May ended up being busier than I expected, and I was already expecting it to be busy. I had two planned school visits in the first week, the second a full day visit on the Thursday, and that evening I had an unexpected email asking whether I could join the Storylines Tour to the Bay of Plenty the following week. Someone had had to pull out at the last minute. I'd be flying down to Tauranga on Sunday. So in the second week of May I was travelling around BOP with the lovely Storylines support crew and three other writers. I spoke to big groups on my own (the biggest the whole school of 600 intermediate students) and small groups with the others (four of us addressed 13 students).
The following week was the Auckland Writers Festival kicking off with the Ockham's Book Awards which I attended as a Book Awards Trustee on Wednesday night (great night!), a Book Awards Trust Board meeting the next morning (for which I take the minutes) and then a bunch of events to attend at the Festival itself over the remainder of the week. Last week was minute writing, proposal writing, admin and board paper reading in preparation for an NZSA AGM and Board Meeting on the Saturday. Public events of any kind tend to require some recovery time afterwards for me. Even the most positive, fun, uplifting occasion will give me a people hangover and I know I will function best if I get some alone time stat. Hopefully there will be the chance for that in June.
This is the life of a writer: writing adjacent tasks, unexpected schedules and events, writing-related organisation governance and some non-writery quiet time. Well, maybe just this writer, but I can guarantee few of us are squirreled away in a garret writing creatively for 40 hours a week, week in, week out. And when we are plotting and planning, its not just on new story outlines. I've been writing applications, pitching a group project or two, and checking in with other creative people. Part of belonging to the writing community becomes about supporting each other, connecting with related industries like libraries, schools and bookshops in a myriad of ways, encouraging reading in general and finding new opportunities (and when we can't find them, creating our own). And there is a lot of admin. I am a dab hand at whipping up an invoice these days.
The romantic part of being a writer - 'the actual writing' - sometimes has to wait. Although you always have to mind it isn't waiting too long. Other times we get to celebrate the writing. This morning at 6am the finalists for the 2023 NZCYA Book Awards were announced. It's a grand list with some personal favourites of mine featuring. Check out all the goodness below, and a big congratulations to everyone short listed!!
Picture Book Award Finalists
Duck Goes Meow – Juliette MacIver, illustrated by Carla Martell (Scholastic New Zealand)
Farewell, Anahera – Vanessa Hatley-Owen, illustrated by Scott Irvine, translated by Kanapu Rangitauira (David Ling Publishing)
How My Koro Became a Star – Brianne Te Paa, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse (Huia Publishers)
Roo and Vladimir: An Unlikely Friendship – Minky Stapleton (Scholastic New Zealand)
The Lighthouse Princess – Susan Wardell, illustrated by Rose Northey (Penguin Random House NZ)
Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award Finalists
Below – David Hill (Penguin Random House NZ)
Children of the Rush – James Russell (Dragon Brothers Books)
Jason Mason and the World’s Most Powerful Itching Powder – Jason Gunn and Andrew Gunn (Bateman Books)
Masher – Fifi Colston (Penguin Random House NZ)
Pipi and Pou and the Raging Mountain – Tim Tipene, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (OneTree House)
Young Adult Fiction Award Finalists
Andromeda Bond in Trouble Deep – Brian Falkner (Red Button Press)
Eddy, Eddy – Kate De Goldi (Allen & Unwin)
Indigo Moon – Eileen Merriman (Penguin Random House NZ)
Iris and Me – Philippa Werry (The Cuba Press)
Miracle – Jennifer Lane (Cloud Ink Press)
Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction Finalists
A New Dawn – Emeli Sione, illustrated by Darcy Solia (Mila’s Books)
Freestyle: The Israel Adesanya Story – David Riley, illustrated by Ant Sang (Reading Warrior)
Sylvia and the Birds – Johanna Emeney, illustrated by Sarah Laing (Massey University Press)
Te Wehenga: The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku – Mat Tait (Allen & Unwin)
Weather and Climate New Zealand – Sandra Carrod (Oratia Books)
Russell Clark Award for Illustration
A Portrait of Leonardo – Donovan Bixley (Upstart Press)
Four Yaks and a Yeti – Ant Sang, written by Peter Hillary (Bateman Books)
Roar Squeak Purr – Jenny Cooper, edited by Paula Green (Penguin Random House NZ)
Te Wehenga: The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku – Mat Tait (Allen & Unwin)
The Lighthouse Princess – Rose Northey, written by Susan Wardell (Penguin Random House NZ)
Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award Finalists
He Raru ki Tai – Jane Cooper, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse (Huia Publishers)
Kua Whetūrangitia a Koro – Brianne Te Paa, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse (Huia Publishers)
Te Kōkōrangi: Te Aranga o Matariki – Witi Ihimaera, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, translated by Hēni Jacob (Penguin Random House NZ)
NZSA Best First Book Award Finalists
Echo – Arlo Kelly (Sparrow Press)
Holding the Horse – J L Williams (Ocean Echo Books)
He Raru ki Tai – Jane Cooper, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse (Huia Publishers)
Kidnap at Mystery Island – Carol Garden (Scholastic New Zealand)
The Lighthouse Princess – Susan Wardell, illustrated by Rose Northey (Penguin Random House NZ)
