More of a statement than a question ...

My SO and I are now empty nesters. After over thirty years we no longer have a child in the house although I guess our youngest hasn't been a child for a while now. He's likely to boomerang back at the end of the year as that is when his studies finish but for now we have gone back to our early days of just being a couple. It is curious, weird, and the quiet is very loud. A friend told me she felt very down when her baby left home. And I appreciated that cos she's not down anymore. But also I felt the permission her admission gave me to feel whatever I was feeling whether sad or happy or something else. Whatever happens, it is a new phase. And some of the freedoms are kinda fun.

I had my first school visit for 2025 this week. I love how the first visit of every year feels like the first visit I've ever done. The nerve of my nerves is outrageous - how dare they act like I've never done this before. So rude. Although there is some value in feeling nervous - it makes sure I am well prepared. And I can report back that it went well, and I even learnt something new. A few years back I came up with a good (kind and polite) strategy to sideline statements during question time. But this week a student made a statement during question time that responded to a question from another student and to one of my stories. It was pertinent and on point and added to the conversation. Afterwards at morning tea a teacher told me that students with ADD will sometimes make statements to show they've been listening to what you've been saying and to connect with you. It is their version of a question I guess. It felt like a game changer to be told that. I don't want to sideline statements anymore. I guess I will need a new strategy to nip anything in the bud which threatens to swallow up the whole question time for everyone but I can see now how statements deserve their moment. You're never too old eh? I have a few more school visits booked in for June and will see how this new thinking on statements pans out and I will let you know what I discover. Fingers crossed I develop the perfect new strategy ... 

Fuzzy Doodle is HERE!!...

I have been in the thrilling eye of a school visiting/author event whirlwind for a wee while but this is now quietening down and I seem to have popped out the other side. Big shout outs to the most fabulous Orakei Primary, Parnell District School, Northcote Primary, Mission Heights Primary and Milford Primary Schools who, I have discovered, all love books just as much as I do. I have also spoken with teacher trainees about using NZ children's books in the classroom, launched my new picture book and run a day long picture book writing workshop for adult writers. If you missed out on the Picture Book Writing workshop and would like to attend, I will be conducting another one on November 5th - details are here. Just havin' a lil hibernate now while the winter weather is extra rubbish and the school term runs down to school holidays. I will be back in to the swing of things come August. As always, despite the fact that I am in the teaching role for all these events, I always learn new things about public speaking and author visits.

1) Protect your throat. Talking a lot can put a big strain on it. Gargles, throat lozenges and rest where possible. And keep hydrated folks.

2) Wear layers because visit environments range significantly in warmth, especially in the recent unpredictable Auckland weather. Being too cold or too hot is very distracting.

3) Add ten minutes travel time on to the longest amount of time you think it'll take you to get to your destination. Be ready to hit the ground running.

4) Always pack some chocolate in your lunchbox - best mid visit boost ever. And a serviette or wipes - chocolate smears on your cardy look awkward.

5) My book earrings are worth their weight in gold. I have two or three ice-breaking props or items of clothing/jewellery and always have an ice-breaking opening line or two to warm both me and the children up and get us chatting.

6) Don't forget to take your visitor sticker off afterwards....


Meanwhile I can also report Fuzzy Doodle has had the loveliest delivery into the world. People have been saying some very kind things and you can read some early reviews  here at the My Best Friends Are Books Blog, and  here at the Booksellers NZ blog. I think the launch went well, many thanks to the brilliant Time Out Bookstore who hosted the event and all the wonderful folk who came and celebrated Fuzzy with me, and bought the book. Fuzzy has been feeling the love and loves you all right back. Here I am on signing duties on the day (photo credit - Sue Copsey).

I also made some origami butterflies with young guests (photo credit - Halina Szymanik)

And in an exciting development Fuzzy made the New Zealand Nielsen Bestseller List squeaking in at number ten on the NZ Children's and Teens bestsellers for the week ending June 11, and climbing to No. 8 for the week ending June 18. This is a first for me and I am extremely thrilled. Woohoo!!

Remarkable...

It is my month of talking - May. If I am a little absent from my blog I apologise - I am darting hither and thither across the countryside and not sitting down at a desk as much as I usually do. I have remarked in the past that I could talk the hind leg off a donkey - apparently now I can also talk myself horse hoarse. I spent Thursday and Friday talking about creative writing and reading some of my books to the students at Remarkables Primary School in Queenstown, with a view to die for, and a tad more rain than I had anticipated. I talked about ideas, plotting, tone, language techniques and character development. We discussed rules for writing and how authors and illustrators work independently on a book. The children were terrific and I had a great time and was especially thrilled by the bright wee sparks who told me they couldn't wait to go off and write stories. Here are some pics from the visit

The school is in a very picturesque location:

Friday afternoon I headed back to Dunedin (via Christchurch) so I could take part in the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival. I felt very privileged to be asked to join author, Sandy McKay and chair, Bridget Schaumann for a panel discussion on Historical YA fiction and this morning we chatted about our writing process, our own history and the backgrounds to our books. We talked about getting published, research and writing habits. I hope the audience enjoyed the session as much as I did. If you wonder whether I get nervous before these things, the answer is, yes, I do. I think nerves are a normal part of the public speaking business and are not necessarily a bad sign. They don't paralyse me or prevent me from doing the job, and to me are just indicative of the fact I am keen to give a good talk and provide useful information in a coherent manner. And once I begin, they go. I don't tend to worry about them.This evening I am off to hear Eleanor Catton talk and then on Monday I wing my way to Auckland for some more talking at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. I am currently resting my vocal cords. 

Chocks away...

I had such a fun visit to Viscount School in Mangere yesterday and I was greatly impressed by the students. They treated me well, were really engaged and asked great questions. Cool kids, cool school - thank you so much for making me feel so welcome.

The day before I had posted my essay off for my university paper. With assignments I often circle round and round the question for a while trying ideas out and experimenting until things start to fall into place, to gel, to coalesce and turn into a whole that hopefully makes sense and addresses the issue at hand. I circled for a long time on this one till I seemed to be running low on fuel and thought I might have to ditch in a nearby paddock. I managed to land that thing but it wasn't elegant. Oh well... it's done now. On to the next (and last) one due Halloween. I contacted the tutor today and checked if my proposed essay topic was gonna fly and got the thumbs up. Chocks away.

Things have gone a little crazy on the internet recently with hostilities breaking out between some authors and some reviewers. Nathan Bransford blogged about it on September 3 and the long thread of comments is sobering reading. Emotions have been running pretty high. I want people to say what they really think about my books. I understand that sometimes they won't like my books. Negative reviews do hurt but on the plus side even a negative review is an engagement with the book.  And I always hope that reviewers will accord me the same respect that I accord them. I don't ever want to interfere with the process. I acknowledge them all, good and bad. Then I go back to the keyboard and write some more. I don't know that I've really been tested though. And if things went beyond just a review how would this feel.  Fellow blogger Maureen Crisp posted an interesting link to a post on the Popular Science site which stated they were turning off comments on their articles as research had revealed that reading insulting comments can artificially skew a reader's perceptions about a topic. Yikes. I know reading comments like those on Bransford's blog had an impact on me. And freaked me out a little.  I'm worried about where this is all heading. Be careful out there people.

My latest title While You Are Sleeping is still a few weeks away from release but I have had my first review which you can check out here. Sweet!

Double dip of desirability...

Earlier this year I outlined the financial realities of author visits. It is not always easy to ask for a fee but I believe being paid a fee is fair when you are asked to present to any kind of audience. Author/illustrator Oisin McGann extends the argument in his blog here. It is indeed incomprehensible that folk who draw a salary for their involvement in the publication /sale /promotion and/or celebration of books/reading and/or writing, feel the author should appear/write for free.This does not create, or perpetuate a culture of valuing authors. In fact it perpetuates the opposite view.

This is not about how much money authors make, this is about being asked to do work for nothing. I am not a volunteer writer - this is my career and I spend a lot of time and effort upskilling, refining and preparing so I can deliver information that will be useful and interesting for the audience or participants. Many (paid) folk view the ability to promote as this incredibly valuable commodity for authors. It seems to me that the concept of 'promotion' has taken on this mythical, magical quality as if it always translates directly into significant sums of money. Sadly this is not as true as we would like it to be. And promotion when you are an author of children's books presents some unique challenges when you consider that the majority of my audiences (children from kindergarten to intermediate ages) have very little purchasing power.

I often eye up writing residencies and fellowships with considerable longing: the double dip of desirability of dedicated time to write and often a stipend to value and support you as an author. What's not to love? Well, maybe just the fact that we don't seem to have a lot of residencies and fellowships available to children's writers. If you look at the total number available in New Zealand the majority are geared towards writers of adult material and if they are open to all writers, most of the time they go to those involved in adult writing (the Beatson, The Buddle-Findlay, Berlin, Menton, the Burns Fellowship, University of Waikato, Michael King Fellowship etc...). That's my impression anyway and I welcome your views, opposing or supporting, in the comments. There is the very cool University of Otago Children's Writer in Residence (long may it continue) but if children's writers have to compete with adult writers for the same programmes, for whatever reasons, good or bad, adult writing tends to win out more often than not. Competing doesn't seem like the best idea. I think there is a gap here. I vote we get another dedicated children's writers residency or fellowship. What do you think?

Not burnt out yet but a little singed around the edges...

Crikey, the hamster wheel has still not slowed sufficiently for me to leap off and have a lie down yet. Had two fun school visits last week ( a big shout out to Parnell District and St Joseph's in Takapuna) off to New Windsor tomorrow and then Takapuna Primary the following week. The week after we head away on holiday. In the meantime there is one last NCEA exam for middle child, and she is also rehearsing for, and performing in, the Young Auckland Shakespeare Company's production of The Taming of the Shrew (my favourite), my son has soccer games and practices, there is my niece's 21st for which I am making a cake and I have meetings and other things to achieve. I am not burnt out yet but definitely feeling a little singed around the edges and a touch cranky.

To keep me from spontaneously combusting completely I have been investing in some sanity savers. I read The Hobbit again (first time since I was a teen I think) and admonished myself for not keeping in touch with this book more often. It's a wittier, lighter (compared with the darkness of lord of the Rings) most charming read. The narrative voice has some amusing asides to the reader which I really loved. I love too the development of Bilbo as he goes through the adventure. His personal growth and the reveal of his intelligence and strength are a real pleasure to read. And it lays the foundation for what is to come in The Lord of the Rings in an easy manner that gives you plenty of information with barely a hint at the real underlying darkness. If you haven't read The Hobbit, I think you should. I also recently read My First Car Was Red written and illustrated by Peter Schossow (published by Gecko) and must admit I fell completely in love with this book too. Another witty, beautifully told adventure that draws you in to the lovely family dynamics surrounding the main character. The illustrations are fantastic with plenty of energy and humour. I sometimes look at more sophisticated picture books like this and wonder if children will enjoy them as much as an adult would but then I think the adult reader's pleasure in reading this aloud would easily rub off on the young listener and they couldn't help but be infected by the intelligence, warmth and depth of the story.

I also watched the first series of Wallander with Kenneth Branagh in the titular role and was quite impressed. The movie length episodes are slow moving in places but Branagh is rather amazing as the grizzled, workaholic, Swedish detective. He's best in the third episode 'One Step Behind' - utterly convincing when he falls apart in front of his daughter. I do love the speed and smartness of Sherlock better but while I wait for the third series I am happy to wallow in Wallander.

And last but by no means least I saw Skyfall last Friday with my girls. I am a big fan of Daniel Craig. He is my favouritist Bond. I like Sean Connery but never really enjoyed any of the Bond movies he was in. DC has the right blend of swag, rough and smooth to carry Bond off. But I have to confess Skyfall annoyed me. Too often I saw the mark of the director drawing attention to what I like to refer to as (quoting Peter Pan) "Oh the cleverness of me". The opening action sequence was brilliant (the cuff straightening in the can opened train!!!). I liked the new Q. The villain was the best yet. Javier Bardem was truly chilling as the damaged-beyond-repair Raoul Silva. That man can act. But Bond (yes I know they were trying to show his sensitive side) isn't Bond without his swagger. I reckon they could find a way to show depth and sensitivity without losing the swag. And why oh why, after developing 'M' into such a strong female role over the last few Bond movies did they have to take it all away, sacrificing her on the altar of Bond's humanity. Eurch! She just looked weak and indecisive with errors  in judgement trailing along behind her. And now (SPOILER ALERT) we are back where we started with the woman in the secretarial role and a man at the helm. Bring back kiwi Martin Campbell is all I can say.

Writing explained simply....

Hallelujah!!! - We have booked ourselves a fabulous family holiday and the hardest part is reminding myself it is still a few months away and I have some big jobs to complete before we pack our bags and check in with immigration. Because, really, I am ready NOW!! As we did a few years back, we depart these fair shores on December 12th and return just after midnight on the 24th. I love leaving the craziness of pre-Christmas behind and coming back just in time for the Szymanik Family get together. Tis perfect and I will be well rested and maybe a little tanned for the festivities.

Things are still busy, busy, busy. There is my fabostory chapter to finalise, judging to be done and posted up. How will all the Titanic Games dramas end??? There is university research to be nutted out and written up. I have been a school visiting (big waves to the lovely children of New Windsor School, Westmere Primary and Sunnynook Schools where I have been this month) and have hung out at the Kiwiwrite4kidz stand at the NZ Ed show over three days. Somehow, for a driving phobic, I have put a lot of miles on in the car, either ferrying myself or family to our appointments, workshops, classes, trainings, entertainments and the like. When we are away on holiday letting someone else do the driving (or steering, or flying) will be a highlight. I have been reading and rereading and sweating a little over my soon to be pubbed novel. This is my last chance to get all the facts, figures, commas, spellings, pronunciations, and story telling right. Sometimes this feels like the hardest part (although really the part of the process you are in at any given moment is always the hardest part). I am currently casting my eyes over the final, final proof. Time will tell if we need a final, final, final proof.

I am also currently being interviewed for a magazine article and I must say it is a very strange thing. There will be times when I will have to invoke 'magic' to explain my writing process. Tis a bit like when people ask where you get your ideas and at times I just want to say "can't you see them? They are everywhere..." But I know it isn't that simple. I just can't remember how I learned to see them and find them now like I do. Maybe its just because I love words so much, and some words when they come together create a kind of frisson or fusion - maybe like a nuclear reaction, where when separated the two elements are inert but then, when you join them up they create a lot of energy and power - yes maybe that's it. Anyways when you see those particular words together your mind kind of explodes and a story is created, or maybe at least born, and then you have to grow it to maturity. So if you have a fantasy background you call it magic but if you have a scientific nature you call it a nuclear reaction (or if, like me, you owe a lot to both fantasy and science, you just throw your hands up in the air). And then you spend a lot of time putting words in and then the rest of your time taking words out and then you have your story. Simple really.

Here's one I prepared earlier...

Well folks I have succeeded in growing one to full size. A child that is. My eldest turned eighteen yesterday and in this fair land of ours she can do just about anything (except launder her own clothes apparently) - vote, drink, marry, enlist, and move out. She is moving out, kind of, shortly, to embark on a student exchange to the US of A for twelve months or so. It will be easier and harder without her.

This morning I went down to Maungawhau Primary School to award some Fabo Writing Prizes to students at the school. Congrats to Josh and Matthew and all the students and their wonderful teachers, especially those in rooms 22 and 23 who have been making stupendous writing efforts to meet the 2011 Fabo Challenge. Go check it out at www.fabostory2.blogspot.com

Where would we be without teachers and librarians...?

The book experience is a collaborative process between writer and reader, artist if the book has illustrations, and teachers and librarians if the book is for children. Without teachers and librarians sharing their passion for books, fewer children would embrace them. Studies show that the more books there are available in a house, the longer children stay at school thereby setting themselves up for better long term life outcomes. Books will make a tangible difference in a child's life. I often talk with children about what books can do for you. Its not just about information and learning, although if you can read you can teach yourself just about anything by reading a book. Its also about pleasure and relaxation. It's also a chance to expand your horizons and understand more about the world and the people in it. I can't go back in time but I can read about the past in a book. I can read speculations about the future. I can travel all over the world and get a peek into how other people live their lives or solve their problems. I can travel to other worlds and understand more about myself in the process. Books make me more empathetic and can challenge me. How fantastic is that?? And if I am invited to schools you can be sure that a teacher and/or librarian is behind it, keen to get their students reading and writing, keen to help them dive into this marvelous world of words. They always make me feel welcome and special. If your school has teachers and librarians who love books with a burning passion you are lucky. If your school has teachers and librarians who organise author and illustrator visits you are very lucky.

I'm dreaming of tee-shirt weather...

I went visiting on Tuesday up to Murray's Bay School on the North Shore. With my trusty sidekick, new author Elena De Roo (her gorgeous picture book The Rain Train, illustrated by Brian Lovelock was launched on August 7th) by my side for some school visit observations, I talked to all the middle and senior classes and gave a workshop to a group of budding writers in the afternoon. The children were attentive and enthusiastic and I love how they continue to embrace books. Books rock. Where there are books, there is hope.

Today I'm starting a series of writing workshops with some older budding writers at the local intermediate school and tomorrow morning I'm off to chat with some fabostory enthusiasts at Maungawhau School. Whew. Its a busy week. On Sunday its the Auckland Storylines Family Day and I will be there (Aotea Centre, on level 3 I think?) on the Kiwiwritekidz table if you want to come and say hi, ask questions or pick up any fabostory writing tips.

I've recently had some good news (sorry this is embargoed till the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed) and some bad news - a 'no' on something that I thought was looking pretty good. I am allowing myself some grieving time and then I'm going to put this result in my past where it belongs and move forward with new submissions, and new writing, because really, what else can you do when you're a writer. I hate the no's. I hate that sinking feeling as you read the rejection and the sinking plummets from a greater height when its been a long wait. In rational moments I will remind myself that a longer consideration means the writing/story was in the ball park. And I will send this story out to another publisher to start the whole process all over again.

I am ready for some uninterrupted sunshine and some warmth. The first of September isn't far away. Bring on Spring I say...

He talked, he sang, he wowed us all...

I always put my mobile phone on 'silent' during a school visit and check for messages during breaks. This morning at Kohia Terrace school (yay for yet another wonderful enthusiastic librarian and supportive teachers - I hope those fab children realise how lucky they are...what good hands they are in) I checked for messages at morning tea time to discover several missed calls. I had a message and listened to discover my son wasn't at school and they were just checking that I'd forgotten to call in that he was sick or whatever. Well no, actually, I'd waved goodbye to him and one of school mates at 8am. He's not into wagging. Was he lying in the middle of the busy intersection en route, knocked off his scooter by a car? Was he some Junior John Doe in the emergency department of the city hospital? I tried ringing the school back to no avail. I tried to ring my SO so he could find out what had happened, with no luck. And I spent the last two 45 minute sessions talking and reading over my fears and concerns. This was a miserable distraction but if nothing else I'm pleased that I managed to stay calm and deliver my talk without revealing my inner turmoil. (Yay just had a phone call now at 2.15pm from the lad himself, at school, in perfect health).

Over the weekend it was the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. As it's a festival comprised of mostly writers of adult literature which I usually don't read, in the past I haven't attended. This year I thought I'd give it a go. Lionel Shriver (I haven't read any of her books, but I have read some interesting articles about her) was smart, thoughtful, dry and funny. When she read from her own material I made a mental note to try one of her books in future. Next up was Charlie Higson. I've not been a huge fan of the young James Bond series. The writing is very much in the Iam Fleming style (as you would hope and expect it to be) but I don't think you'd find me reading much Fleming either. But I used to watch the Harry Enfield comedy show and Charlie Higson both wrote material for this and appeared in the show (as well as the Fast Show amongst others) and I rightly assumed this would make for an entertaining hour. His current venture is into mid grade horror and I liked the fact that he didn't hold back for this age group. He tests his material out on his young sons and uses them as the yardstick for how far to go. I felt jealous at his lucky breaks (he went to University with comedy writer Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield, and was asked by the Fleming Estate to do the Young Bond Series). Lucky breaks were an even bigger feature of the David Levithan session. I was already a fan having reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and David didn't disappoint. Funny, witty, seriously talented and prodigious, he talked, he sang and he wowed us all with his energy and skills. Like Charlie Higson he didn't shy away from pushing the boundaries with his writing. There's no point being jealous at lucky breaks, as after this session I was sure lucky breaks were searching this guy out in droves. He was generous too and chatted with everyone who wanted books signed. I bought two. Go check out Tania Hutley's very funny blog post here on her thoughts about Mr Levithan. I'm glad I went. I'm not sure if its left me feeling inspired or motivated but i definitely feel the better for it.

Don't let it rain on their parade...

I've learnt a lot from all those forensic crime shows on the telly-box. We'd hoped to communicate with my eldest while she is in the US at cheerleading competitions via text but her mobile didn't connect to the network over there. So I have had to become a forensic Mum. I got to see her performance for the International Cheer Union World Competition on the internet. She was also in the opening ceremony parade and in the front row for team NZ as they received their bronze medals for coming third out of 11 countries in the Elite Co-ed division. So I could tell she was alive and whats more was the daughter of a very proud mum. I was able to keep tabs on her debit card and make sure she hadn't run out of money (eek it wasn't working at first but I got that sorted) and checking in on that again today she is definitely still alive as the money is just about all gone. As her team didn't come in the top three for the Allstar World Cheerleading comp over the weekend I had no idea how they fared with that. The top three teams in all divisions were from the US. Its their sport and they excel at it, especially in the co-ed division. My other daughter had a txt from a friend this morning to say Team NZ came 8th in that one. Well done guys. Cheerleading is still a very young sport in NZ - we've come very far, very fast. My eldest will be home tomorrow morning - yay! (and it'll be my turn to do a little cheer).

I had some lovely feedback from a participant of the workshop I conducted at the beginning of the month as part of the Seminar Series run by the St Heliers Writers group. The series was very well organised and I got to work with such a fabulous bunch of people with some amazing stories.

...Please tell Melinda how much I enjoyed her Writing for Children morning. Nice group of students and I think we all felt we'd learnt a lot in a short time. perfect place for seminar, loved it... - Pam

I've had a few other positive comments from other attendees and I'm really pleased people enjoyed my presentation and got something out of it.

I had an author visit at Greenhithe Primary School yesterday. What great children and teachers and how lucky they are to have such a fabulous librarian, Jayne. There were definitely some budding writers and illustrators there and thanks to Ryley for the lovely picture. I am also pleased to report that my first ever power point presentation worked. Some finessing is required but the technology did its job. Thanks again to Jayne who set eveything up to make things trouble free for me. I hope the sun shines for their bookweek parade on Friday.

There's always one in the crowd...

There's always one in the crowd. One child who puts up their hand and says something that, no matter how many school visits you've done and how many comments and questions you've heard, manages to surprise and delight and wow you beyond expectation. Today it was the little 7 or 8 year old who, after I'd read my picture book The Were-Nana to the assembled year 3 and 4 classes (around 250 plus children) raised her hand and said the colours of the pictures changed depending on whether the story was at a scary part or a happy part; dark for scary and lighter for happy. I hadn't picked up on this till the book's illustrator pointed this out at a joint presentation we did together last month. I wanted to take this young lady aside and have a chat with her about stories and illustrating and what she liked and didn't like and then I wanted to go forward twenty years and see what she was up to. Talking to 800 children today (divided into 3 groups) was full on, especially after an hours drive to the school, but this one comment has got my brain a-buzzing. Kids rock. I was fascinated too that they all laughed when I said the new picture book I'd just finished had a chihuahua in it.

Which television series would you like to live in...

Remember how grumpy I was several weeks ago cos I hadn't heard back from publishers about my submissions - I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD! Sorry for shouting. I am doing my very BEST to be patient which is the hardest thing in the world for me and it still isn't good enough because patience is just rewarded with more waiting. Sigh.

I am off on another school visit tomorrow. Last week it was Campbell Bay Primary and the week before Remuera Primary. Next week it is Panmure Bridge Primary. Tomorrow it is Manurewa Central Primary. I hung out in Manurewa a bit in my youth, what with growing up in Mangere and all. School visits are cool. It is the driving there and back that is the stressful part. As a devoted watcher of Star Trek over the years I hoped they would have sorted this tele-transportation business out by now. They've had forty something years to turn their cool idea into reality. Thats plenty of time, surely. Marcus Chown in his book Quantam Theory Cannot Hurt You (not true - it hurts my brain every time I read some) talks about the theoretical possibility of tele-transportation. The way subatomic particles behave it is possible. Except (isn't that word a major drag sometimes - a bit like 'but' really, but not 'butt' which just tends to make me laugh - sad innit) some other aspects of subatomic particle behaviour screws up all the potential. Surely with all the people who hate driving they would have come up with some way better alternative to public transport by now!! Maybe if I lived in the television series it would work. Which television series would you live in, if you could?

And sorry, its my fault its just started raining again - I hung some washing out. Sometimes I think I do it just to thumb my nose at the weather. Sadly the rain always has the last laugh.

So thats how illustrating is done...

Another school visit today. Remuera Primary in the midst of their bookweek. I like bookweeks. I was impressed by the trouble the school and especially the librarian had gone to, to organise stimulating and exciting events for the students. The'd had a books-to-movie night the previous evening for the children, with any accompanying parents able to attend a talk for grownups. Brian Lovelock had visited earlier in the week and an artist friend of mine Sally Blyth had been along too. Today it was my turn and I was doing the talks together with the illustrator for The Were-Nana, Sarah Anderson. It was a treat for me to hear her side of the story. When I write I don't really envisage the pictures for each page. Someone asked me about this during my tour to Westport and I confess I muddled my answer. Probably because I don't imagine the visual images but I do have an idea in my head of how things look. These might sound like the same things but for me they aren't. My style of visual representation is an odd mixture of picture and description, words and images mingled and untangle-able. A result perhaps of the fact that I can't draw well enough to illustrate my words, so any image I have has to be helped by a verbal description.

On completion of a picture book story I send it off to the publisher and if they decide to publish, they arrange an illustrator. There is a large element of trust in doing this but I believe the publisher is as keen as I am for the book to succeed so they will be working hard to source the right images. With my two picture books so far I have not been disappointed - in fact quite the opposite. But to a certain extent the illustration side of the books production has happened magically and I have had little idea of the process involved in the illustrators work. With my first pb, Clever Moo, I was lucky enough to see the illustrator Malcolm Evans in action, doing free hand drawings of the main character Margaret - I even have one framed on my wall. I assumed that the process for the book's illustrations was just an extrapolation of this. So listening to Sarah today, describing (with power point presentation) how she took my story and created the pictures was wonderful for me. I loved hearing how she started by exploring the emotions of each page and then searched for the right look for each character by finding the right human representative to base her drawings on. Seeing how she planned her illustrations for the whole book with appropriate changes of colour palette and light and dark. Following the process of starting each frame with a rough concept and then adding detail through background, emotion and action. It was all fascinating. It will be interesting to see if this knowledge has any affect on the way I visually imagine my stories in the future.

A few tips for school visits...

Here I am at Westport North Primary School in Were-Nana accessories (thank you wonderful Fifi for sending me a set) talking to the children. Here I had my favourite bit of feedback. At the end of my talk and story reading one young man put his hand up to say that when he grew up he wanted to be a writer like me. I try my best to make my talks interesting and hopefully helpful for everyone in the audience but the thought that I might light a spark under some young person's creativity is overwhelmingly rewarding.

For all the people who lit a spark in my creativity: my parents, some of my teachers, other writers, I am beyond grateful - thank you. And now as I visit schools as a writer, thank you to the patient, attentive children who listen to me and my stories, thank you to theNZ Book council, the school principals, the teachers and the librarians who organise, fund, prepare visits and enthuse about writers and books. I guess these visits not only have the potential to inspire the children they also inspire and invigorate me. And i get to hear the sweetest words, 'read it again'.

Here are a few tips for making the most of (and surviving) a school visit/tour.

1) Do not try to cram too much in. Although each visit might be only half an hour to 45 minutes I always go over time and there is always travel time, set up time and the unexpected to be factored in. And no matter how interested and well behaved the children are, it is very energy sapping. Three sessions in a day is the upper limit for me although I recommend keeping to two sessions if you are doing several days of visits in a row.

2) Before you go try to find out if the organisers have anything in particular they want to achieve from your visit. Do they just want reading, or a more workshop style event? Do they have a particular outcome in mind? Is it book week or some other important event?

3) Find out the size of your audience. I don't use powerpoint or any other technological display tools, its just me and my books (and a few fun accessories - see above and below) so it is a bit more challenging to speak to larger groups. I've spoken to as many as several hundred at once but if possible I prefer smaller goups of 15 to 30 with a maximum of 100. Larger group sizes means it is hard to connect with individual members of the audience and make it more likely that children will get distracted and restless. It is harder for them to hear you reading (and see the pictures of the book for pbs) and ask questions. For a workshop 10 to 20 works better for me and such groups operate best if composed of children particularly interested in writing or books. Better to know what you are facing even if the group size is not your ideal one.

4) Have a think about how you will answer the audiences questions. Check this out to see how not to answer audience questions (although I laughed myself silly over these and wish I could use these responses - maybe in a parallel universe. This blog also makes a good point about acknowledging the contributions of both writer and illustrator in pb's) . Younger audiences in particular come up with some doozie questions that are totally unrelated to writing or books (how old are you? are you married? how much does your husband earn?). But seriously, you do want to have an answer for - where do you get your ideas? how long have you been writing? why did you become a writer? what are your favourite authors/books? Which of your own books/stories is your favourite?

5) Props are useful and sometimes life saving. I have a special decorated suitcase for all my material which serves as an icebreaker with audiences. I have a soft toy which travels with me and can be used to motivate children. I have books and other material which can be handed round and now of course I also have my fab Were-Nana accessories. I always include some of my sources for the viking information I used in my novel Jack the Viking and these can be useful to start discussions with older children. All children love little extras like bookmarks or postcards. I also have unpublished material which can be used as a basis for the children's own illustrations. Take everything you can think of. Every audience is different and what worked brilliantly with one group might be the kiss of death with another. Its good to be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat when the audience is getting restless.

6) Remember, while children can be exceedingly scary and can be merciless if they smell your fear, I believe they really do want you to succeed at your visit.

Remember also that none of the above are hard and fast rules. These are all things that I have discovered that work for me as I have gone about the business of school visits. I learn something new every time and my repertoire of talk topics grows which is useful because I have more options to chop and change if something isn't working. Most important, be brave and reward yourself with a nice coffee/wine/piece of cake/chocolate/all of the above, afterwards. You'll deserve it.

Hi honey, I'm home....

I'm back after a whirlwind tour of primary schools around Westport reading my books and talking about writing for the NZ Post tour. Things got a little shaky before I even took off from Auckland when I arrived home from my weekly gig at the local school to find my greedy dog had sucked all the chocolate out of their foil wrappers: the chocolate I'd bought specially to maintain my sense of humour on my trip. I know it wasn't the end of the world but I shed a tear and called my SO to tell him about it because a trouble shared is a trouble halved. And my sweety arrived home unexpectedly before my departure with a new box of chocolates because he totally understands their essential status. He wuz my hero. I got to the airport in good time and boarded the plane but the plane was broken and we had to get off. Even a ten mintue delay might have made catching the once daily connection to Westport tricky but it looked like being 40 minutes plus. Air New Zealand - bless them - swung into action, grabed my bag and the bags of the two other westport bound folk and scooted us on to a flight to Nelson. Once there we had a three hour drive in a taxi in the dark and made it to Westport by around 9.30. I'm glad i didn't have to make the taxi trip alone. My companions were civil engineers making their weekly trip to help manage the coal mine at Stockton and they were great company - thank you Sarah and Warren for keeping me from the brink of insanity. As bad things happen in threes when I called my SO to let him know I'd finally made it to the Motel he let slip that on the way back from the emergency chocolate delivery his car had been swiped by a bus doing an insufficient job of trying to squeeze through an insufficient gap in traffic. I blame it all on Robbie, of course.

I enjoy school visits except for the nerves and the mental preparation. Although there was plenty of time between engagements over the Tuesday and Wednesday, the itinerary was fairly full. Thank you so much to Kate and Margaret who chauffered me round, showed me some sites and gave me lots of information and insight into the region (especially loved the walk up part of the Denniston incline) accompanied me everywhere, and said positive encouraging things and to Michaela who organised everything down in Westport and glued it all together. You were all great company and made the trip even more enjoyable. I hope the schools enjoyed the visits. And I hope too that I get a chance to go back there.

Had an idea for a new picture book when I went to see Star Trek last weekend. Must get on with writing it.

Who'd a thunk it...

Now Tania Hutley's book launch isn't the only one I've been to recently. I also went to the launch for the gorgeous picture book The Cat With No Name by Sher Foley and Brian Lovelock the weekend before last at Mainly Toys in Mt Eden. Another wonderful event at another fabulous and supportive shop and the speeches included one of the most romantic touches I've heard in a while. Suffice to say the journey of coming up with this book resulted in a love match between the author and illustrator. It definitely put a very rosey glow over proceedings.

Life has a slightly surreal quality to it at the moment. Last week a school made a request to the NZ Book Council to have me visit their school as part of the Writers In Schools scheme. This is my first time to be asked (I've always thrown myself at schools in the past) and I feel very honoured. Schools only get one author visit a year under the progamme and I am thrilled they picked me. And then on Friday a friend told me that The Were-Nana made it on to the NZ Fiction and Non-Fiction - Childrens and Teens Bestseller List for the week. You could have smacked me with a fish and I would have been less surprised then I was by this piece of news. I am super excited that people are buying my books. I love that the NZ Post awards remind people about all the fabulous benefits of books and encourage them to go out and get some. I love that in these financially testing times people still see spending their hard earned cash on books for their children as a good investment. IT IS, IT IS!!! BOOKS ROCK! And I feel very, very lucky...

Awash with nostalgia...

I got in touch with my old primary school yesterday and told them what I was up to these days and would they be interested in a visit. I half expected to never hear back as has happened on other occasions when I have reached out the hand of writerly friendship. But I had a very friendly e-mail back within the hour saying my e-mail had been forwarded to the Principal who got in touch not long after to say yes they were interested. I am excited at the prospect of going back to my old school. I know, apart from the buildings, everything else will be different but my primary years were good ones. I have lots of happy memories - friendships, crushes, some very cool teachers, some of whom introduced me to some excellent books which I still re-read now, and thousands of little events which stay in my mind and may turn up in stories here and there - the sensible school shoes I hated, embarrassing moments, tricks we played, responsibilities we took on. How full of shiny potential we were back then. And now there's a new bunch of kids full of their own bright possibilities. Will any of them want to be writers? Its a thrilling thought. I don't remember ever being visited by an author through out my school years. Authors were distant and unreal and it took me a long time to get up the guts to say that was what i wanted to be, first to myself and then to the world at large. But I remember being transfixed listening to radio broadcasts of Greek myths and legends at school and being excited by having a new book to read - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Moon in the Cloud, Little House on the Prairie. So here's my chance to say that anyone can grow up to be a writer and an author, someone from a community, a school just like this. Or anything else they want to be for that matter. In the meantime I'll be dragging out some old school photos and going all nostalgic, wondering what my classmates are up to now. Its school reunion year this year at Mangere Central primary - I may just have to go!

Jack the Viking: A great gift for Christmas...

Jack the Viking would be great to give as a gift for Christmas. Now as the author of this book I am understandably biased but this is not my opinion, it is the opinion of a reviewer at Christchurch City Libraries. Read her review here.

So the euphoria of the Kiwis rugby league world cup win has worn off now. Today I did a school visit today to the Stella Maris school in Silverdale where my sister teaches. My other sister acted as driver (cos as you know I turn into a chicken behind the drivers wheel) and my writer friend Tania Hutley came along as the Tonto to my Lone Ranger. We played a neat game with the kids of 'one of these things is not like the other' and i have to say the family resemblance is obviously not strong enough physically for the children to figure out straight off which of us was unrelated to the other three. Either that or Tania is actually my long lost sister. I'll have to talk to my Mum and Dad about that. I think things went pretty well, although by the end i thought my eyeballs would drop out, I felt so tired, and I suspect I was talking gibberish to the last lot but they were all too polite to say anything. I was extra excited by the first class who had just the day before finished having Jack the Viking read to them and with their very groovey teacher had been having all sorts of discussions prompted by the book. This is wildest dreams stuff where the story I've written has given them an opportunity to learn a whole lot of different things and taken them in all sorts of directions. All the times I've been excited, challenged or stretched by a book, I never imagined (and boy I've imagined a lot of things) my book would do that to someone else.