Firstly, why do you blog?

I blog for promotion and to help people who want to write children’s books. I also blog because everyone else seems to be doing it. No, Mum, I wouldn’t jump off a cliff if everyone else did.

What do you blog about?

I blog about children’s books and writing children’s books. I write articles about my books and various aspects of writing. I feature guest bloggers, particularly as part of blog tours. These blogging activities promote children’s books and also provide advice on how to write children’s books and how to get published.

Who is your target readership?

My target readership wasn’t necessarily planned. But it appears to be people who want to learn more about children’s books and writing for children.

How often do you blog?

Not often enough. Sometimes I’ve only managed one blog post a month. I spend so much time writing that my blog has been neglected. When I’m not writing, I’m usually helping other writers. I want to focus more on promotion and marketing. My aim now is to do at least one blog post a week. I decided that I wanted to blog about my latest manuscript, a 42,000 word novel for young people aged 10 to 14. I plan to lead my blog readers through a journey from the original ideas to character development to writing and editing and so forth.

How much time do you devote to blogging?

My aim is to spend four or six hours a week. In the past, I’ve spent little time on blogging. Now, I want to catch up with the rest of you.

Do you have a favourite blog post? 

A favourite blog post? Gosh! I like my posts which feature my novel “Black Baron” published by Walker Books in Australia and the UK. Black Baron is my favourite character to date. I love that champion racing cockroach. But if I had to pick an absolute favourite post, it would probably be this one.  For a long time, I’ve known the importance of “show, don’t tell” in writing. In fact, I wrote an entire e-book on the subject. When I was a judge for a new writers’ contest, the necessity to “show, don’t tell” was highlighted for me. The winning stories were all shown and not told. One of them even made me cry. Therefore I like this blog post because of the wonderful stories I read during the contest. “Show, don’t tell” made me fall in love with the stories and the characters. “Show, don’t tell” is so important in writing fiction and making an impact on readers.

What do you see as the benefits of blogging?

The main benefit to me is promotion. Blogging has made promotion and marketing easier for writers. We can create a platform, gain fans and followers. The internet gives us a presence that wasn’t possible years ago. I also like being able to help other writers. The internet also gives us an ability to easily connect to each other, which also wasn’t the case years ago. However, my website receives about 30 to 40 times more visitors than my blog. So, for me, my website is still number one in regards to internet promotion and helping new writers.

What blogging platform do you use and why?

I use blogger. It was the first I came across, most likely because I knew other people using it. I like blogger because it’s easy to use and takes little time to post, design, upload and so forth.

Do you have a favourite blog to visit (other than your own)?

Yours, of course! I also like the useful information on DeeScribewriting Blog –  and The Book Chook. The topics are interesting and valuable. I visit other blogs, too, most of which are about writing children’s books, publishers and agents. There are too many to name here.

Lastly, when you are not blogging, what else do you do?

I write children’s books. As I mentioned above, my latest manuscript is a 42,000 word novel for young people aged 10 to 14. I enjoy helping other writers, which I do through my e-course, editing work and manuscript assessments. I also love to read fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults. Learning about my favourite subjects is a passion for me. Of course, I spend time with my wonderful partner, Rob Parnell, and my two fantastic dogs, Spock and Buzz.