And so it begins ... Our Notes for You in 2019

There's no denying that every year is a roller coaster, and for every glowing review, there is always a crushing rejection. Published or not, the struggle goes on. And we all know that next year is not going to be any different. But we are Slushpilers and the one thing we must do is keep on keeping on.

So here we are in reverse alphabetical order, digging deep for some wisdom to share:

TERI TERRY

The author is on the right.

Teri Terry fans spent 2017 in the grip of her new thriller, Contagion, and then were rewarded with more tension with the publication of the second and third in the series, Deception and Evolution. A prequel to Teri's breakthrough novel Slated will be published in 2019: Fated.

All achieved while tending to the cutest cockapoo in the world.

Her fellow bloggers on Notes from the Slushpile are amazed that Teri has yet to use the perfect title based on her output: RELENTLESS. Congratulations, Teri!

Teri's advice for 2019:

It’s important to say yes sometimes, but even more important to get in the odd no: the trick is working out which is appropriate at a given moment. I’m still working on that.

EM LYNAS

In 2018, Em Lynas cheered up the world with two books Get Me Out of Witch School! and Help, I'm Trapped At Witch School!, published by Nosy Crow.

"I've loved doing my school visits and one of the biggest thrills has been seeing kids dressing up as Daisy Wart. Plus getting positive mail from kids and parents. And I joined @bookpenpals run by the fabulous Kate Scott and Sara O'Connor. And this year I'm working on a completely different magical feast which is a total secret to everyone (including me on some days)."

This is Em's thinking face.

Imagine your audience and ask: What do they want from you? What are you able to give them? Which emotion do you want to leave them with? How scared do you want them to be? Is that age appropriate? Is there something of 'them' in your story? What will they relate to? Will they bond with your characters? Why? Is the plot age appropriate? Will the story help them understand something about themselves? Will it make them think/create/play? Will your story stay with them? Why?

PAULA HARRISON

In 2018, Paula Harrison's thirteenth and fourteenth Rescue Princess books dazzled the shops – The Enchanted Ruby and The Star Bracelet. In 2019, she will be launching two new series for young readers. The first will launch this spring and the second in the autumn. She is currently working on a novel for middle grade readers with a great deal of mystery, enchantment and severe weather.

At SCBWI's yearly fancy dress party: Paula as a Unicorn. Kathy as a tardis. Typical.

Says Paula: "My one tip that's helped me as a writer in 2018 is...

Always expect the unexpected! Be open to new directions both in your story and in your writing journey. Change will come whether we're ready or not and it can really boost your creativity.

"... actually that sounds way too peppy ... Can I replace it with: Drink wine and take long naps. Your manuscript always reads better after one or the other."

(Fact check: Paula doesn't actually drink wine. So just take naps.)

CANDY GOURLAY

Candy Gourlay had a banner 2018 with two books published, a novel, Bone Talk, and her first picture book, Is It a Mermaid?  Says Candy: "The best thing about 2018 was that with a picture book, I am at last being invited to speak to little people – and I LOVE IT!"

Here is Candy early in 2018, visiting a Kindergarten class in North London Collegiate School in Jeju, South Korea. After she finished reading to them, she asked, 'What shall we do now?' The boy in the middle shouted: "Let's be DINOSAURS!"

"With two books out, 2018 was a year of saying YES to everything, and I have to confess despite all the smiling selfies, it really took its toll.

Though I know I'm not going to slow down in 2019, I have decided to leave Facebook, which has been the core of my public life for many years (I explain why I'm leaving here and here). Apart from ethical concerns, I hope departing from its disposable, micro-blogging superhighway will make me creative in a more meaningful and lasting way. So that's my tip:

Whatever you do in 2019, MAKE IT MATTER.

ADDY FARMER

In the summer of 2019, Addy Farmer published her fourth picture book, the sweetest rhyming space adventure you will read this year, A Place Called Home. What's on for 2019? "I'm working on an exciting project with a theatre, going picture-book mad and hoping for an agent to love my mid-grade novel enough to take it on."

... and here's Addy battling 92mph winds on the story mountain!

Top tip?

Make sure your story is well structured which may sound obvious but it's taken me some time to truly get to grips with plotting. After that, have a thematic backbone which you can always refer to and make sure that you're on track.

KATHRYN EVANS

Rose among weevils or (according to them) Five Go Wild at Broughton Hall: Kathy poses with strange authors at the Broughton Hall Literary Festival. Left to right: Jamie Thomson, AF Harrold, Kathy, Ciaran Murtagh and Sam Gayton

For Kathryn Evans, 2018 was all about editing, events and sitting on news she’s still not allowed to talk about! In 2019  Beauty Sleep will be published, there are lots more events already scheduled and – fingers crossed – she can finally let the secrets out!

Kathy's top tip:

When you read over your work and a line sticks out , or a plot line hiccups, or your character is out of character, don’t ignore it. Something is wrong and you need to fix it, your instinct will probably be right so listen to it. If you’ve noticed it, so will other people, it’s not going to disappear. Put it right or It’ll bug you forever!

Nick Cross

Like the other Slushies, Nick Cross had a busy 2018. So busy! He wrote a YA novel, learnt to be an illustrator and designer, got to grips with lots of new software and even took a course in improv drama.

Nick's marker pen obsession grew to epic proportions in 2018

Somehow, he also managed to hold down a day job amongst all the creative madness, and his tech wizardry helped to launch dictionary websites for six languages he doesn't even speak: Greek, Quechua, Tajik, Telugu, Tok Pisin and Turkmen. But since millions of people worldwide do speak these languages, he's totally fine with that.

Photo by Marie Basting

To cap off a whirlwind year, Nick surprised everyone by bringing his illustrated YA novel Riot Boyyy to life for The Hook at the SCBWI-BI conference (read lots more about that here). What can he do in 2019 to top that? He's not sure, but he's damn well going to try!

Nick's top tip:

Write what you love. That may sound totally obvious, but for years I wrote what I thought would sell, and then none of it did. My new novel Riot Boyyy may not get traditionally published either, but at least I've made something awesome that I wholeheartedly believe in.

A happy, creative, productive if not painless 2019 to one and all! (And well done, congratulations and chocolates to the Slushpile team for another hardworking year!)

Happy Christmas, one and all!

Dear Santa

All I want for Christmas is ...

a book deal
a good book to snuggle up to
a story to start

failing that, there's always ...

gin. 

A very merry Christmas to all you readers and writers from all of us at notes from the slushpile. x 

Is It Time to Face the Truth About Facebook?

By Candy Gourlay

We were supposed to post our Notes from the Slushpile Christmas greetings today but I've been so bothered by recent events that I thought I'd push our Christmas post to Monday and put this out today. 

Facebook.

A lifeline to the world. A boon to authors who are their own marketing departments. A way to meet like-minded folk, share information and grow friendships with people you would otherwise never have had the chance to meet in a million years.

I have really valued Facebook. It is not an understatement to say Facebook has given me the world.

But recent news has left me wracked with discomfort and guilt about my enjoyment of Mark Zuckerberg's creation.

We have known the harm that Facebook has been doing for some time. Its addictive qualities have eroded not just our productivity but our capacity for face to face, real life interaction. We discuss and debate this problem but most of us do nothing because our need for that Facebook Rush outstrips any concern for our own wellbeing – like just having to eat that chocolate bar when you're trying to lose weight.

As an author, I depend on Facebook to engage with readers. I try to curate a Facebook feed that does not just talk about my books but delivers meaningful content about reading, literacy and writing.

But recently, I have had to ask myself: at what cost?

PRIVACY

Isn't it funny how we all got used to giving up our data in exchange for all the conveniences and wonders of social media? When the Cambridge Analytica debacle happened, maybe some of us tweaked our privacy and permissions settings but it didn't stop us using Facebook.

And then there were security vulnerabilities that resulted in up to 50 million accounts being hacked.

And then those trusted partners FB shares our details with? They included "such powerful global firms as the Russian search engine (and Kremlin partner) Yandex, Chinese phone maker (under sanctions for producing insecure devices that enable state surveillance) Huawei, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Sony (which suffered a major security breach in 2014), and the New York Times", writes Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. Says Vaidhyanathan:

... if it becomes clear – as it has – that multiple industries depend on exploiting the personal data of millions or even billions of people, the concentrated political power of organized, wealthy companies outweighs the distributed power of disorganized citizens. These most recent revelations show that while Facebook might be the most egregious abrogator of our trust, there are no innocents.

COUNTING THE COST IN BLOOD

But I think the most inconvenient truth about Facebook is how it has been weaponised by certain sectors to spread disinformation, win votes, destabilise and divide.

At first, there was euphoria, as ordinary people realised social media could bring down authoritarian governments. But it quickly became obvious that FB didn't discriminate between good guys and bad guys.

Warned over and over by alarmed journalists and experts, FB did nothing. Watch the PBS documentary The Facebook Dilemma, Part One and Part Two – or listen to the audio track 1 and 2. A report about the documentary on CNN summarises it thus:

... there were plenty of people sounding alarms who were by all accounts dismissed or ignored -- practically "begging and pleading with the company, saying 'Please pay attention to this'". CNN

Oh sure, out in the west, we are hearing a lot about concerns for US democracy. But in big, strong, monied democracies there is always an opportunity for justice.

It is FB's effect on smaller, poorer, weaker states that we see profound damage. In the Philippines – where most mobile phones can view FB for free – a FB-enhanced election has led to a drug war (drawing its oxygen from yet more FB weaponising) that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. In Myanmar, killings incited on Facebook are being called a genocide.

ARE WE FACEBOOK ENTHUSIASTS CULPABLE TOO?

Well ... are we?

Facebook thrives on us.

Wired Magazine quotes media theorist Douglas Rushkoff:

Ask yourself who is paying for Facebook. Usually the people who are paying are the customers. Advertisers are the ones who are paying. If you don't know who the customer of the product you are using is, you don't know what the product is for. We are not the customers of Facebook, we are the product. Facebook is selling us to advertisers.

Many of us think, but that's okay. I have nothing to hide. I don't mind being served those adverts on FB – I want to see most of them anyway!

And for authors like me, Facebook is such a godsend that so what if FB has shared my details with Netflix? I like watching Netflix and FB is so convenient, so easy to use, and most importantly, has such a MASSIVE reach ... I could never achieve that with a poxy little author website.

But but but ... how can we ignore the harm FB is doing? How can we shrug and say, 'nothing to do with me' when the harm FB does is all in our name?

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?

Is Facebook going to change?

Facebook will not change unless we change.

But most of us have too much too lose. Family, friends, livelihood ... we are enmeshed in FB's ecosystem (which includes WhatsApp and Instagram).

The right thing to do is to #DeleteFacebook or at least deactivate your account ... here's how.

For authors like me (this is, after all a blog for children's authors), deleting FB will be a massive loss. It will demand a sea change in social media behaviour. An author who abandons FB will have to:

• Return to blogging (many of us abandoned our blogs for microblogging on FB). Do all you can to build your subscriber list (not for the lazy or faint hearted).

• Boost one's presence on Twitter (which has its own ethical issues) and other social media platforms like Goodreads and Tumblr. Twitter is stronger on the networking front so this would take creativity and is only useful in combination with other social media. It might be that Twitter will be forced to change to respond to the needs of a huge influx of FB refugees

• Look to traditional media – radio, print and TV – for a presence. Even though this has been a shrinking space, large numbers abandoning FB will create demand. But will traditional media respond?

• Use YouTube – video is powerful but demands skills and presence. But YouTube is part of the Google ecosystem, and we haven't exactly been happy about Google's behaviour either, have we?

• Improve one's website – but how to drive traffic to one's website?

• Seek and participate in literacy groups and teaching resources (like Teachit) sites or whatever special interest group that might appeal to one's particular books – online AND in real space

I am mulling all these (and more). It will certainly make my professional life harder. How do I make the time for all these while writing my books and doing the speaking engagements that are my bread and butter?

And to be totally honest, I am feeling reluctant. I have put so much of my life on FB. I love seeing my friends from across the world on my feed. I love my FB groups for authors and illustrators and and literacy and history and Philippine mythology enthusiasts. I have so much to lose.

But people are dying. Surely that is a good enough reason to get on with it? Isn't it time to ACT instead of complaining on social media and signing endless e-petitions that only help to feed the FB newsfeed?

Siva Vaidhyanathan is not optimistic about these revelations changing FB:

... while the most recent revelations of the depths of Facebook’s depravity shock the conscience, the deeper story is that Facebook’s position is more secure than we had feared. And Zuckerberg need not abandon his core principles as his algorithms continue to manipulate how billions of people make choices every day. 

Leaving Facebook will be one choice that Zuckerberg cannot manipulate.

But do I have the moral courage to do it?

---

Candy Gourlay's latest book BONE TALK has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. Her picture book Is It a Mermaid? illustrated by Francesca Chessa has been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal.  Find out more about Candy on her website and Twitter.