Cartwheels and Handstands!

I received an email from Chicken House today to say that the Times Online were considering posting an extract from my novel, The Moonlocket, as part of their 'promising entries' showcase.  They couldn't guarantee publication on the website, or a place on the shortlist, but wanted to let me know that the novel had caught their eye.   

I've been trying to concentrate on other things all day, but I had one quick check tonight, and to my surprise, it's there!  Even better, they've chosen one of my favourite extracts!  To say I'm pleased is somewhat of an understatement.  Frankly, I don't think I'll sleep tonight at all.

Can't imagine what will happen from here.  The other pieces of work are amazing so I'm not holding out for the next round, just absolutely thrilled that I've got this far.

Literary Gift Ideas

I'm always on the hunt for present ideas,  especially with a bookish theme (my husband and mum love books too) so I thought I'd share some of my recent findings here.


The Literary Gift Company
I was quite astounded about the amount of bookish paraphenalia that's available on this website. I'm particularly liking the t-shirts, especially the the 'Careful or you'll end up in my next novel' version.  Be warned!

 

 Art Meets Print

You can order prints of iconic book covers (Faber and Penguin) here.  There's an option to print either on paper or canvas. Not a huge range, but there are some nice designs on offer.

Vintage Ladybird 

Fancy a trip down memory lane? There's loads of Ladybird stuff to choose from these days - pouches, journals, even plasters (the mind boggles)! Good for stocking fillers.

Right - off to do some shopping now! Please feel free to leave comment if you have any other suggestions and I'll add them to this post.

Review: Flood and Fire by Emily Diamand

Flood and Fire was one of those books that hooked me in straightaway.  Lilly's voice is so strong and funny.  I can see why Emily Diamand won the The Times/Chicken House competition in 2008.  She has a style all of her own.  I didn't mention this in the review, but the content is slightly reminiscent of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series - so fans might want to check out this book too.  You can read the full review on Chicklish.

Wrack Line - Inspiration #1

I've loved this song for years. It sums up everything about an out-of-season seaside town and is the lead tune for the novel I'm working on at the moment. I'd never seen the video before today though - somewhat cheesy to say the least!

How Many Personalities Do You Have?

The Social Networking session at the recent SCBWI conference set me thinking.  I've been posting online for over five years now, but I've never really stopped to consider my virtual identity.  You see, I don't have just one or two digital personalities, I have six or seven!

Two are anonymous and four are open, and I use them in completely different ways.   I post personal thoughts and goals on my anonymous blogs without fear of connection with the 'real' world.   These act both as motivators and journals.  Then there's this blog and the associated Facebook account, which are primarily writing and book-related.  I also have my professional digital identity at work and a business page on an affiliate sales website, plus various other placeholders which I rarely use.

Very few of these were pre-meditated.  I simply started them because they served a specific need - a desire to track personal progress,  a wish to share ideas with like-minded people, a hankering to experiment with different forms of communication.  I enjoy posting on all of them, and they all operate on completely separate levels - various facets of me, I suppose. 

But what's the norm? How many virtual personalities do most people have? One or two? Five? Ten? Are they all open or are some anonymous?  Am I a complete weirdo? I'd love to hear how other bloggers/facebookers operate out there.

10 Things I Learned at the SCBWI Conference

I've just returned from the SCBWI BI Conference and I'm still buzzing. The experience was exciting, scary, inspirational and exhausting - everything I'd hoped for and a little bit more.  I met some wonderful people and learned some important skills.  My only regret was that my camera packed up after the very first session so I didn't manage to take any photos.  It's nigh on impossible to sum up everything in ten points here because I had a hell of a lot to learn, but I'll do my best! So here goes - in no particular order...

1. You can't pick up everything at a conference or speak to every person - no matter how much you prepare.
2. Grow every single plot seed that you sow.
3. When pitching to an agent or editor, pretend that you're bigging up someone else's book to increase your confidence.
4. Don't worry about whether you're a planner or a pantser. Great writers do both and still achieve amazing results (Marcus Sedgwick and Ellen Renner have completely different approaches).
5. Vampires are still big in the UK. Angels and dystopian fantasy are hot property right now.  Crime and sci-fi are increasing in popularity, but publishers will acquire any genre if the book blows their socks off (views from a panel that included Rebecca Hill - Usborne, Bella Pearson - David Fickling Books, Sarah Lilly - Orchard, Brenda Gardner - Piccadilly Press).
6. You can make a free website at Jimdo.
7. Make sure that every character, however minor, is considered with precision - make their presence count.
8. SCBWI BI has 400 members.
9. If you're going on your own, you will make friends. It's impossible not to!
10. You will leave with a sense that your writing world has expanded exponentially, just perhaps not in a way that you predicted.

Phew! Off to do some writing now before I return to work tomorrow. I'd be happy to answer any questions about the conference if you weren't able to attend so please either leave a comment here or email me directly and I'll get back to you.

Reading Round-Up (November)

I missed October's round up, but I'm back on track for November with lots of lovely books lined up for those dark nights.

Reading:
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

To read: 
Matched by Ally Condie
The Dark by David Gatward
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

I'm a relatively slow reader compared with other reviewers so this is my absolute maximum for a month unless I manage to take a day or two off work.  NaNo is also supping my powers of concentration at the moment so I can only seem to be able to read a few pages before I fall asleep.  Only 20 days to go...

Countdown to the SCBWI Conference!

My writing world feels very exciting at the moment. Not only I am 12K words into my new novel, but there are now only a few days until I attend my very first writing conference! 

This is a landmark year for SCBWI British Isles as it's their tenth anniversary so there's not only going to be lots of mini-events during the two days, but also a swanky celebration party for agents, publishers and members on the Saturday night.

I'm aiming to attend most of the major talks, and am also booked onto some fantastic sessions - including a talk by Marcus Sedgwick about sense of place. Not at all sure what to expect, but I'm looking forward to finding out.  I'll be posting about my experiences next week.

NaNo Blog Hop - Day 4

I'm getting really into NaNoWriMo this year so I couldn't resist joining Brandi's Nano-inspired Blog Hop to share my current grand total of 6727 words (just exceeded the 'official' day 4 target of 6668). I'm absolutely astounded by some of the word counts out there though.  One of my writing buddies has already totalled at 43K+ words! Unbelievable.

So far, my story is going surprisingly well. No major plot holes yet, although I know it's early days. I hope that I can manage to keep those pages turning over the next 26 (eek) days. 

Good luck to everyone who's working on a novel on this month.  I'd love to hear from anyone who's interested in participating in a NaNoCriMo (National Novel Critique Month) in either December or January. 

Happy National Non-Fiction Day!

National Non-Fiction Day is an annual celebration, initiated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups in partnership with Scholastic Children’s Books. It aims to celebrate all that is brilliant about non fiction and show that it’s not just fiction that can be read and enjoyed for pleasure.

Check out the website to find out about non-fiction books and authors.  There's also a link to lots of great free resources.  I was a massive fan of non-fiction when I was at school, and loved reading up on amazing facts and figures (I was a bit of a swot!) so this celebration is long-overdue.

Review: The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

My review of The Demon's Covenant has been posted on Chicklish today.  I jumped directly to the sequel on this occasion, which made for interesting reading. Usually, I wouldn't invest in a series unless the first book had captured my imagination so it was fascinating to see how successfully Rees Brennan managed to draw me in with her second offering.  Check out my review to see how she fared!

Across the Universe Competition

I'm not someone who enters every giveaway out there, but I do like to exercise my puzzle muscles now and again, especially if there's a great prize on offer.  So I was hooked as soon as Beth Revis announced her Across the World Tour and Contest.  The aim is to first find the secret page on Beth's website, then discover a three word password from the letters posted during the November blog tour. The password unlocks a whole host of extra information about the novel (due to be released in the US 11 January 2011, and 03 March 2011 in the UK). Prizes include:

• A signed, personalized, doodled copy of the Across the Universe ARC
• A limited edition collection of three pin-buttons featuring Across the Universe
• A collection of star-related swag
• A mystery gift that's so mysterious even Beth doesn't know what it is 
• A soon-to-be-revealed awesome prize

Personally, I'd be quite happy wth the copy - just look at the cover!