A week of words, warmth and wisdom ...

It is Monday November 11 here in New Zealand and I am reporting to you live from my bed at 10.22am.

It has been quite a week.

Last Tuesday I flew from Auckland to Dunedin with fellow writer Maria Gill. We were met at the airport by Fifi Colston: writer, illustrater, wearable arts creator and Wellingtonian, who'd flown down earlier in the day. Later in the week we would be presenting various sessions at the Wild Imaginings Children's Writers and Illustrators Hui, but Maria and Fifi had thought schools might be interested in having some out of town authors visit preceding the Hui, and had invited me to join them.

Bright and early Wednesday morning we set off for Oamaru to take part in a Speed Date the author/illustrator event, with 82 students from schools in the district. We'd run with a historical theme and Fifi and Maria dressed up for the occasion. The day was enormous fun (many thanks to all those involved in making the event such a success, especially Fiona Kerr, children's librarian at Waitaki District Libraries, and Kathryn Carmody at ReadNZ Te Pou Murarmura). We had car trouble though, so our highly anticipated dinner date at Fleur's Place in Moeraki had to be cancelled. Grrrrrr.



Maria, Me! and Fifi.

Thursday we were back in Dunedin, and Maria and I had school visits. I was hosted by North East Valley Normal School for the morning and what a great school they are, doing wonderful things to build a love of books and reading in their students.

Friday, Maria and I checked out the Challenging the Deep exhibition at the Otago Museum which was quite amazing, while Fifi had a school visit. Then it was back to the computer for some final content construction and preparation for our Hui presentations, and then off to the Opening Ceremony.

The Hui was wonderful.  Lots of talk. Lots of meeting old friends, and making new ones, forging connections and building relationships. I was a panellist for a discussion on reviewing for the first breakout session and we had a great round table chat about the topic with the attending delegates. My takeaway was that as traditional reviewing channels contract and decline, we need to make the most of the new reviewing forums popping up online, and grow their reach and their reputation. We have to focus on making the most of the new possibilities, rather than wasting time on lamenting the loss of the old.

Kate De Goldi's keynote chat with illustrating marvel, David Elliot, was a joy, followed by a fascinating discussion about different routes to market with a panel of 3 publishers (Mary McCallum at Makaro/The Cuba Press, Anoushka Jones of Exisle/EK Publishing, and Sophie Siers at Millwood Press), and best selling author Stacy Gregg, chaired by writer/agent Chris Else. It was great to hear the speakers talk about their title sales across a range of territories. The second breakout session with Stacy Gregg provided a solid framework for constructing compelling novels. With 25 novels to her name, Stacy knows her stuff.

I'd been tying myself in knots for several weeks trying to prepare my talk for the afternoon keynote that I was to be involved in - Pathways to Imagination. It's tricky writing for an audience that ranges from novices to experienced award winners. In the end I opted for covering as many bases as possible and touching on a reminder about the limits of our imagination. We can be inventive but cannot create something out of nothing. Our imagination must draw on our experience and knowledge, and risks arise when we try to write beyond these. We have to respect our own limits, and more importantly, respect the reader. I was really touched by the hui delegates who came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they'd enjoyed the talk.

The Conference dinner was a blast. Previous University of Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children's Writers in Residence (of which I am one) spoke about their experiences during their residencies, over the course of the evening . That's us below - from left: the 2020 resident, Elena De Roo, Leonie Agnew (2013), Me! (2014), Kyle Mewburn (2011), Fifi Colston (2019), Robyn Belton (with Jennifer Beck 2015), and Karen Trebilcock (2010). 2002 resident, Sandy McKay, who also spoke is missing from the photo.



During my spot, when I remembered to mention my 'getting locked in/small-lady fence gymnastics' adventure, I completely forgot to talk about the friendships formed with the other University fellows during my residency, in particular the Mozart fellow, Jeremy Mayall. Jeremy was keen to work collaboratively and composed music to accompany my picture book The Song of Kauri, released while I was in Dunedin. It was a very special and treasured experience, which a day of heightened preparedness had driven from my mind.

Next morning kicked off with a fabulous keynote by the incredible Wendy Pye, whose tireless work and creative thinking takes tools for reading acquisition all around the world to people who would otherwise not get the opportunity. Next I attended junior fiction series author Swapna Haddow's, breakout session on writing series. This was a terrific primer on constructing a series, and after a mini epiphany mid-session, I came away fizzing with a potential idea. The post lunch keynote was a fascinating insight into the process of two very different authors, Stacy Gregg and Rachael Craw, who were interviewed by Kate De Goldi. The session was a great reminder that there is never just one way to write a fantastic book. Unfortunately we had to dash away before the final keynote and farewell in order to catch planes home, but we'd had an amazing time. I tip my hat to the organisers for this rip roaringly successful event. I will be down there in a shot if they do it again.

The meaning of Fuzzy Doodle - the Arts as a Bridge to Literacy ...

I spent time in Christchurch last week. I'd been invited down to talk a little bit about the new book, Time Machine and Other Stories, during the social evening event at the 2019 National Conference of the NZ Literacy Association. I was also invited to read my book, Fuzzy Doodle, to all the delegates as part of the evening's entertainment, as The Arts as a Bridge to Literacy was the theme of the conference. And I'd successfully pitched a daytime programme workshop proposal to the conference organisers on Readers as Superheroes. Most delegates were teachers and this is the first time I'd spoken to teachers about reading and literacy rather than creative writing so I was a little nervous going in to my session, but happily the response was a positive one. I sat in on the key note speeches and one of the other workshops on the day of my presentations, and came away with some cool insights on imaginative play, and practical ways to raise the writing skills of intermediate students. I met some wonderful teachers and a librarian or two (if you are in Christchurch you must check out Tūranga - the fabulous new library in the city centre), and I felt very energised by the whole experience.


(Photo credit - Mary McCallum).


Here is the speech that accompanied my reading of Fuzzy Doodle.

"People often ask how we produce our particular art form. 'How did you write that book?' Part of the process always feels unexplainable. It's difficult to understand or describe. Like trying to understand how the universe is infinite, or how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. Where do ideas come from? How do we turn them into a whole story?

As the story advances both pictures and words become more complex and sophisticated - just as understanding and ideas grow and mature, as we grow and mature. The story, like creativity, is layered. It can be read on a purely fundamental level, as the story of the caterpillar to butterfly life cycle. There are also resonances with the familiar text of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. And yet, this is also about the more impenetrable process of how we make art. Clearly we must absorb elements of the world around us - here Fuzzy eats words and pictures - in order to transform this sustenance through the creative process - into a work of art. Whether that's a book, or a painting, a musical composition, choreographed dance or other forms.

But it also recognizes that we all start at a very basic level - the scribble, the doodle, the scratchings on the page. And as the book says, which is the message we really want children to hear, is that, Great things from little scribbles grow! Every child is creative. And if we feed them right on arts and ideas, they will produce amazing things."

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Next week I am taking a holiday programme, teaching creative writing to school students at Sancta Maria College. This is one of a series of 'Write Like an Author Camps' created by author Brian Falkner that run around the country throughout the year. You can check these camps out here.  Next month I'll be taking part in the Wild Imaginings Hui in Dunedin, (details here). I'm looking forward to celebrating and talking nonstop about writing and books, and to networking with my tribe from all around New Zealand.

In writing news, I have completed all the manuscripts for the three picture book ideas I was working on. They came to me in a rush, and the writing flowed, and over a couple of months I have written The End times 3. Now I am bereft of picture book ideas and despite the fact that I have written many picture books over the years, at this stage I always feel like I will never get another picture book idea EVER again. Logic would slap me upside the head and say experience shows you how WRONG that is, and yet my brain is like, 'Nup, that's it, no more, NADA, Zilch, NEVER again.' Brain, why do you do this to me?! I guess this would be a good time to have a little writing vacation, cos three picture books over two months is a pretty good (slightly hectic) result, but there is always the nagging thought that we are only as good as our last publication and if momentum is not maintained on new material then the world IS flat and I am about to fall off the side of it into oblivion. So there's that. And there is also the distressing truth that finishing a manuscript comes with no guarantee of publication. I am in the perpetual spin cycle/wringer phase that is the washing machine of being a writer. No wonder I feel so dizzy all the time. Should anything find a home, I will let you know.