Behaving badly ...

How we all feeling people? I can't lie - between covid and protests and linespeople repairing power lines post-Cyclone Dovi in the wee small hours of the night, the mood is a bit subdued.

Hanging out on twitter, while it can be distressing at times, is a good way to get updates on goings-on both here and overseas and to gauge the temperature of things. And there are always interesting posts that cover some things in depth providing insights and elucidation, to counter the toxic or inflammatory words of others. I find small doses are best. Recently though I noted a couple of unconnected posts that were commenting on a similar issue that surprised me. One was an agent responding to a submission they'd received that opened with a not so veiled criticism of that agent. The other was a person who has created an online children's writing community (out of the pure goodness of their heart) with the object of providing help, support and opportunity for new writers, reporting that they had received disgruntled emails from writers disappointed not to have made a competition longlist. The person had not even been involved in judging the entries, although it would have been no excuse for this kind of response if they had.

Writing for publication is a long game. Being polite and professional is essential as you navigate the choppy waters of this business. I have seen folk behave badly and get away with it but this is the exception, and people remember.  And being rude, disrespectful or aggressive is just a very weird response for a writer. Our key job is to understand the meaning and effect of our word choices. We work hard to shape text in a way that conveys what we want it to say. So why, oh why would you say or write something that will make the recipient (who may hold your publishing fate in their hands), upset, or insulted or angry? The only result you will get, as far as I can tell, is to make it easier for the rest of us who are polite and professional. I guess lashing out might briefly salve whatever hurt you might be feeling but this behaviour is most likely to only damage your chances further in future.

It's totally understandable to feel hurt and/or disappointed by a rejection. I've had my share and they sting like blazes. The heart-hurt that goes along with the dashing of a hope or dream is dreadful and over the years I've assembled a few strategies to help me through these times. Sometimes I soothe myself with cake, chocolate and wine. Sometimes it's the indulgent purchase of something unnecessary. Sometimes I say rude words or go for a very vigorous walk, and sometimes I complain bitterly to my nearest and dearest. Occasionally it's all of those things. Find a strategy that works for you that doesn't involve burning any bridges.

Biting your tongue is just another way of 'killing your darlings', and it will make your work stronger. And if you think saying something rude or critical in an email or on social media is going to be read as witty or cute, or commanding and impressive, you may be in the wrong business.

Your magic spells are welcome ...

This is my third go at writing this blog post. I began in early January and have ditched both earlier versions. Fingers crossed that third time's the charm. Bit like writing a book really eh?

Early in January we said farewell to our middle child who has emigrated to the UK. She's found a flat (moved in yesterday) and is now working on employment with a few interviews (some in person, some online) already under her belt. I asked her this morning how she was settling in and she said she was off across the road shortly for a pub quiz with the flat-mates and I felt a little jealous. It's deep mid winter there (not jealous of that although she loves the cold weather), but I do love a fun pub quiz with good people on a cold night. Eldest (resident in LA) has just had time away in Mexico City which looked wonderful, and youngest is currently indulging us by remaining at home. The kids are all right. 

And me? I've been dividing my time recently between reading, assessing other people's writing and dabbling with my own. With fewer in-person engagements likely over the next wee while I'm hoping to carve out more time for bigger projects. So far I've revised a picture book ms, and written around two thirds of a new one, so zero progress on the longer works. I feel like I have a bit of a hoodoo on me around long form fiction at the moment and need to find a way to lift the curse. Your magic spells are welcomed. I do have a few big ideas swirling round in my head though - fingers crossed one of them comes in to land. 

In the meantime there has been more news for my favourite little pachyderm. Taiwan has now also signed up to publish My Elephant is Blue. I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic about what this and the earlier deals might mean for the book. I do love that people in other countries will be reading our story. I hope they like it. I'll keep you posted on how things work out. One thing I will say at this point is that I did nothing different with the writing or submitting of the stories that have received overseas offers of publication. I sent them off to NZ publishers who agreed to take them on and those publishers have subsequently succeeded in obtaining these overseas sales (Blue does also have an agent working on her behalf). I didn't anticipate any of this when I wrote those manuscripts. I certainly didn't write with that eventuality in mind. I just wrote the best story I could and that is always the bottom line for me. 

In near future news, I'm running my Picture Book Writing Workshop again this year in March and August (information on the courses can be found HERE). I'm always adding to my knowledge base on picture book writing and I love sharing everything I've learnt with keen writers - my goal is to help you achieve your writing dreams by giving you as much information, and advice and as many tools as I can. I hope I see you there. 

 

The traditional new year's eve trip ...

Last day of the year here at the leading edge of the time zones. Although in many respects it is just another day, I am feeling the weight of the year sitting heavily on me. Why does it do this? For me personally it wasn't a bad year at all and I have good things on the horizon. And yet new year's eve just always does a number on my thinking - stoopid tradition. It demands I assess my 'this year' behaviour and begs of me what changes I intend to make for the 'coming year', and what my goals and ambitions are. It's all nonsense but I fell in to the trap and have kind of done it anyway. So here are my goals and hoped for improvements ... 

1. I have some picture books contracted to come out in the next few years and for the first time in decades I am easing back on the picture book writing. And I want to fill the gap with other kinds of writing. I have managed to chuck up some mental barriers for myself with longer form writing and I need to find the means to scale/overcome/clamber over those barriers. I may need a little bit of magic to make this happen. I want to push the envelope ... 

2. I intend to do less magical thinking. You know, the kind of thinking where we believe if we stay in the living room watching that important rugby final on TV, our team will lose, so we go and read a book in the bedroom. Or the thinking where we are sure if we tell someone our book is going to the acquisitions committee it'll jinx the outcome so we tell no one. If I don't do this, then that will/won't happen. There is no actual logic to it and yet we find ourselves wearing our lucky socks for far too long and wondering what else we were 'meant' to do/wear/conceal when we don't get the outcome we wanted. This is the kind of magic I don't need in my life so I am going to be challenging this thinking anytime it steps forward in my mind. 

3. I want to learn more of Te Reo

4. I'm going to work up criteria for things I should say 'no' to. I don't think it'll be a big list of things and nothing may qualify for a 'no' in 2022, but if I put down in writing what I really don't want to do, it'll be there when I need it. That thinking that we should do something that scares us everyday is great for pushing us past our comfort zones but it takes a lot of energy and strength to exist outside our comfort zones and there are definitely limits we should apply to this thinking, because while it's great to do new things, too much stress and adrenaline will wear you down.  And when you are thinking 'no' and someone tells you to feel the fear and do it anyway, turn the question back on them and ask them what they have done recently that pushed them out of their comfort zone to assess whether they belong to the school of 'take my advice I'm not using it'.

5. And I need to stop thinking I have to decide any goals or improvements on new year's eve. So I will also be making plans to fill up December 31st 2022 with activities that make this kind of thinking near impossible. This could be fun ...  

... so better living everyone. Have a safe and happy new year's eve, and I wish you all the good things in 2022 xxx

A pox on doubt and associated festive witterings ...

I'm not sure what to write. It's been such an odd year - odd bad and yet also odd good. And I've been feeling odd about it all.

I've been talking a lot to people about their own picture book writing over the course of the year. Picture book writing mates, folk who came to me with manuscripts for assessment, and students on my picture book writing courses. I always urge people to read the type of story they want to write. To look for the books they love the most and interrogate them as to why they appeal, to take those qualities and characteristics and practise them and use them in their own writing. We often say 'writing is hard' and it is. You have to learn the craft, understand the rules of your chosen form, and learn how to see what sets the best ones apart. It can be difficult to push through when a story your brain tells you is locked inside that marble you are chiseling away at refuses to appear. The chisels can feel blunt, the marble impenetrable. And all you can do is keep chipping away and apply a lot of hope. 

And yet I have written some of my favourite sentences by letting go. I gave my mind permission to play, to float free of everything that's come before, the rules and the conventional expectations. Like stepping into a jolly boat on a fast flowing river and getting rid of the oars. Where will the flow take you? Who knows? But it promises adventure. Luckily if you're writing a picture book the worst thing that'll happen is that the story is a mess. You're unlikely to get too wet. And sometimes the mess can be tidied by reapplying the rules and conventions and turn out to be rather charming. And sometimes the river ride brings you to a surprising new destination you never knew existed. Let your mind go and see where it takes you ...

... and if you are grappling with some things remember:

1. Fears are a straight jacket. And our minds tend to exaggerate their size. When it comes to writing, don't let them tell you what to do (or not do!). I mean, what's the worst that can happen? (we are writers not Bear Grylls facing death from dehydration if we don't drink our own wees). Rejection is a stepping stone not a brick wall at the end of a blind alley.

2. A pox on doubt. Every writer feels it and I think it's one of the most duplicitous emotions. Honestly, what does doubt know? It isn't getting some special inside scoop from all the publishers or reviewers or readers! It loves to show you the worst take by one person and pretend that that is the consensus but it's wrong. Seriously - it doesn't have a clue - don't treat it like it does.

3. If you are still not writing because covid and all its associated baggage did a number on your creative thinking, do something writing-adjacent. Keep a diary, write letters to people, read indulgently, binge watch a good tv series and think about how you might improve the plot or dialogue or a particular character. Because when you do feel like it again this will all help. And in the meantime call it research and pat yourself on the back for doing a lot of it. 

4. It's best to focus on the good writerly things that have happened to you, rather than the good things that have happened to other writers. There will always be people doing better than us. Just like there will always be people who aren't doing as well as we are. Its not a race even if it likes to give us that impression. It's messing with you  - that way lies madness. 

I wish you all a safe and happy summer and the hope that whatever you want for your writing, you achieve it in the coming year. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

A work in progress ...

Honestly time is just swimming along freestyle and I am doing breaststroke trailing along behind. People are putting Christmas decorations up and I am pretty sure I haven't made it to October yet. And somehow I still don't want it to slow down so I can catch up. I am waiting on things ... I am waiting on answers to things, and answers, and things, take time so time must pass. It is an unfortunate aspect of being a writer - kind of willing your life away especially cos some things take sooo long. It is the nature of the beast so we swim along, wishing we could arrive at some distant point sooner than is physically possible, and sometimes clutching at straws along the way.

I have been looking back on 2021 (probably a bit early but heyhoo some folk put their Christmas trees up in August so I make no apologies) and wondering a fair bit about 2022. 

2021 has been another year of cancelled events, at least in this second half. I worry that all my presenting skills will rust up or be forgotten. They like to be lubricated by regular use. While my hermit soul actually likes parts of lockdown, like a tennis player finds it hard to practice their skills in a quarantine facility hotel room, I'm not sure how to maintain my public speaking facilities for future use while spending 95% of my time at home. I've been thinking about and writing content for talks and hopefully that is enough. I guess I've also been trying to upskill in other ways so that might help too (more on that below) and I've been chatting with a lot of folks about picture books and the process of writing them. And we are in the midst of a pandemic and this is all just going to have to do. It'll be like riding a bike. Once I've got past the wobbly phase it'll all come back to me. 

It's also been a year of getting some things over the line about which I have been very surprised and incredibly grateful. I'm relieved to find the world hasn't seized up entirely - folk are still reading, books are still being made and publishers are still buying. 

And what about 2022? I have just booked a gig - more on that soon I hope - and hopefully (I have everything crossed) at least one of the cancelled events from this year will get the chance to go ahead next year. And maybe a few others will be resurrected too. But at the moment the dance card is mostly blank. And it feels nigh on impossible to plan much more than that. I'm keeping an open mind.

I recently did a free online course on Picture Books through Waikato University which was not only very thought provoking on many fronts, but it showed me the truth about animal characters. For so long I laboured under the assumption that animal characters in a picture book represent some kind of universal characters that every child can relate to. I was so wrong.  Animal characters still act, talk and interact like people. If I am writing without a conscious effort to change the narrative, my characters will default to my dominant cultural experience, whether they are human or cats, horses, lambs, wolves or otherwise. They'll be white and middle-class and able-bodied like me.  

If we want all children to see themselves represented in the books they read, then the story must provide that. Making the characters into animals will not achieve that alone. I've put a lot of thought in to how genders are depicted in my stories. Who has the dominant role? Who succeeds? Who is playing the supporting role? Who is physically strong? Who has the answers to the difficult questions? Who saves the day,  etc... I've made some progress on this, and looking back I see that I've often written stories where the gender of the main character is ambiguous and their behaviour doesn't force the issue either way.  I hope this has the desired effect. That all young readers can see themselves in those roles, as those characters. 

And I know I have to keep working and expanding and thinking about what I'm presenting and representing. I know sometimes my voice won't be the right one. And I need to not take the easy route of thinking an animal will provide a universal experience. Or that there even is a universal experience. Like my stories, I am a work in progress.   

 

The joys (horrors) of revising ...

Lockdowns are hard and it's fair to say my creativity has taken a wee bit of a hammering over this time. I've kept writing - mostly reviews, blogposts, manuscript assessments and reports but from time to time I've managed a smidge of something a little more creative - while major projects have been sitting this one out I've produced a couple of grown up poems here and there, and done some picture book revising. I've kept submitting things beause this is still possible. And I've had some good news things happening too. 

One of these good news things was seeing three of my books in the Storylines Notable Book Awards. Sharing with Wolf illustrated by Nikki Slade Robinson (Scholastic), My Elephant is Blue, illustrated by Vasanti Unka (Puffin [PenguinRH]) and Ko PekaKiwi, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White and translated by Pānia Papa. BatKiwi also got a mention - highly commended in the Picture Book Category. I'm very proud of these books and it is a real thrill to have them recognised this way. You can check out the whole glorious list here. Lots of wonderful books across 5 categories, perfect for Christmas gifts for the young people in your lives. 

Recently an article was published in New Zealand with authors talking about what they were doing in lockdown and a bunch of us agreed this would be a cool thing to do with children's authors and illustrators as well. You can check out what we said here. 

I also thought I'd share this lovely treatise by author Eirlys Hunter on how a little fantasy can end up bringing the real world closer, and how the distance between the two is surprisingly small and the barrier extremely porous for young readers. 

And in the best kind of surprise twist I didn't see coming, I've had another picture book accepted for publication. This one, titled Sun Shower, is to be published by Scholastic NZ. They've also said a tentative yes to another manuscript pending revision. This sort of thing can be thrilling and terrifying in near equal measure. Revising on your own time, for your own purposes is, while sometimes hard, a generally positive experience. You are working to please yourself at a pace of your own choosing. And there is no pressure on the end result, especially in comparison to the original manuscript. Mucked it up? No matter. Try again, or toss it in the bin, the bottom drawer, or bury it six feet under. No one need ever know. We need not ever speak of it again. But a requested revision can be a different beast entirely. Someone is waiting, they know my starting point, and they will be judging my efforts at improvement. It is a nice problem to have but I will be sweating buckets. 

I'll be keeping an original version safe so I can retreat to it if things go awry. I'll be scrutinising the original and asking what its strengths are so I don't lose those along the way. And I'll be trusting my gut as it has served me well in the past. And I am also working on a completely different story in case this one bursts into flames and is reduced to a pile of ash and I need to cheer myself up with a new submission.  

Entering the Storylines Awards? ...

Hello fair writer peeps, what's new? What's new for me is a grown up poem I wrote will be appearing in a grown up poetry anthology next year - this is a first for me and I am very, very excited and also slightly bewildered. Also I have written an educational resource for My Elephant is Blue which is now available in the menu at the top of this blog's landing page.  

I don't know if you've noticed but the Storylines writing awards close at the end of this month - October 31st - and hopefully some of you will be sending in entries, so you'll be polishing, revising, editing, tidying and putting the finishing flourishes on your manuscripts right now. I've been both an entrant (Joy Cowley and Tom Fitzgibbon) and a judge (Joy Cowley) and I can honestly say, hand on heart, these are wonderful competitions - worth entering, albeit nerve wracking and difficult to shortlist in, but they force you to finish a story, to polish it till it gleams, and to take a risk which is all part of how this business works. And every entry is read by the publishers involved. 

My tips, if you are planning to enter ...

1) When you have revised, checked spelling and got rid of all those darlings that aren't pulling their weight and making a solid contribution to your story as a whole, put your story away for a couple of days. Ideally the longer the better but clearly its getting down to the wire now so if you can look away from it for 48 hours it will help. It is amazing how mistakes or rough bits manage to hide themselves from our prying eyes when we have been checking, re-checking, and re-re-checking the same story for weeks on end. A wee break will bring them back to the surface and you will be a little more objective for one final read through.

2) Think - have I got the rhythm right? Many a fabulous story is ruined by an abrupt rhythm which spoils the reading experience. Does it flow smoothly or do you stumble and hiccup on some words or punctuation? If something makes you pause, even if you think it fits, see if you can rearrange it or smooth it out somehow. I find my gut is usually smarter than me at this point.

3) While your story is having a wee lie down in a darkened room, go and check the submission details and rules of engagement. Make a checklist and then do everything they have asked you to do. This is not the time to be a rule breaker. 

4) Note the required word counts on the entry forms. Are you in the right range? You really need to be. If you aren't, your story might not be ready. 

5) Number your pages. And I think it can be handy to put the title of your story in the header at the top of the page. If manuscripts get dropped or muddled by accident this should help every page find its rightful home again.

6) Covid means delays in mail deliveries - post early to ensure your manuscripts get there in time.

7) Have a strategy to get you through the long wait. Winners are announced at the Storylines Margaret Mahy Day which is usually end of March beginning of April. Join a band, knit a car, run away to the circus ... and work on a new story ... and if picture books are your thing then that new manuscript you are working on can be entered on the open submissions day that Scholastic hold on Valentine's Day.    

8) I never got anywhere when I entered the Tom Fitzgibbon. I entered the Joy Cowley maybe 4 or 5 times and got shortlisted twice I think - the stories that were shortlisted needed heaps more work. Don't despair if you don't win or shortlist - it is not the final word or the end of anything. It was a useful step for me to take no matter the outcome. I think entering helped familiarise my name with some folk. It certainly made me keep writing. 

Okay that's enough for now ... you really should be getting those stories ready ... talk soon ... and GOOD LUCK!!!