The pattern is that there is no pattern ...

 So, for several reasons there was no public launch this time round for Moon and Sun, and honestly, it is a mixed blessing. Launches can be stressful things that are hard to land with the desired results. But watching your book arrive with no wine-glass-clinking, cake-eating celebration is equally daunting. Will anyone notice it has arrived?? As with all my paper babies, I am so proud of this story. It says and does some good and surprising things. And Malene Laugesen's illustrations elevate the story, magnifying and building on the emotion and detail of the text in a beautiful way. Truth is, a launch is only ever a small part of a book's debut. Plenty of work has been happening behind the curtains (thanks to the team at Upstart Press) to support Moon and Sun's arrival. Copies have been going out and about and some early reviews have been really lovely - thank you to Desna Wallace at BookTrailers4KidsandYA, NZ Booklovers, and KiwiReviews. I'm also being interviewed about the book for radio later in the week, and there is a chance to win a copy of the book in the Kids Club section of the current NZ TV Guide (20 - 26 Feb). And I finally get to wear the t-shirt with artwork by my eldest, which is a perfect fit for the book.

Welcome to the world Moon and Sun - I'm so happy you are here :-) 

And I have to say this book, a gentle, secretly science-y tale, is so different to the last thing I had published (the darkly funny and mischievous Sharing with Wolf). I am a technicolour dreamcoat, a collection, a museum of many things. I do worry that I am a bit unpredictable and that fans might want some reliable patterns to hold on to as they take a wild ride through my books. The only patterns you'll find are a distinct love of language, a desire for rhythm, and a guarantee that there will be layers of meaning, peelable and yet also intersecting. My next two picture books, My Elephant is Blue (illustrated by Vasanti Unka and coming out in May with Penguin, dealing with heavy feelings) and Batkiwi (illustrated by Izzy Joy Te Aho White and published in July by Scholastic, about being a hero) are also different. Perhaps the pattern is that there is no pattern. 

It would be lovely to talk about this. I sometimes envy adult writers chatting about their latest book with a wise and well read interviewer on a stage at a Writers Festival. This doesn't really happen to picture book writers. I've seen picture book and junior fiction writers interviewed on stage, or giving a talk, but these events are pitched at young readers who usually make up at least half the audience (and many of the rest are their guardians and minders and keepers). But like a writer of adult fiction, I too have ideas and influences and writing craft that are grown up things. Lots of writers for children do. And I am always sad that picture books are only ever seen as childish things. We don't talk enough about children's books outside our children's books circles. I think this needs to change - for the benefit of our children. 

The 4.45pm news from the desk of Melinda Szymanik ...

Yay!!! Finally an occasion when judginess is desirable accompanied by glorious access to a mountain of the best local kidlit. Yes folks, it's time to put your hat in the ring to be a judge for the 2021 NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. The call has gone out and applications close 5pm Friday 30 October. You can check out the application details HERE.

It's been a busy old time over the last fortnight, what with giving a workshop on writing children's picture books to an adult audience at Selwyn Community Education and then running a week long creative writing camp for children on the north shore. It was especially challenging last Tuesday when the harbour bridge was closed due to high winds (first time ever in the history of the bridge!!) and my 30 minute drive turned into a two hour long one as all the bridge commuters joined me on my usual route. I was super lucky that my teacher sister had agreed to help out for the day as I ended up being late and she stepped in and got the class started - thanks Halina, you were a life saver. And I have discovered that driving long distances in first gear is very boring. Oh for some audio books stashed in the car - I will have to invest in some.

There are just a few events I am involved in over the rest of this month and what remains of the year is looking pretty quiet. I have a few writing projects I am noodling away on, and I have some planning to do for next year. This all feels rather nice. Despite the fact that covid has put paid to around half the gigs I had lined up for 2020, working from home is my ultimate happy place as I get to focus on my core practice - writing new books.

Last week I had an email from the publisher with final proofs for one of the picture books coming out next year. Its heading off to the printers and I am thrilled with how it all looks. It is gorgeous. Here is the front cover art by illustrator Malene Laugesen.

It is called Moon and Sun, and is due to be released by Upstart Press in March 2021. I can't wait to have it in my hands and show you how wonderful it looks inside. There have been a few delays with this title, partly covid based, and I am so happy it is now on its way.

Finally I hope you are all busy polishing your manuscripts for the Storylines manuscript awards - Joy Cowley for picture books, and the Tom Fitzgibbon for junior fiction - submissions close October 31st. The Tessa Duder Award for YA fiction is biennial and will be open to submissions next year. With Scholastic currently closed to regular submissions, don't miss this great opportunity to have your story read by them. Good luck peoples!!

2019 Writing Children's Picture Books Workshop

Arghhh!! My eyeballs, my eyeballs! I have been editing ma short stories for the last few weeks, and now proof reading! Anyone for fried brains? Yet, all too soon it will be too late. The book will be off to the printers and those words and all that punctuation will be set in ink on those pages permanently. Publishing is so yin and yang. So exciting and terrifying, so energising and exhausting. And the book isn't even out yet.

Once the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted I will be gearing up for my Writing Children's Picture Books Workshop with Selwyn Community Education. On Sunday 18th August this year, it runs from 10am to 4pm at Selwyn College in Kohimarama. You can check it out, and register, here. Looks like there might not be too many places left, so get in quick if you're keen.

And just in case you are new to my blog and me - here is a little background information in case you were wondering how I came to run this course. I have written many picture book stories over the last twenty years. Some of them have won awards and been nominated for others. I have experienced rejections and acceptances and I know that having books previously published is no guarantee of having things published in the future. I have submitted with an agent and without. I have picture book number 8 and number 9 coming out early next year. Sharing with Wolf with Scholastic NZ, illustrated by Nikki Slade Robinson, and Moon and Sun with Upstart Press, illustrated by Malene Laugesen. They are very different books. One is dark and funny, and the other gentle and heartfelt. Just this past summer I was a judge for the 2019 Storylines Joy Cowley Award and having made my way through all 158 manuscripts, I have some feedback for future submitters. I'll be talking about this during the workshop. Submissions for the 2020 Storylines Joy Cowley Award close October 31st so you'll have time to polish up your manuscript before you need to send it off.