At 17, I knew the truth...

by Teri Terry

Almost celebration time!!

Slated launches in the UK on the 3rd of May with Orchard Books! Getting to this place – published author – has been a bumpy road. I've seen Dear Me and Dear Teen Me, where contributors write a letter to their teenage selves with advice. I think my younger self could tell me a thing or two. My 17 year old self has kindly offered to interview me about what took so long...

Blogging is Dead. Or Maybe It's Just a Little Bit Useless.

From OWNI.eu

By Candy Gourlay

EVERYONE is blogging.

Don't believe all those reports that blogging is in decline because people prefer the ease of Twitter and Facebook. There are a LOT of blogs out there. Especially in the world of writers, aspiring or otherwise.

Even publishers, traditionally Jurassic in their attitudes to new technology, are urging their authors to blog. In fact, several publishers are themselves blogging now. Authors are blogging as their characters, blogging about writing, blogging about getting published. Indy authors are blogging like crazy as part of punishing marketing regimes. And unpublished people are publishing online while waiting to get published (yup, me did that).

From Writing for Adults to Writing for Children - Sam Hawksmoor

Sam Hawksmoor and his debut children's novel. Photo: Petersfield Post

Sam Hawksmoor is a debut YA writer with a backlist in adult novels. A Canadian, he ran the Portsmouth University writing courses at BA and MA level until relatively recently. Sam also ran an award-winning hackwriters website 'The Repossession' came out in March. A Dream of Books blog described it as a difficult book to describe, '... what starts off as something of a modern day Romeo and Juliet tale with two teenagers defying the odds to run away together soon turns into a story of an altogether different nature. Part science-fiction, part romance and part action thriller...'  The sequel, 'The Hunting' is out this Autumn.

Princess Paula to The Rescue! Paula Harrison on launching books, writing for younger readers and how to get that lucrative publishing deal...

by Maureen Lynas

Hi Maureen, thanks for having me on 
Notes from the Slushpile. 
I’m very excited to be here!

How Big Is Your Slushpile?

By Maureen Lynas

Are you embarrassed by the size of your slushpile? Do you hide it, ignore it, lie about it? DON'T! Be PROUD of it! SHOUT about it. I'm telling you now - MINE IS HUGE!
Why am I telling you now? Well, after reading Candy's latest blog post on the trauma of completing her second book, and seeing ex-lurker Tamsin's comments about writing for six years and not giving up, I was inspired to come clean and reveal all. This is my writer's journey. From 2000 to 2012.

THE WRITER'S (HERO'S) JOURNEY

THE ORDINARY WORLD (2000)

My world was teaching in a primary school. A story lover, child lover, OFSTED hater. A wanna be writer of children’s fiction.

What I Learned From Writing My Second Novel

Dig the cool cover by David Dean who
also designed the cover of Tall Story

By Candy Gourlay

How do you finish a second novel?

With difficulty.

Especially if the book is has been listed on bloody Amazon for a YEAR and has a cover and your SENSITIVE, HELPFUL friends keep saying, 'Candy, we're going to pre-order your book!'

And life keeps getting in the way, and new ideas for future books keep sneaking into your brain except how are you ever going to write another book this one is taking so LONG, and you've got to market your OTHER book, and you're afraid of saying no to Dylan Calder and to school visits and your other book is published in paperback to a deafening silence in the United States and you know you've got to DO SOMETHING to make the Americans read it but HOW? (for pity's sake, my non-fellow Americans,  buy it on Amazon) And you've got to visit your mother in the Philippines and the children have inadvertently EATEN the fridge (again!) and blah blah blah BLAH.