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!!!

It's okay to make something terrible ...

 Auckland has made its way from level 4 lockdown to level 3. This still represents a lot of time at home and while this sounds like the perfect opportunity for writing creatively, I have to say I'm very stuck on that front. Instead I have been ruminating and contemplating about a bunch of stuff and it seemed like it might be a good plan to assemble all the musings here. 

1) So much of a writer's life is outside of their control. If you decide to seek traditional publication, will the story be accepted or rejected? It's not up to us. If accepted, will the book sell well, get appreciative reviews, make its way to other countries, other languages? Will it bestsell, win an award, receive harsh criticism, languish at the bottom of the bargain bin, get pulped? All of these things can send an author into raptures of delight and depths of despair. And we wait constantly for any and all of these things to happen. Our happiness or otherwise is in the hands of others who answer to needs and expectations unrelated to what drove us to write the thing we wrote. 

I can see you frowning (and not just over that last sentence).  

It is not healthy to put all your happiness in the hands of others I hear you say. And you are right. But the nature of this calling means that some of the things we covet most - our words in print, the success of our book - requires the participation of others and in a manner of their choosing. At least some of our happiness will be at the mercy of others. But it shouldn't all be.

Obviously there will be other aspects in your life that bring you happiness and over which you have control. But you should also have some things like this within your creative existence. What makes you happy in this realm? 

For me?

I love the feeling when a story comes together and works like it should. When you write The End and you think, 'Yes, that's it! How handsome are you!'

I love the feeling of having a fragment of an idea and you sit down to write and it all (and more) pours out unexpectedly but satisfyingly.

I love the feeling of a hot new idea. No matter where it goes and if it turns into a full story, the frisson of excitement when you first grasp that dazzling spark is so delicious.

I love the feeling of sending a story out on submission. When I hit send and I think 'good luck little buddy, fare you well'. All the potential possibilities as it makes its way out in the world.  

I love talking with other writers, sharing our hopes, dreams, disappointments and dreads. I love not having to explain how things work in the writing world because we all speak the same language. I love the shared understanding and the camaraderie. I love the trust I feel that my fellow scribes will cheer me on when the news is good, and support me when I'm down.

I love making a conscious effort to fill my mind with fun and interesting experiences, especially when something catches alight in my mind and I am inspired.   

I love writing anything, once I get going and the words are coming together, and I feel that hum ... which kind of brings me to my second contemplation. It's okay to be dissatisfied by what you've written ...  

2) Being stuck is not a good time. I feel ill-at-ease when I am not writing. It's like having a broken leg when you're an athlete and all you can do is lie around when you are itching to be active. Wanting all that you write to be good can be a fly in the ointment - a part of what keeps you stalled. I came across the most wonderful tweet the other day which managed to give me permission to unstick myself a little. It's okay to make something terrible. It's a step on the pathway to making good things.

Bianca Stone

@biancastone

· Sep 22

One big stupid (understandable) human problem is looking for shortcuts, when literally the end results are only truly achievable by the relentless, *almost* unbearable work. Terrible poems, humiliating conversations, reckoning, change...it's brutal, but glorious to live.

So perhaps wrestling with some written things which are refusing to obey you is the step you need to be taking now. Not everything will work. Not every idea becomes the desired object. And sometimes the only way to find a solution, is to try, try and try again. Do the work. Muddle through. It's okay to make a crap thing. Sometimes seeing the crapness is a way to get past it. Sometimes you just need to get it out of your system. 

This tweet felt particularly pertinent because I have been sporadically writing some grown up poetry - not so much because I have big ambitions to be a writer of grown up poems, but more because the ideas that have turned up have had mature themes or demand a mature approach. It is a very different form and at times it feels like trying to speak a new language when I don't know all the words. But I feel like I have things to say and this is the way to say these things. A few of my efforts have worked (and made me happy - see 1) but I have had more misses than hits. Maybe being terrible at it isn't the worst thing. Maybe not doing it at all is the worst. 

 3) A local philistine has been on twitter the last few days moaning about the arts in New Zealand and the government's funding support for them. The arts (according to said philistine) are a luxury, a frivolous indulgence. Its not a real job. Its just lazy people not doing anything worthwhile or productive and just farting around with fringe ideas while avoiding getting a 'real' job. Critics forget how creative minds are responsible for their tv entertainment that preserved their sanity during lockdown, that Netflix movie, that amazing podcast, that comedy set that made them laugh so hard they cried, the songs they listen to on the way to work or while they're exercising, the books that grow their children's minds and teach them the fundamental skills of reading and writing and being human. And the artwork that is a part of it all. All the creative minds involved in product design, fashion, hairdressing, jewellery, watch making, mobile phones and so on ... All the every day things we take for granted that look and work best because a creative mind got involved. And the ideas we debate and discuss in fiction that illuminate our lives and contribute to the way we shape society. Just imagine your life without all that and then get back to me about the necessity of the arts. Sheesh. 

4) There is also a persisting line of thinking that children's books are an inferior art form. I think about this a lot, and feel immensely frustrated that people are so wrong about children's literature. I have discussed it before on this blog here, and here, and former UK Children's Laureate Lauren Child touches on it here. I'll be very interested to see her manifesto and will post it here when/if I can.  

Does your picture book manuscript tick these boxes? ...

What ho, fellow writers, readers, assorted friends and family members - how goes it? I am in Limboland also known as Level 4 lockdown in Auckland. We are in week 4 of level 4, and at this point it feels likely the level will be extended a bit longer - and while I'm here to do the work required of me (staying home, wearing a mask when out and about, being vaccinated) because I have no interest in endangering anyone, my brain feels a little curdled by it all. 

I have daily goals. Get a few chores done, achieve at least one work related task, get a little exercise and then do whatever it takes to keep mind and soul together. I am running out of work related tasks though, and because tradition dictates that I leave the hardest jobs till last I am finding it extra challenging to complete the last few things and meet those daily goals. This is compounded by the fact that the last few things on the to-do list are self imposed. I don't HAVE to do them, but I just thought they would be a good idea. And I am very unsatisfied by my efforts at the moment so the tasks and I are languishing and giving each other the stink eye.

None of it is helped by the fact that my usual schedule is generally quite varied so even though it looks like much hasn't changed for me I am down to doing only around 2 things out of my usual 8 or 9. It IS doing my head in even if it looks easy and unstressful. Also I am currently operating in a vacuum - all the interactions I would normally be having with publishers and librarians and schools and organisations like Read NZ are down to a trickle. I don't like it. I feel disconnected, and I spend half my day willing missives to arrive. And of course they won't so it's all a bit futile. This is the usual lot of a writer dialled up to 'extreme.' 

Anyways, I thought it might be useful to talk about one of the potential topics for discussion that I mentioned a while back, especially as entries for the Storylines Joy Cowley Award close at the end of next month and if you are going to enter it's a good time right now to be gussying up your manuscript. There is nothing surprising or new in what I'm about to say but it's a good checklist and bears repeating IMHO. 

What your plot cannot live without ...

Your picture book plot needs:-

1) Structure: Is the story orderly? Does it have a beginning, middle AND end? If you introduce an idea or dilemma, is everything explained or resolved by the end? Is there logic to the events that unfold? Does it make sense? And have you avoided resolution by convenience (as in 'I have this magic gizmo that restores everything to how it was before', or 'it was all a dream' )?

2) Something interesting: is the topic/theme at the centre of your plot interesting? Is it fun for the target audience? Or relevant to their concerns? Or stage of development? Is it something they want to know about or understand? Bonus points if the topic/theme is also interesting for the potential intermediary who might be sharing the book with children such as parents/grandparents/teachers/librarians. Is there space/opportunity to take the topic/theme further? Does the plot open doors for discussion or further reading? 

3) Something different: have we heard it all before? Has this subject already been explored a thousand times? You can get away with an old topic/theme if your writing is super fresh or your point of view is unexpected or original. But the bottom line is, what makes your story stand out from all the others? Why this version?

4) Totally for/about the kids: children don't want an adult perspective on a topic. Are children centered in the story, or alternatively, is the approach one which speaks directly to them? This is a book primarily for young readers - where are they in the story?

D) Something satisfying: does your plot resolve in a satisfactory way? Will it stand up to multiple reads because the punch line/resolution never gets old? Do you feel good when you get to the end of the story?

E) Respect for the words: Is the language dynamic? Does it respect the young readers thirst for new vocabulary and ways of combining? Is the writing rhythmical? Is language used actively, and attractively? Is it surprising, rich, quirky? And I don't mean making up new words, whether for the sake of a rhyme, or for fun. Good new words are way harder to pull off than many think.

F) Room for the illustrator: A picture book is a shared venture (unless you are both author and illustrator). What have you left unsaid for the illustrator to explore? What can they add, tease out or finesse? Where is their chance to show themselves?

Sure, there are picture books on the bookshop shelf that don't fulfil all these criteria, but I reckon the more of these you can say yes to, the better your chances of having your manuscript accepted for publication. 

I hope wherever you are, in whatever stage/level of lockdown you are in, you are finding a way to keep your body and soul together and your creative mind happy. Our current circumstances mean we might need to find new ways to do this. Surprising, interesting ways ... Maybe that's a topic for next time ... Talk again soon ...