) I’ve been offline for a few months now and it was a much-needed break for me although I did miss chatting with all my writing friends. Life has still been exceptionally busy but I confess I thoroughly enjoyed my vacation away from all things online. In fact, I was rarely on Twitter or Facebook for the entire month of October and during that period I found time to breathe again. November came around (as it is wont to do) and I found myself doing NaNoWriMo once more that required me to jump back and connect again. I knew I wouldn’t reach 50,000 words in a month without chatting about word counts and daily totals so it was great to reconnect with people again as I worked hard to pass the finish line by November 30. I did just that…and managed to move house in the middle. So November was what you could call crazy. Here’s a picture of my NaNoWriMo graph. (Any guesses when we moved???) Keep reading →
Calling Timeout
Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Sometimes the world seems to be whizzing by at lightning speed, leaving me floundering in its wake. There’s so much information, so much to know, so much to do that I find myself taking a step backwards to preserve myself and my sanity. Right now is one of those times. I’m calling Timeout. Keep reading →
Why Writing is Addictive
Image: prozac1 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Hi, my name’s Karen and I’m addicted to writing.
It’s true. There’s something about the stringing together of words into phrases, phrases into sentences, sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into pages and chapter and entire books that makes my heart and mind and soul rejoice like no other activity. I wrote last week about how a new, sparkly picture book landed on my lap and just how exciting and invigorating it was. The buzz lasted for days. The words echoed around in my head, the manuscript was on my mind 24/7 and I got all giddy inside whenever I thought about it. It’s such a strange and powerful phenomenon and while meeting with a very clever, very knowledgeable friend last Wednesday, I think I know why it happens… Keep reading →
Investing in the Craft and Writing from the Heart
Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I had the absolute pleasure of participating in a Writer’s Digest Picture Book Craft Intensive webinar last week with the amazing agent, Mary Kole. Getting up at 2:45am to attend the said webinar was slightly less pleasurable, however it was absolutely, totally, entirely worth every bit of sleep I didn’t get*. Hooked up live via my computer, I got to hear Mary share some of her insights into picture books and the publishing industry for an hour and a half, while watching an accompanying PowerPoint. It really was just like attending a lecture except that I couldn’t actually see the lecturer; there was no video – just audio and a visual presentation. There was a little box for me to type any questions I had and send to Mary, which I put to good use throughout. Writer’s Digest guarantee that no question goes unanswered in a webinar, however that doesn’t mean they get answered immediately. In our case, Mary had so much amazing-incredible-insightful stuff to share she was struggling to fit it into the 90 minute time frame as it was, so the questions will be answered and sent to us with a link of the lecture which we can access for some time afterwards. And if I had ever questioned the value of investing in my craft, this webinar put any of those doubts safely to rest.
The Great Agent Hunt
It’s no secret that I’m actively looking for an agent to represent me and this past week I’ve spent a bit of time submitting picture book manuscripts to a couple of overseas agents. Of course, that’s followed by the swirling-tummy hopefulness that maybe this time I’ll hit the jackpot and the dropping-tummy fear that I’ll get another ‘thanks, but no thanks’. I didn’t hit the big one this time around, but I thought I’d share some of my thoughts surrounding The Great Agent Hunt. Keep reading →
Lookie here! A bright, shiny new picture book
It’s always surreal when I first lay hands on a book I’ve written and third time round is no exception. WHEN I LOOK AT YOU – MY BOOK ABOUT FEELINGS is another Autumn House* (UK) publication and my author copies arrived at my house just a few minutes ago. To say I am excited is an understatement. Before today I had only seen a few sample illustrations, so I was essentially reading the book for the very first time, even though I wrote it! I’m absolutely delighted with what Lorenzo Sabbatini has done with the illustrations. They are bright and vibrant and amazingly expressive and really do capture the heart of what I was trying to capture with the text. I could go on and on about the importance of teaching kids emotional intelligence skills and how the ability to name and understand feelings is crucial for kids’ (and adults’) well-being, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll let the book speak for itself.
