Mental garage sale...

From time to time we clear out old and unused things from our cupboards, wardrobes and drawers, have a bit of a de-clutter and make some space for new things. I would like to know how I can do this for my brain. I attended the Golden Yarns Conference over last weekend - a conference for Children's Writers and Illustrators organised by the dedicated and amazing Te Tai Tamariki Trust with support from a variety of other groups such as The Children's Bookshop, Storylines and Kiwiwrite4kidz. So much new information has been jammed into my mind that I am having a spot of bother organising it all and tidying it in to sensible piles and useful places. Suffice it to say it was an excellent weekend with plenty of discussion, great catch-ups with fellow kid-litters and some good advice that I know I will find very useful once I stop being confused. A lack of sleep is not conducive. But the chance to see authors and illustrators from other parts of our geographically spread out small country was for me one of the biggest rewards.

What did I learn?
1) Coffee is essential. Instant does not cut it.
2) I can survive without chocolate
3) Christchurch was not as cold as I expected
4) Children's writers and illustrators are very (very, very) funny
5) The NZSA are hard working advocates for us and are keen to hear from us about our concerns and issues
6) The creativity of others never ceases to amaze and inspire me
7) You have to take responsibility for keeping yourself informed and up to date
8) It is possible to feel positive about the publishing environment in the current climate

I will provide more details on what went down when my mind has had a chance to file a few things in the right places

I also want to do a shout out to the most fabulous Selwyn House and St Andrews College Prep. schools in Christchurch for their most warm welcomes and attentive, switched on children. I thoroughly enjoyed my visits to these schools.

I have set you some homework

I am winging my way south by plane tomorrow. Christchurch, I hope you are ready for me and my mint green penguin onesie. I will be visiting Selwyn House School on Thursday and St Andrews College Prep on Friday morning and then the Golden Yarns Conference begins on Friday afternoon. It's a little dizzying to think I will be talking nothing but children's books all weekend long. And with people who never get tired of the topic!!

So while I'm away I have assigned you some reading. Go check out this very fine blog post on how the idea of Survivorship Bias relates to writing advice. This fits with a lot of my own philosophies - people we need to be keeping an eye on the bigger picture. And like Tobias Buckell (excellent name btw) I have always subscribed to the idea of the long game.

And for extra credit you could go on to a response to Mr Buckell from Chuck Wendig and the original article on Survivorship Bias which inspired Mr Buckell to write his post. This original article especially is way cool and just made me even more interested in the World Wars of the 20th century. I am developing an obsession healthy interest in these. I suspect it may influence my writing for a while, but maybe not in the traditional sense.