On the eve of Library Lover’s Day (14 February), I thought it was a good time to reflect on the process of making my latest picture book, Yay! It’s Library Day.
 
Yay! It’s Library Day is the second book that has come out of the Wombat Books Illustration Challenge. The competition was the brainchild of Wombat owner and publisher, Rochelle Manners. I still remember the phone call I received from Rochelle in 2014 when she asked me to be involved in the program.
 
I was driving through busy, inner city Melbourne on author tour, trying to navigate my way to my next storytime visit at a preschool. When Rochelle rang, I pulled the car over and sat talking to her for some time about the concept she’d developed. Across the road from me was an apartment building covered top-to-toe in greenery – a vertical garden.
 
Rochelle’s idea was to create a competition for children to enter their illustrations in and which would result in their work being published in a real, hard copy picture book. This would not only engage the community in Wombat Books and my work but would also provide a tangible achievement for budding your artists. Rochelle has always been interested in unearthing new talents and the challenge was the perfect vehicle for her to foster children’s illustration work.
 
I was tasked with developing a picture book story that could be illustrated by multiple children. I thought long and hard about the story that I would create, realising that it would have to provide a wide variety in scenes because each illustrator’s page or spread would be very different to the one before it. The story couldn’t necessarily focus on one character because each child would draw that character differently. It was clearly going to be more effective to have different scenes within the book that young illustrators could draw.
 
The idea of setting the story in a zoo came to me. I love animals as most people would know from the books that I write, children love and are familiar with zoos, and they hold a wide variety of animal characters that could be drawn by the challenge entrants. Quite quickly after developing my setting, the concept of a boy called Ned chasing his ball through the zo followed. A rhyme about Ned taking his ball to the zoo and losing it, with all the animals joining in to play with the ball formed. I worked on the text and polished it ready to send to Wombat.
 
That story, Zoo Ball, became the basis for the first Illustration Challenge. We received several hundred entries from children across Australia and once the book was released I conducted a tour of several cities launching the books at schools where the winning illustrators attended.

Due to the success of the first challenge, Rochelle asked me to create a second story. It was back to the drawing board to consider what would work for a variety of scenes once more. This time, I lighted upon the idea of children visiting a library and enjoying the many, treasured books that would be held there. The story would focus on books, literacy, libraries and, of course, children’s imaginations as they interpret the stories that are being read to them.
 
I’m not usually an author who writes in rhyme, but again this one flowed out as a rhyming text. Considering that it was the second book in the ‘series’ that wasn’t such a bad thing. It all fit nicely. The rhyme also provided a jaunty rhythm for the story. Again, once the manuscript was polished and ready, Wombat opened the competition up to entrants. This time, we received over six hundred entries, a huge testament to the growth in the competition and the success of the first challenge.
 
Between the team at Wombat any myself, we spent many long hours choosing the winning entrants. It was incredibly difficult to pick from the deep pool of talent and I really wish we could have included every child who had entered. It’s not only the talent that strikes you with these children’s entries, it’s the effort they go to and the passion they have for their artwork.
 
Yay! It’s Library Day was released on 1 February. It’s a beautifully produced book and it’s already receiving great reviews – including those from teacher-librarians, which is especially gratifying. The book has a lot to offer, obviously with its focus on literacy and the imagination, but also on the importance and value we should be placing on libraries.
 
In a world where libraries and bookstores are shutting down or being reduced or restricted in their resources, where visit/borrowing statistics are dropping, and where teacher-librarians at schools are losing their jobs, it’s time that we take a good, hard, long look at what libraries can offer us and the generations to come. We need to focus on and fight for what’s good in the world. We need to hold onto our books, read them to children and use all of the wonderful resources (including story time sessions and cosy reading nooks!) that libraries can offer us.
 
If you’ve not checked out Yay! It’s Library Day or Zoo Ball before, you can find them at www.wombatbooks.com.au. Every page in each of the books offers something new as we see different illustrators featured throughout and, of course, that wide variety in scenes. There are so many details and a myriad of hidden treasures on each page for young readers to discover.
 
Yay! It’s Library Day is a celebration of all libraries and it’s also the celebration of the achievements of young Australians. Every illustrator featured in the book can be proud of themselves.
 
Because libraries are undergoing such straightened circumstances, a coalition of Australian school library associations has formed to advocate nationally for the reinvigoration of school libraries. You can read their informative letter below. I urge you to get involved in the campaign in March called School Libraries Matter! if you can.
 
Happy Library Lovers Day – please celebrate it and support it.
 
TTFN
Aleesah

Dear Aleesah,
 
You may not be aware that across Australia, many school libraries are being stripped of their resources and qualified library staff.  At the same time, some other schools are investing heavily in their library staffing and resourcing.  
 
Most parents have no idea that this is happening.  They assume that there is a qualified teacher librarian supporting their child’s reading and research skills.
 
In the face of Australia’s falling ranking in educational outcomes among OECD countries and rapidly changing expectations for the future workforce, a coalition of Australian school library associations has formed to advocate nationally for the reinvigoration of school libraries.  We believe that all children need excellent school library services delivered by qualified staff to get the digital and information literacy skills required to succeed in the 21st century.
 
Please join our (fast-growing) list of supporters working to provide opportunities and protect the well-being of our children:
 

• Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Australian School Library Association (ASLA), and five other school library associations
• Tristan Bancks, Terry Denton, Hazel Edwards, Mem Fox, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Andy Griffiths, Leigh Hobbs, Gabrielle Lord, Michael Salmon, Craig Smith (and many more authors and illustrators). 
• Kevin Hennah, Syba Signs (and others from the school library community)
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
• Professor John Hattie

 
We plan to launch a national campaign in March 2018 called School Libraries Matter!  The campaign will target parents with the goal of informing them about school libraries and
sparking them into action to advocate at their child’s school. 
 
We are focussing our message strongly on the detriment to research skills and digital literacy caused by resources being stripped from school libraries because these are of high concern to parents, and they are part of teacher librarians’ specialist skills.  Things like:

• Searching effectively online
• Taking and making notes
• Evaluating websites
• Thinking critically about information
• Managing your digital identity
• Operating safely and with well-informed restraint with social media

 
Qualified library staff also assist with:

• Encouraging reading for pleasure
• Assisting with reading for information
• Ensuring equitable access to resources (physical and digital)
• Collaborating with teachers to improve their information and digital literacy skills (thereby positively impacting all their students)
• Creating a library collection that is personalised for each school community’s needs
• Establishing the library space as a social learning hub for the whole school community

 
How you can help:

• Use your social media platforms to promote the launch (and continuation) of our campaign.  
• Offer to hang posters and/or include PowerPoint slides in places where parents might see them.
• Pass on this letter to other individuals and/or local, state, national and international organisations who may be interested in supporting this worthy cause.
• Write a short statement in support of the important impact school libraries have on the lives of children and young people.  We will publicise these statements.
• Allow us to add your name to the list of individuals and organisations who support our campaign.
• Share ideas with us for creative ways to reach out to parents.

• Join our advocacy group.  We have 140+ people from around Australia.  We communicate by email listserv and use Google Drive for shared documents.  There are lots of small groups working on different projects.  You can choose to join one of these groups or just simply be on the list to keep in the loop.  Please fill out this form (https://goo.gl/m3tYEG) to be added to this group.

 
Take a look at pp. 14-15 of this document for links to research supporting our claims:  https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/916301/School-Libraries-21st-Century.pdf
 
Please let me know how you would like to be involved.  We would be absolutely delighted to have your support in this campaign!
 
In hopeful anticipation and with kind regards from,
Hajnalka Molloy (on behalf of)
 
Holly Godfree
www.schoollibrariesmatter.org.au (Website currently being built)
 
Member of the School Library Coalition

• Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)
• Australian School Library Association (ASLA)
• School Library Association of New South Wales (SLANSW)
• School Library Association of South Australia (SLASA)
• School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV)
• Queensland School Library Association (QSLA)
• Western Australian School Library Association (WASLA)

 
Teacher Librarian and AEUACT member
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
Lake Tuggeranong College
123 Cowlishaw Street
Tuggeranong ACT 2900
Phone: (02) 6207 5713 or 6207 6856
holly.godfree@ed.act.edu.au

My teenage boys love to play with words, to dissect them and subvert them.

They seem to create a litany of corrupted words and phrases at an alarming rate that they alone know the meaning of.

Often, the words or word variations will spring from the pop culture that they consume avidly: from YouTube videos, movies, memes, video games and clips.

At other times, they’re inspired by funny or silly things that happen at school or at home. Tongue-tied, blurting, stuttering, embarrassing, or frustrating situations that have caused someone to accidentally say a word that never was – and this is the ‘new’ word they hang on to for months and months as they play with it and repeat it like a mantra until it evolves into something with meaning and portent that goes far beyond the original intent.

My father, God love him, with four kids to discipline got so frustrated with one of my sisters one day that he couldn’t say her name properly What resulted was a twisted version of several of our names put together that sounded like, ‘Mah-blur’. We never let him live that one down and repeated that for years afterwards.

When I was a teenager, one of our slang words was ‘blood’. Okay, this is a normal word, it’s in the dictionary, and we all know what it is and what it means. But as teenagers we subverted and changed the meaning. Blood = Good/Great/Awesome in our books.

So, if someone had created a beautiful artwork, we’d say, ‘That’s blood’, which meant that it was fantastic. It was one of the highest compliments you could give anyone.

If you’d just won a race at the athletics carnival and beaten your PB and someone said to you, ‘Well done, that’s blood’ you would have known that they were impressed. ‘Blood good’ was almost like a clarifier and it meant that something was very, very good.

This confused teachers and adults no-end and only inspired us to use it more. The meaning could be changed slightly, too.

‘I’m blood going swimming’ meant that you were definitely going swimming.

Weird, yes, but we thought we were so clever. We were forming our own language that adults weren’t a part of. And there’s nothing better as a teenager than excluding adults from the Club of Youth.

You’ve heard stories of babies, and often twins, developing their own language. I think the need and desire to develop our own language extends beyond babyhood. Words are regularly being added to the dictionary, especially those that relate to the technology field.

My eldest, Blake, loves to make new words and to play with words and phrases. He loves sounds and tones. He seems obsessed with word play and uses much of his word subversions to create humour. I only wish he’d use this cleverness with words more often in his writing assignments!

Blake can recite the LEGO Ninjago and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme songs (and others) at a rapid rate in an incredibly funny voice. Our youngest, three-year-old Finn, watches these shows ad nauseum and even though Blake doesn’t sit in the room watching or listening to the shows with Finn, the theme songs have clearly gone into his brain somehow … only to come out in a rapid-fire repeat at multiple times throughout the day.

One of the many, many slang words the kids have come up with in the last few months is ‘Yeet’. I think that’s how it’s spelt. I have no dictionary entry or definition to help me as I can’t find it anywhere.

Have you heard your children use it? Please let me know if you’re aware of other usages, definitions or spellings!

In essence, yeet means to throw or hurl something, usually with great force and in quite a humorous way.

The boys have used it so much within their own peer circles that everyone now knows what it means and on occasion my husband will use the word too. It’s entered popular vernacular, at least in our household.

The other slang/subverted usage of a word we've seen enter the house lately is 'potato'. This term can apply to anyone who is uncoordinated or a little ungainly, or to the action of being uncoordinated or ungainly. Such as 'that was a potato throw'. So, next time you trip over or throw an off curve-ball, you'll be able to tell yourself that you're a potato.

Interestingly, the other usage of 'potato' is a little more obscure and relates to film-making. If someone shoots an iPhone or iPad video that's shaky, moving around a lot and generally of poor quality, it's referred to as 'potato quality filming'. This is not a compliment! Go figure. I'm laughing as I write this by the way, because the entire concept is quite ridiculous and of course only makes sense to the young. And typing that makes me feel so old!

If nothing else, my boys do make me laugh...

The question is, to get the YA voice right, do we use popular vernacular, colloquialisms and slang? It’s tempting, isn’t it? It feels right to do this at times, too. We’re trying to nail the modern teenager’s voice in our novel, why wouldn’t we use the actual words that they’re likely to use?

Popular (and publisher) opinion usually tells us to steer clear of using slang, however. Words like ‘cool’ have been around for years and authors sometimes do include these. They’re a little bit more classic and have longevity, although, at times they sound and feel dated, too. Not many teenagers say ‘cool’ these days, but adults writing YA books still like to slip them in now and then.

The problem with slang is that it can be very localised (although with the advent of YouTube and social media platforms for young children, I have also slang words spread like wildfire across Australia) and they don’t stick around for long. They become replaced, dated and forgotten quickly as children move onto the next entertainingly subversive word.

Children and teenagers are nothing if not fickle!

As it takes a long time to write, edit, submit then get your manuscript accepted, printed and on the shelves, by the time that book’s out one or two years after the inclusion of your little slang gem, it’s likely that word has been long forgotten and is now so dated that it’s become – sadly – ‘uncool’ to use it any longer. The shame!

So, for the longevity and widespread popularity of your book, best to avoid most slang words. Cling onto a few pearls if you feel you must, or if they truly add to your story or characterisation, or if you’re writing a novel or screenplay where one of the character invents their own language (aka Nell by Jodie Foster).

For the most part, though, if you want your readers to understand the true meaning of your words and to think that you’re a cool, hip, blood good author, then you’ll stick to the standard, regular, everyday words that we all know.
 
Happy writing
Aleesah

I set myself some New Year’s goals. Hey, I know. Plenty of people do. And I read an article that said most people don’t stick to their New Year’s goals. Way to go on motivational techniques there!
But forget what everyone says.

It’s not too late to set your own New Year’s goals. You don’t even have to call them New Year’s goals. Call them any type of goals you’d like to. Call them year-long goals, monthly goals, weekly goals. Break them down into small bites so you can manage and achieve them.

Whatever helps you follow your success path.

Every day is a new day that provides a new way to start fresh.
 
My favourite all-time motivational quote is:

If you have made mistakes …. there is always another chance for you … you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Mary Pickford (1893 – 1979), American actress
 
That quote is pinned up near my desk. Has been for years. And I truly believe in it.
We all have a new chance every day of our lives.

So, what were my New Year’s goals?

Okay, I’m going to be honest. I wanted to quit alcohol, quit sugar and start moving more.

I spend a lot of time at my desk. Hours and hours each day when I’m not on author tour. Sitting at my desk writing and creating is the thing I love doing most in the world.

But it’s not great for my health.

You’ve heard it before, I’m sure, that sitting is the new smoking.

Combine all day sitting with a penchant for a glass of wine and some Lindt chocolate at night … and, well, I wasn’t doing myself any favours.

I’m not one to talk about personal, private goal setting much. I don’t like telling people that I’m on a diet to lose weight or on a mission to get fit.

Who wants to know that stuff?

And what if I fail?

Agh! The dreaded ‘fail’ word.

But, I want to be honest with you and hopefully it will help motivate you to achieve a special goal of your own.

It’s now been twenty-nine days and I’m still working hard to reset patterns of behaviour in terms of diet and exercise. I still want to take the easy way out and not get up at the crack of dawn to go for a walk or a swim or that difficult yoga class that makes every muscle ache.

With a mummy-obsessed three-year-old who won’t let me out of his sight during his waking hours (and three other bigger kids to run around after) the early mornings suit my family. That's simply the only time I can do this 'moving' that I need to do. If I haven’t pulled an all-nighter writing at my desk, that is...
Anyhoo! I am determined and I will commit to this new way of eating and exercising for the next year and beyond. I want to be a new me!

I’m already feeling better about myself. I’m also feeling stronger. And I’m looking better. I’ll keep checking in and letting you know how I’m going throughout the year. I’m in this for the long haul and I’m loving it!

Aside from the personal goals, I do have plenty of writing/career goals too and I’m working hard on those, with a focus on novel writing.

I have a middle grade manuscript with an agent who is currently trying to secure a publisher for it.
I’ve submitted a Series Proposal and the first instalment in that series to a publisher.

I’m editing a middle grade historical fiction novel with the intention of completing it ready for submission by June.

I’ve been asked to write the fourth book in my Little Witch Series by the publisher, Big Sky. Exciting – now back to the planning board!

And I’ve started planning a new YA novel, with ideas that are slowly crystalizing in my head and on paper.

So, there, I said it. I wrote it. There’s no running away from it now. Those are my big writing and personal plans for the year.

Let’s hope I make it!

And if you’d like to follow my lead and set some personal and career goals for yourself, go ahead. Write them down. Plan your week/month/year to work out how you’re going to achieve them, then go for it.

Happy writing
Aleesah

I’m a chronic insomniac. I have a problem that seems to have no solution.

My youngest, a three-year-old, has co-slept with my husband and me for many years now. Three in the bed isn’t always conducive to a great night’s rest. Top that off with hot, humid Queensland nights, an inbuilt mechanism for light sleeping and a brain that clicks ON (BING!) at the slightest awakening and can’t seem to switch off for hours afterwards … and you have a recipe for disaster for when it comes to getting a sound sleep.

It seems to be my curse!

Luckily, I’m able to use my insomnia and the burning of that good old midnight oil to excellent use.
Writing while the house is quiet and dark is a favourite and regular past time of mine.

Many of my stories and books have been planned and written in the wee small hours. In a quiet house and without interruption, it’s easy to let those creatives juices flow.

Ash Rover: Keeper of the Phoenix, one of my favourite novels that I’ve written came to me in the middle of the night in a hotel room in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney.

I was spending a long weekend there with my husband and my first two children (Blake and Riley) when they were very young, about 3 years old and 18 months old respectively. We were all sleeping in the same room and I woke about 12am with an idea for a new story running through my mind. The idea wouldn’t leave me alone, so I went to the ensuite bathroom, taking my A4 notebook with me.

For the next four hours, I sat, wrapped in a blanket, in that stark, tiled bathroom scrawling down the plan to that story. Characters, their names, the setting, the plot, the villains – everything – every little chapter detail came to me. All I could do was try to keep writing as fast as I could to get it all down before it was lost in the ether.

I ended up with pages and pages of material and the story itself, including action scenes and dialogue, even started forming. As soon as I got home from that mini holiday, I began typing up the notes and getting the bones of the story down. It took several months to write, edit and polish the story, but because I’d planned it so thoroughly, the book seemed to flow out of me.

To this day, I don’t know where it all came from, except that it was a product of my imagination. Maybe instead of dreaming the story up in my sleep, I’d been having a wakeful dream to create it.

The book (and main character) wasn’t originally called Ash Rover, by the way. My hero was Squiggly Greenmeadow. The image of him popped into my head as a boy with curly blond hair, hence the ‘Squiggly’ name (curly hair = squiggly to my mind). The publisher suggested I change that part of the story, but everything else held.

My young readers have always loved that book and I still receive lots of fan mail about it.

I guess sometimes it’s good to be an insomniac. When my three-year-old or my worries keep me up at night, I try to distract my mind from its incessant ticking by thinking about my next book. Sometimes I’ll plan it out in my head, writing the lines to a chapter over and over, perfecting and polishing them until they flow beautifully. Sometimes, I plot the key points in a new book I’m working on. Sometimes I scrawl notes in the semi-darkness on a notebook by my bed. And other times, I just have to jump up, go to my office and start typing on my computer until the early hours of the morning.

Right now, it’s 2:18am and yes, I can’t sleep so I’m sitting here writing. Sharing. Good thing for it, too, because a few moments ago I received an email from a US agent who I’d queried, asking me to send them the first ten pages of a new MG fantasy novel I’ve written.

Most likely it won’t lead to anything, or maybe it’s a sign. I don’t know yet. We’ll see. At the very least it means I can reply to the agent while they’re still at their desk too.

Wherever my insomnia and my waking dreams take me, I go.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Happy writing
Aleesah

There's nothing that gives me greater pleasure than seeing fledgling authors making their dreams come true. I remember well the feelings I experienced when I received my first picture book acceptance with an Australian publisher. It was a dance-around-the-house moment and whenever I hear of a new author scoring their own publication deal, I can completely understand the feelings of joy and elation that they must be experiencing.

That's why I'm absolutely thrilled to share with you the story of Karen Hendriks, an emerging author based in NSW who has used our mentoring services and has now scored herself a picture book deal with Empowering Resources.

Over the past twelve months, Karen has taken her career by the horns and committed on so many levels to making her dreams come through. Karen's passion and commitment are two huge keys to her success to date and I'm sure they will carry her through the exciting years to come.

I hope you'll find Karen's interview both inspiring and encouraging for your own journey. Whether you're published or not, I think we can all take a page out of Karen's book and learn from her tenacity and desire to succeed.

Enjoy!

Hi, Karen, thanks for joining us today. Can you please tell our readers how long you've been writing for?
I finally committed to writing picture stories a year ago. It’s something that I have always wanted to do but until recently I gave into the fear factor and a feeling of vulnerability. I’ve never really had the time to write but, now that I’ve committed myself, there’s no turning back. I feel a need to write and it won’t leave me alone. When I was at university a very long time ago, a lecturer told me that I should write and it sort of stuck in the back of my mind.

Why did you choose to write picture books?
I’ve been a kindy teacher and my go-to tools were always picture books. My expertise was teaching reading. I’m a Reading Recovery trained teacher. My students and I fell in love with stories and magic and all sorts of wonderful ideas. Through picture books, we explored so many things beyond the world that my students knew.

I wanted to become a creator of this picture book magic too. When you talk to an adult about picture books and they share their favourite story with you, their face transforms and you can still see the child within. The child inside us all is still there peeping out.

One picture book can really change a life. I have gifted a book to a child who really had no possessions and the power of that one book was so intense. It’s a matter of finding the right book for the right child. Picture books really do light learning fires; they are the sparks. Best of all is that emotional bond and the intimacy of sharing something together that picture books create.

Hi Ashling, thanks for stopping by. Can you please let our readers know how long you've been writing for?
I wrote my first picture book when I was fourteen. It was called Benny’s New Bicycle and was written on a typewriter and had stick figure drawings. Luckily, my writing has improved over the years because my illustrator abilities have not.
Why did you choose to write picture books?
I choose to write picture books because I love watching children’s faces light up when they get to the end of a story. I've always read to my children at bedtime and loved how a good picture book would build anticipation and give a contented ending. I also love images and watching how both elements intertwine to create a story.
What's your favourite thing about writing?
Where do I start? I love the storytelling aspect. I love the way readers learn. Writing is my stress release and my frustration all rolled into one. When I write, I escape to a faraway land where nothing but words surrounds me.
And the most challenging?
The most challenging thing would be when a story just won’t come together. You know what you want to say but you can’t find the words. A lovely writer once told me that you need to walk away because the story will brew even when you don’t know it is. I know this technique works because one day, the ending that I tried so hard to find just appeared.
How has a mentorship with Greenleaf Press helped you?
My mentorship with Greenleaf Press has changed my life. I have sent manuscripts to editors before but Greenleaf is different. Aleesah Darlison sees things that no one else sees. She picks up on every issue that a writer who is too close to their work misses. She's also incredibly supportive and offers great advice regarding publishers and the submissions process. I can’t thank Aleesah enough for her help.

Thanks Ashling, but you have to be commended for your great ideas, your tenacity and your hard work. It's wonderful to see it starting to pay off for you! So... when is your first ever picture book due for release?!
I have just signed the contract so I’m guessing it will be mid-2018.
Fantastic. Please keep us updated. And what are you looking forward to most of all once your book comes out?
I’m looking forward to hearing from readers who love the book. I’m looking forward to sharing it with children and most importantly I’m hoping that I continue to publish more as it's all I’ve ever wanted to do.

Awesome, thanks for your time Ashling. Congratulations once again and we look forward to following your journey towards publication... and beyond. Good luck.

Today, we feature an interview with popular Queensland author, Karen Foxlee, who is one of our masterclass presenters at the inaugural Sunshine Writers Retreat (Nov 9 - 12).

The Sunshine Writers Retreat will be three and a half days of glorious writing, learning and networking time. The retreat concept has a wholistic approach to story, or manuscript, development. It's suitable for those writing for adults and children. Our residential, on-site accommodation packages sold out incredibly quickly and we are now into overflow accommodation. Selected spots still remain.

We also offer Day Visit Packages for those who live locally or those who only want to come for specific days over the 3.5 day retreat. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

Friday Night Dinner Packages are available for those who wish to come along to connect with the retreat attendees and hear literary agent, Alex Adsett speak. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

Limited Publisher Manuscript Assessments are still available with Rochelle Manners, owner and publisher at Wombat Books. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

Professional Photography Sessions are also available on Friday 10 November. If you need a new author or illustrator photo taken, now is the time to get one! They're very reasonably priced. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

You can find out more about the Sunshine Writers Retreat at: http://www.greenleafpress.net/sunshine-writers-retreat.html. Or you can email us at admin@greenleafpress.net.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Karen.

TTFN
Aleesah

​Can you tell us briefly about yourself and the style of books you write?

I’m an author living and writing in south east Queensland. I write books for both children and grown-ups. My books for young adults and adults, The Midnight Dress and The Anatomy of Wings are works of literary fiction published around the world. My books for young readers are aimed at a middle-grade audience. They are fantasy adventure stories. Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy was CBCA notable book in 2015 and A Most Magical Girl has been shortlisted for the same awards this year. It also won the Readings Children’s Fiction Book Prize this year.
 
Which of your characters do you most identify with and why?

Jennifer Day in my first novel The Anatomy of Wings is probably the winner. Just like me, she grew up in a little company mining house in an outback mining town. She worries and wonders about a lot of the same things I worried and wondered about as a child. She loves facts, especially facts about birds. She’s funny and brave and when I found her voice to narrate that story everything fell into place.

​What is your favourite inspirational writing quote?

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” – Joseph Chilton Pearce
 
What is your favourite place to be when writing?

I mostly write my novels sitting on my sofa or, in the case of my early morning writing, in bed.
 
What experience do you think most shaped your journey as an author?

Too many to mention! Having a mum who always valued and encouraged my creative leanings was probably the most important. Going back to University as a mature-aged student and studying creative writing. Winning the Emerging Author Award in the then Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards for the manuscript of The Anatomy of Wings and gaining a publishing contract with University of Queensland Press.  The list goes on.

Today, we feature an interview with popular Queensland author-illustrator, Peter Carnavas, who is one of our masterclass presenters at the inaugural Sunshine Writers Retreat (Nov 9 - 12).

The Sunshine Writers Retreat will be three and a half days of glorious writing, learning and networking time. The retreat concept has a wholistic approach to story, or manuscript, development. It's suitable for those writing for adults and children. Our residential, on-site accommodation packages sold out incredibly quickly and we are now into overflow accommodation. Selected spots still remain.

We also offer Day Visit Packages for those who live locally or those who only want to come for specific days over the 3.5 day retreat. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

Friday Night Dinner Packages are available for those who wish to come along to connect with the retreat attendees and hear literary agent, Alex Adsett speak. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

Limited Publisher Manuscript Assessments are still available with Rochelle Manners, owner and publisher at Wombat Books. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

Professional Photography Sessions are also available on Friday 10 November. If you need a new author or illustrator photo taken, now is the time to get one! They're very reasonably priced. https://goo.gl/JqEujv

You can find out more about the Sunshine Writers Retreat at: http://www.greenleafpress.net/sunshine-writers-retreat.html. Or you can email us at admin@greenleafpress.net.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Peter.

TTFN
Aleesah

Can you tell us briefly about yourself and the style of books you write?

I write and illustrate picture books and have just finished my first novel, The Elephant. I generally try to make books that have layers of depth and make people think, and I usually write about things that I care about or fascinate me. My stories cover themes such as friendship, loss, love and the meaning of life, and my goal is to always say a lot with very little.

Which of your characters do you most identify with and why?

I’ve always recognised myself in the silent tortoise in Sarah’s Heavy Heart (and my wife is the little yellow bird). I actually see myself in most of my characters; they’re often quiet people who don’t bother anybody and solve problems by themselves. I also see myself in Grandad from The Elephant. Many of his possessions and interests - record player, typewriter, birdwatching - are my own, and I would like to be like him when I’m older.

What is your favourite inspirational writing quote?

There is line from Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner, which says, ‘Hard writing makes easy reading’. If my writing comes easily, I don’t always trust it.  I feel like I should have to work for it. 

What is your favourite place to be when you’re writing?

I do everything in my little studio, which is also home to the kids’ bikes, broken furniture and a spare door I’ve been trying to get rid of for a while. I can’t work in cafes, or libraries, or at the beach.  Those places are built for other things, not writing.

What experience do you think most shaped your journey as a writer?

I worked as a primary school teacher for a few years which exposed me to so many beautiful books and taught me how to read to children. It was during this time that I discovered the breadth and depth of children’s books, and it made me wonder if I could do it myself. Whenever I meet one of my heroes, it gives me a huge boost as a writer, too, especially if they’re lovely and they invariably are. 

Can you tell us briefly about yourself and the style of books you write?

I have a Master of Letters in Creative Writing. Through Gondor Writers' Centre I offer many services to authors interested in preparing for submission or self-publishing – including manuscript appraisals, edits and writing workshops.

I write fantasy books for kids and young adults. I wrote my first fantasy series, The Mystery of Nida Valley, to teach children about Australia's megafauna. But I have since written a non-fiction picture book on the animals and have started a series of picture books about how they lived and interacted.
I have the first book in another fantasy series for middle grade readers and the first book a YA fantasy series ready for publishing.

Which of your characters do you most identify with and why?

I guess when we write our first book, we put a little of our personality into our main character. After all, it is the personality we know best. So I would have to say Meg in The Mystery of Nida Valley series. She has many of my personality traits. ​