Karen Collum">Australian Children's Author

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.

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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 →

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.

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Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week I lamented my inability to start my novel and gave myself the daunting task of JUST WRITE! I’m delighted to say, in spite of me still finding many reasons to procrastinate, it worked. And not only that, it was fun! And energising! And exciting! (And I’ve used too many exclamation marks already…) Keep reading →

Image: Evgeni Dinev, freedigitalphotos.net

I’m just a few weeks into my Year of the Novel course and I’m at the point where I’m ready to start writing. I think. I hope. Maybe. Possibly. On second thoughts, maybe not. I’ve got my story plotted, I’m really excited by my characters and the journey they’re about to go on and I’ve begun to inhabit the mind of my POV character and see the world through his eyes. I’ve done some basic research into athletics – my main character is a sprinter – and I’ve got a handle on the tone and emotional climate of the story. I’m thinking about my story all the time and find myself wandering off into my created world on a regular basis. I’m craving the time and space to write and am making all the right noises about about wanting to start. I’m standing on the precipice of my new, exciting story, but there’s just one problem… I don’t want to start. Keep reading →

I love The Rule of 3s in writing. Three events, three characters, three scenes; it’s all just so satisfying. So, you can imagine my delight last week when I had three exciting things happen in one day. Keep reading →

I spent Friday morning doing an author visit at Buninyong Primary School where I read Samuel’s Kisses to four separate classes of Preps. It was an extra special author visit for me as our eldest son started at Buninyong about six weeks ago and is loving his new school. I was delighted to have the opportunity to share my book with the littlies and I must say, all the kids were absolutely beautiful and so very well behaved. Author visits are fun and relatively easy compared to running workshops, but there are still a few things you can do to make your visit a success. Keep reading →

I got a lovely phone call from my publisher a few weeks ago to say that Samuel’s Kisses had been chosen as one of the feature books for the month of June by The Little Big Book Club. It’s such a thrill for me and what’s even more exciting is that the team at TLBBC have put together some awesome activities related to the book. So pop on over and have a look at their great site.

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Just a very quick post to let you all know that we’re about to make the big move from Brisbane to Ballarat. It’s an exciting time for us and I can’t wait to live close to my extended family, but it is of course rather stressful as well. Due to the move, I won’t be able to fulfill any orders for books from today (March 25) until April 11. Thanks for your understanding and I’ll be back on board again soon.

I was very excited to have a big box of books delivered today. Fish Don’t Need Snorkels is my latest picture book, published by Autumn House, a small UK Christian publishing house. It is vibrant, beautiful and interactive making it perfect for the preschool age group. My almost-3-year-old twins love it and joined in reading the story from the very first time they heard it. Keep reading →