The message writers most need to hear (and a competition) ...

My new picture book BatKiwi had a lovely soft launch yesterday at St Helier's Community Library, thanks to the generous invitation and fab skills of librarian Pip Blake, the support of Abby Haverkamp from publisher Scholastic NZ and Peter from Paper Plus Booksellers, and an appreciative wonderful audience of children and their grown ups who braved some pretty atrocious weather to come out and share a love of books and reading.

 

It is always a thrill to see people, especially new readers, warming to a story and wanting to have it for themselves, to take it home and re-read it.  And it was just the loveliest to have one young girl come up to me afterwards and tell me that she loved my story and that I must keep doing what I'm doing. This is the message writers most need to hear sometimes. It's easy to get caught up in the continuing drive to stay published, and sell books, and be reviewed and be shortlisted but the bottom line is we want most of all for our books to be read by the people we wrote them for. For them to love our stories and discover all the things we put in there especially for them. This is why I became a writer. Because I remember so, so well the way I felt reading my favourite books when I was their age. The magic and wonder when I realised what words were capable of and how they could affect me. And the thrill of working out all the threads, and meanings and layers and easter eggs an author had laced their story with, as if I was the first one to know, to realise, to work it out. That is the power of words. So when the going gets tough it is wonderful to be reminded what makes this job so important and so rewarding and why it is worth perservering with. And I'd like to say thank you to that young girl (Caitlin) from the bottom of my heart.

And I have a copy of BatKiwi, and a copy of the Te Reo edition, Ko PekaKiwi to give away. Tell me who your favourite superhero is, and what it is you like/admire most about them, either in the comments here, or on the facebook or twitter posting of this blogpost, and I will pick my favourite answer. Please let me know which version of the book you would like. Competition closes 25th July at 5pm and I will aim to announce the winner that evening. 

Win a copy of My Elephant is Blue ...

I was meaning to write this blog post and then found myself reading an essay by Rebecca Chace about her poet mother Jean Valentine, and then writing a poem in response instead. Go figure. 

Sorry I have been so absent. It has been a busy old time. I have had lots of things to write and do and organise although sadly, (for me) not so much creative writing of my own stories. I have a general policy of saying yes to things. Book adjacent events are an unpredictable thing so I know there will be plenty of quiet times down the track to balance out the busy times happening right now. If people are keen to have me visit their school or take part in a library event, or talk at length about writing/reading/books, I am IN! And sometimes all the invites come at once. This is how it goes and I am here for it. But when I am invited to do things, it's not just about doing the event. It also means preparing what I am going to say and sometimes creating material (handouts, powerpoints, exercises) to go with it. I take all these events very seriously. I want to do a good job. So I have been beavering away on lots of book adjacent things. And the occasional accidental poem. 

My latest picture book My Elephant is Blue is now out. Before it was even printed this wee story was wooing publishers overseas and it will be coming out in Germany, Italy, and China, and Spanish language rights have also just been sold. I have not had a book this translated before and it is très exciting. Fly little elephant, fly! 

Some lovely reviews have been coming in too (you can read one here or here ), and this Sunday we are officially launching the book at Time Out Bookshop in Mount Eden. Look at the lovely shop window they have created (swoon).

If you read this before Sunday and you want to come along - please DO! Here is the invite

And because I still have a bunch of book adjacent things to do I am going to run away and leave you with a competition to win a copy of My Elephant is Blue. To win a copy tell me in the comments (here on the blog, or on this post on facebook, or on twitter) which language you think the book should be translated into and I will pick my favourite answer. Entries close June 4th. 

Out in the world...

Tarantara tarantara!!

 WE HAVE A WINNER!!! 

I had a flurry of entries over the last few days, some on the blog and some via email for reasons which I decided were entirely acceptable. Not only did the winner correctly guess my favourite story (Crocodile Dreaming) but they also guessed my second favourite as well (Pirate Eye) and their order of 1st, 2nd and 3rd faves was closest to my own. No one picked my third fave and I am leaving this as a mystery for another possible competition in the future. And the winner (DRUM ROLL please) is: Ezabella Lanuza from St Mark's School in Pakuranga. Ezabella wins a signed copy of Time Machine and Other Stories!! which will be in the post shortly.

Thank you to everyone who entered. You are all terrifically smart people who know books make awesome prizes.

Surrounded by good friends and family, the book was launched last night by publisher Mary McCallum from The Cuba Press, and book-loving, book-reviewing, librarian and friend, Crissi Blair, at Time Out Bookstore in Mount Eden.

Just outside the door at Time Out Bookstore :)

Crissi, Me and Mary

(photo by my SO)

Speechifying

The most delicious mini-cakes from The Caker on K Rd.

My little book is now set free to fly to readers and hopefully the stories inside will delight them as much in the reading, as they delighted me in the writing.

Launch and competition - Time Machine & Other Stories

My latest book, Time Machine & Other Stories, is due out this month. It is a while since my last book came out (Fuzzy Doodle, 2016) and I had forgotten how it all works. The thrill of having the physical book in my hands, and the relief, of seeing coherent prose on the pages when you glance inside, and a cover which looks even better than you imagined. I'd forgotten that weirdly free-floating (scarily untethered), limbo phase between the cogs of publicity and launching slowly winding up, and the book being seen and read and maybe reviewed and hopefully purchased. The nerves of waiting for people to say what they think about your book. There is a fight inside me between excitement and terror and who knows which one will win. Is it like the two wolves tale (one good, one bad) where the one that wins is the one you feed? From the outside looking in, the birth of a book is such a joyous occasion, but every parent has fears and worries about their child's survival and success. Go well, new baby!!

The book is in bookstores from August 11th. And I will be wetting the newborn's head and celebrating its arrival on Thursday August 29th at Time Out Bookstore, 5-30pm. It would be lovely to see you there!!

And here is a competition to win a free copy (for NZ readers only). I have a favourite story in this collection. Below is a list of the titles of all the stories included in the book (in the order they appear in print). Comment here on this blog post with which story you think I like best, and I will pick a correct entry to receive a copy of the book, hot off the press. Remember to identify yourself in some way so I can name you if you win (a pseudonym is fine). Competition closes August 10th. Up to three guesses per person allowed. I also have second and third favourites, and if anyone picks all three correctly there will be a bonus prize.

Now's Good

Rush

Drawing Horses

Holding My Breath

Smart Soup

Time Machine

A Winter's Day in 1939

Crocodile Dreaming

Time Machine II

The Monster Under My Bed

The Gift

Rich Pickings

My Mother is an Alien

The Man with the Dog Eye

Dog's Best Friend

A Passport to Friends

Last Summer

Time Machine III

Pirate Eye: a novella

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!!

Fuzzy Doodle soon...

It is less than a month to go until my new picture book is released. I am simultaneously excited and terrified. I hope y'all love it as much as I do. I am having a little soiree with illustrious illustrator Donovan Bixley to launch Fuzzy Doodle 3pm on June 12th at Timeout Bookstore in Mt Eden and I would love you all to come! And don't worry - I will remind you all closer to the time. I think I might run a bit of a competition to win a copy here on the blog soon too, so keep an eye out.

It is hard to describe what the book is about but I guess you might be wondering. Whenever I try to imagine what it means for the Universe to be infinite I find it difficult to comprehend. How can something go on forever? And how does a caterpillar transform into a butterfly within the tiny confines of a cocoon? The concept of metamorphosis is understandable on one hand but the practical application seems other-wordly. It's a bit like the process of writing or art. Where do ideas come from? How do we turn them into complex stories or paintings? I sometimes look at things I've written and thought 'where did that come from?'. There is always an element I can't explain. A certain kind of magic that is involved. These things are at the heart of this book. That is what it is about.

An educational resource for the book can be found here!

A winner haz been picked...

Tis time to announce the winner of my competition to win a copy of my new book The Song of Kauri. I have had a range of terrific entries on facebook and here on the blog. And the winner of the English version, with her name picked out of a hat by my eldest, is Sue Copsey, who picked her favourite name, the hattifatteners (from the Moomintroll books) for it's sublime mixture of silliness and pathos. Your book will be making its way to you soon. As it was unclear whether any of you would like to win the Maori version, if any one would be interested in this copy, I will give it to the first person who puts their hand up. Thanks to all for entering my competition.

I will be officially launching the book in Dunedin on August 1st. Exciting times!!

And in the ongoing debate about YA literature and what teens should and shouldn't be reading, here is a terrific post to remind adults everywhere that the kids, and their books, are alright.

No relation...

It would not be an overstatement, I think, to say that this year has been somewhat busy. Now that I have handed in my final assignment, launched my latest book While You Are Sleeping (with a purpose built cake of course)

and agreed with the editor on some last text changes for next year's picture book I have been kicking back just a little (here lunching with some terrific writery pals - Maria Gill, Victoria Azaro, Elena de Roo and with Jane Bloomfield behind the camera).

Somehow this year, while Christmas is on the same date in the same week that it always is, I can't help feeling that everyone has already started their end of year wind down. And that includes me. It seems oddly early and normally this would worry me as I don't like the usual wind down timings and struggle with not having the access to people, businesses and processes that I enjoy having the rest of the year (although I am sure they need their rest from me :) But I feel like I have sucked the marrow out of 2013. On the whole it has been a good year. I am content to wind down with the rest of the world and potter away at my current projects. What has happened to me??? Maybe I am growing up. I hope not.

I am trying to be a bit more zen about things anyways. Being on social media brings people in regular contact with a whole raft of problems, crises and issues and makes the world seem as if it is in a permanent state of exploding, imploding or falling apart. I often feel angry or wound up about all the injustices and while the concerns are important and taking action is worthwhile, existing in a constant state of feeling over-wound can't be healthy. So I'm trying to pick my battles, think of proactive things I can do to contribute to positive change and trying to throw off the associated stress. A current frustration is the lack of respect shown to children's literature within the local literary scene. I have lamented in the past that children's literature seems like the poor relation of adult fiction in New Zealand. Sometimes I think maybe I'm overstating things, or being too sensitive. My mistake. Apparently it is no relation at all. All too often anecdotal evidence demonstrates that I am not nearly sensitive enough. Our children's literary community is very strong in New Zealand. Children's fiction publications in New Zealand would surely outnumber adult fiction every year (adult/general non fiction I suspect would dominate all other categories). We are producing quality material. Folk might say our persistent inability to sell overseas is indicative of not quite making the mark in comparison to foreign books. But if you consider that the business end of publishing and distribution often wants to see the success of a title before taking it on elsewhere and we can never hope to demonstrate the desirable kinds of numbers in a population of 4 and a half million people or interest from a sophisticated yet still too small television or film industry, do we face impossible odds? And while our wines, our indigenous culture, our take on fashion and hobbits seem desirably exotic, this surprisingly does not extend to our children's literature. And when opportunities for introducing our work to a bigger market arise, despite the relative size of our children's writing community and that the resulting publications are a significant proportion of all annual publications here, we continue to be grossly under-represented at international events. We don't get seen at these events, or feted, or promoted. No wonder the rest of the world is unaware of us. Folk are generally unaware of us here. I know some sectors are very good at knowing us and supporting us but other sectors, who might also make a significant long term difference for us, don't share this approach.   I do not want to just be grumpy about this. I like to think there might be a solution to this problem. Maybe the summer hiatus will provide me with some good thinking time.

Please talk quietly amongst yourselves...

I am currently distracted with a bunch of stuff which unfortunately does need my attention. So because my mum asked, here are some photos of my daughter Geneva before her Year 13 Ball. And a couple from the book launch of my book A Winter's day in 1939 of me, my Mum and my Dad.

The random road to success...

If you are in the vicinity of the Polish Heritage Museum on Sunday march 24th around 4pm don't forget to pop in for my book launch of A Winter's Day in 1939. The book will be at the super special launch price of $18 (which is rather super special). The museum is a great place with lots of interesting Polish artefacts, traditional costumes and art. I hope I see you there.

People have been talking about the book and reviewing it which has been most exciting and I am trying to keep it all in perspective. I would love for the book to do well but as blogger Lexi Revellian says nobody really knows why a book becomes a howling success.  You can check out her blog here. She links to Wool author, Hugh Howey's, own article on what he attributes Wool's bestsellerdom to, and the J.E.Fishman article 'Hugh Howey and the Bestseller Myth' is also worth a look.

There are no sure-fire, guaranteed roads to the kind of success Howey has enjoyed. He's a little bewildered by it himself. But I liked what he said about 'gambling like he was drunk'. He did what felt right at the time when it came to making decisions and making plans. I don't know if I could be as brave and bold as he has been but I do do two things he recommends - I put my work out there. I'm happy and keen to try different routes to make work available. And I write all sorts of things. Whatever comes into my head that's desperate to get out again onto the page. I write widely and I think I've got an even bigger range of stuff still in me. I just have to be a writer, and I hope the harder I work, the luckier I get.