Notable Australian Children's Books 2011

Earlier in the year I was thrilled to learn that Get a Grip, Cooper Jones was named as a CBCA Notable Book in the Younger Readers category. Today, I received in the mail the CBCA publication, Notable Australian Children's Books 2011, One World, Many Stories that comprises of an annotated list of all the notable and short-listed books.

I have to admit to being really chuffed that my little story was included in the notable list and in this publication. Coops is in such esteemed company, among so many wonderful books written by so many talented authors!

Here is Cooper's annotation. (Page 20)

"Laced with wit and humour, with strong descriptive passages, this very Australian beach and bushfire story, told in the authentic voice of early adolescent Cooper, will have appeal for both male and female younger adolescent readers, dealing as it does with themes of trust, identity, increasing self-awareness and growing independence. Coops is a likeable and reliable narrator, allowing the reader to fully appreciate his struggles and conflicts in coming to terms with himself, his parents and the insecurities and responsibilities of approaching independence."


It left me grinning. Widely.

Powerful Words

I was flipping through my current notebook the other day and found a number of quotes from books that I had enjoyed earlier in the year. They included several from A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. (Brilliant book! Superb writing! A must-read for lovers of story.)

Gorgeous lines such as:
"There are worse things than being invisible," the monster had said, and it was right. Connor was no longer invisible. They all saw him now. But he was further away than ever."

And
"The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do."

And
"Connor held tightly into his mother. And by doing so, he could finally let her go."

Under these copied out quotes, I had scrawled the following note to self:

This is what I want to emulate. Not the style or voice or theme - but the intensity of emotions. I want my readers to WEEP, SOB, TO FORGET TO BREATHE. This is what I must do."


Wow - talk about putting pressure on myself! But it's good to be clear about what I am aiming for. It may take me a lifetime, but this is what I hope to achieve in my writing one day.

Wish me luck.

Today's inspiration

These are the words that have inspired me today.

"Because it was such a very small class, they had a very small classroom, which was perched right at the top of the school. Up four flights of stairs, way up in the sky, like a colony of little birds nesting on a cliff, blown about by wind with the high, airy sounds of the city coming up the hill in the ocean breeze."

Page 6, The Golden Day, by Ursula Dubosarsky. (Allen and Unwin.)

Beautiful, eh?

What inspires you?

Last week I did an author interview for Bug in a Book. You can read it here. One of the questions they asked was whether I had any role models who inspired me during my journey as a writer.

This really got me thinking. It got me reflecting on all the wonderful people who had supported and/or mentored me over the last dozen or so years. The friends, colleagues, relatives, writing buddies, acquaintances who read the many drafts of my early manuscripts, offered advice, gave feedback, shared my passion, listened to me vent my frustration and on occasion provided a shoulder for me to have a cry on. Then there was those whose courses / workshops / events I attended, who inspired me by their passion, enthusiasm, intellect, skill, talent, their willingness to share the lessons they had learnt along the way. Wow. I owe so much to so many. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

But I also came to a bit of a realisation about what inspires me most these days. And that is good writing: carefully crafted words on the page; elegant prose; vivid imagery;  clever storytelling that evokes strong emotions; stories with shape and verve and originality; characters that have blood coursing through their veins, that leap off the page and demand my attention. That's what gets me going, what motivates me to keep writing.

What inspires you?

Sorry, I've been writing

It has been a while since I posted, but I have an excellent excuse. The best excuse for a writer, actually.

I'VE BEEN WRITING!

This might sound rather weird. Isn't that what a writer is meant to be doing? A writer writes, right?

Well, a writer should write, but this writer over the past few years has found it increasingly difficult to find the time to write the story she really wanted to write: a YA thriller.

Like many writers, TIME has been my greatest enemy. And my writing time has been whittled down to tiny snatches squeezed into a busy schedule of full time work, school visits and speaking engagements, family commitments and the need to eat and sleep occasionally! And these tiny snatches weren't enough for me to be able to make any significant progress on my novel, which of course has been very frustrating.

So what's changed?

Firstly, I made a commitment to myself. This year was going to be my YEAR of WRITING. Writing was going to take precedence for a change. And I was going to FIND the time. (Easier said than done. I can see you all nodding!)

But then the planets aligned and some things changed that have enabled me to honour this commitment.

Due to change in an employment situation, I now have a house-husband. My wonderful Pete has taken over most of the household duties, and suddenly my weekends have freed up and much larger snatches of writing time have appeared, which has been great.

But even with this extra time on the weekend, I still found it hard to make progress with my novel. It seemed that I spent most of the weekend trying to get back in the headspace of the story, to hear my characters and find my voice, and by the time I actually got going it was Sunday night again, and I'd only just begun. A lot of energy spent with very little gain.

Then the second thing happened. I had a birthday and received a very special life-changing present. A new laptop - a MacBook Air. Now I know this is going to sound like an ad for Apple, but this little beauty is the main reason for my renewed writing vigour. It is so light and portable, I take it everywhere with me, and if I have a few spare minutes I flick it on and get going. Even if I have a bag full of manuscripts to cart back and forth from work, it is so light, I can still take it with me on my long daily rail commute.

And to be honest, I don't add hugely to my word count, during my commute, but it doesn't matter. I read back over what I have written, make notes, edit, fiddle around the edges. But all of this allows me to stay in the headspace of the novel and when the weekend arrives, I don't need to claw my way back in. I'm there. Ready to go.

Can you tell I'm excited?
Must fly - I have a new chapter to write.

Wonderful Picture Books in the Making

I returned to Blacktown Library on Saturday and what a wonderful surprise I got. I couldn't believe how much progress the kids had made with their books. They had been working so hard! Some had nearly finished.

The previous week they had made storyboards and started their rough illustrations with Sarah Davis and now a week later many had started on the final copy of their stories and also their final illustrations. Wow. Was I impressed.

Now they must finish their books off, hand them in for publication and then put on their best outfits and turn up for the launch party!

You can read Sarah's blog about the program here.

Picture Book Creators of the Future

Had a blast last Saturday at Blacktown Library, working with two groups of enthusiastic young people creating amazing picture book stories. This week they will be working with illustrator, Sarah Davis, making storyboards and illustrating their stories. Next week both Sarah and I will be working with them, helping them to polish their work and put the finishing touches on their books. Such fun. Such a great initiative.