Small things ...

There have been some lovely reviews of our new book BatKiwi and the Big Wet (which came out in February) - by Maria Gill on Kids Books NZ here, on the KiwiReviews site here, on What Book Next? here, and by Paula Green on Poetry Box here. You never know how new work will be received, so it is both a relief and a delight to find readers and reviewers embracing it. Plucky Bat and Kiwi are becoming quite the good problem solvers, reminding us that heroism isn't just about being strong, it's also about quick thinking and team work.

I was enormously touched by Paula Green's generous description of my writing  - Melinda has the ink of bees in her writing pen – her sentences flow like honey. It is honey-bee music and I just love it. - this kind of feedback is so very encouraging. Especially as I am now back to working on something novel length. It's an old idea I started ten years ago and it would be brilliant to finally finish it this year. Whether it is publishable or not I will just be very happy to have it completed.

I am also still writing poetry. Mostly for children. I had a bit of a poetry writing drought over summer but that seems to be over for now. I've had some more poems appear on the Dirigible Balloon site - you can see my poems here. Just click on the poem titles to read them. My small children's poetry tribe - The Poets XYZ - are currently running a 100 day challenge (started March 1st) on our facebook page, with the object of writing a children's poem each day, with a weekly theme provided. You can drop in and participate anytime and there is no obligation to show others your poems. While I am not quite keeping up with the pace, I am managing to write a few poems per theme. I really like the idea that by the end of this process I'll have a nice little collection of children's poems across a range of topics. Who knows? I might end up with enough for a wee collection, or at least a chap book. The challenge is a great way to exercise the poetry muscle and I can already feel it becoming more limber and productive. Sometimes too the poem that results turns out to be an adult one so I am increasing my output for both age groups. I am also submitting some of the results. A few rejections have come my way over the last wee while and this has resulted in a lot of doubt on my part. Writing, for me, has always felt like being on the doubt roller coaster. There is never any guarantee the roller coaster has another exhilirating peak to climb, but I haven't quite brought myself to get off the ride yet. Like the novel writing I remind myself that enjoying the process and entertaining myself must be enough. Anything else is a bonus. My ability to believe this varies.

Anyway, here's a poem for children on the theme of 'small things'

I Should Have Muzzled My Mosquito

I had a mosquito as a pet

My friends warned me,

“mosquitos bite people. You’ll

be stuck at home with it, or

will have to muzzle it

if you go for walks.”

But a mosquito is a very

small thing.

I thought I could hide it

in my clothes if we went out.

Unfortunately I found out

my friends were right.

It bit

I slapped.

So I went back to the pet shop

and they had this really cute piranha.