Karen Collum">Australian Children's Author

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.

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 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 →