Publishing Secrets by Em Lynas

Have you ever noticed how many secrets have to be kept in publishing? 

My children's author friends are forever spilling the beans with a - Don't tell anyone but... Either face to face or in secret groups on facebook. 

For instance:

Prizes

Don't tell anyone I'm on the Undiscovered Voices longlist until the Official Announcement.

Don't tell anyone I'm on the Carnegie shortlist until the Official Announcement.

Don't tell anyone my book has been optioned (film/tv deal) until the Official Announcement.

Don't tell anyone I'm the Children's Laureate until the Official Announcement.

Monsters!

by Paula Harrison

Me and a crowd of monster-loving children on the growl!

Fortuitously, it falls to me to write the Halloween blog. Lucky, of course because my new book Robyn Silver: The Midnight Chimes is about a girl who is born on the stroke of midnight. Being a 'Chime' means she can see monsters that no one else can see.

The Modern Nomad – A Guide to Writing Away from Home

By Nick Cross

I’m sure there are many of you who spend the day in your home study, joyously scribbling, typing or slapping plot-related post-it notes on the wall. Or maybe you are like our very own Teri Terry - who retreats to a shed in her garden - or perhaps Jonathan Frantzen, who famously rents an office with no phone line or internet connection, and has uninstalled everything from his PC apart from a word processor. These are writers who have made themselves a permanent workplace, a semi-domestic environment that nurtures their creativity.

But not everyone can or wants to work this way. If you’re someone with a fulltime non-writing job or responsibilities that take you out of the house, then your writing time will inevitably become fragmented. You’ll find yourself grabbing 20 minutes in a cafe or trying to write on a crowded bus. Even domestically settled writers sometimes need to travel to school or literary events. How then, to balance the act of writing with the unavoidable movements of the day? Grab your coat, Oyster card and (most importantly) your brain, as I explore the opportunities for writing on the move...