Are you an adult interested in getting kids reading?
I just posted a longish, slightly ranty post over at Aussiereviews on the importance of reading in front of kids and would love to hear what you think.
See you there.
by Sally
Privilege
All of August and much of September have been gobbled up, with no time for blogging as I drove up and down the Forrest Highway to Perth, and around the Southwest and even flew up to Geraldton, all for the most privileged of reasons: to talk about books, and reading and writing.
The word ‘privilege’ is one I used many many times over this most busy of periods, but it was used with heartfelt sincerity . It is a privilege:
-
Doing the Bookweek Dance 🙂
To speak to hundreds of young readers from schools large and small, in their schools and in public libraries to celebrate Children’s Bookweek.
- To have the opportunity to inspire those children to read more and to write more.
- To share my book-babies, including of course Roses are Blue, my latest, but also to have requests for old favourites. This year those requests included Floatingest Frog and Head Hog, which are such a joy to read to younger audiences.
- To visit one of my old schools, Iona, and catch up with many of my past teachers, as well as to talk to year seven and eight girls about my writing, as well as why I chose to write about Mary MacKillop and what an amazing woman she was.
- To be invited to a festival as amazing as the Big Sky Festival, in Geraldton, where a relatively small city manages to turn out good sized, enthusiastic audiences to talk about all things literary and where the amazing Geraldton Library and University Centre staff treat their visiting authors like stars.
- To spend a weekend at said festival in the amazing company of fellow writers who started the weekend as relative strangers and ended as lifelong friends.
At the Big Sky Festival after a session with Kaleidoscope Ensemble.
- To return home to emails and messages from children and adults who saw me at different times over those two months and wanted to thank me for inspiring them – when it should be me thanking them.
- And last, but not in any way least, after a busy couple of months, to have a beautiful family to be at home with and cherish.
Now it’s back to normality – writing a bit, reading a bit and even, occasionally, doing boring stuff like housework. What a privilege to live the life I do!
I’m Back!
Roses are Blue Blog Tour Wrap-Up
Wow! What an eight days! I’ve been all around the blogosphere chatting about Roses are Blue, reading lovely reviews, being quizzed and generally having fun. Today is the last official day of the tour, and time for me to reflect on the week.
The tour started last Tuesday, when Karen Tyrell’s reviewed Roses on her blog, describing the book as:
“…a heart-warming story dealing with grief, tragedy, and change.”
She is also offering the chance to win a free copy. All you have to do is read the blog post and comment – but you’d best be quick, because this closes on July 31.
On Wednesday the tour moved on to the Alphabet Soup blog, where Roses are Blue was reviewed by a talented 8 year old reviewer, Matilda. She said:
“I would recommend Roses are Blue to my friends because it’s a change from the other sorts of books we read and it could be a true story.”
There is also a give away of a copy of the book on this site. the instructions on how to enter are nice and clear, and you get to check out Rebecca and my other blog, Poetry Tag and see the fun we have playing with words.
Day three I was off to the Kids Book review site, where there was another lovely review, by Tania McCartney who said:
“The depth of her characters, the emotional responses and fears, the gentle hope, is heart-wrenching in all manner of ways.”
I was also there to chat about poetry in all its forms, with a post titled Poetry is Perfect. I managed to limit myself to just eight reasons that poetry is perfect for children – though I could have gone on for days.
Day four arrived and I was up bright and early to chat with Dale Harcombe about Roses are Blue, which she described as:
” a gem of a book”.
She also asked me about some of the aspects no one else has asked me yet – including the naming of Amber and her friend, who all have names that are colours. You can read what I had to say here.
The weekend was here, but no rest for me – though of course one of the great things about a Blog Tour is that you don’t leave home to do it. SO, while I sat in my pyjamas at home I was also being grilled by the DivaBookNerd about all manner of things including my inspirations, diversity, and work-life balance (hah!). You can read the interview here. While there, I was delighted
to find Roses had also been reviewed on the site a few days earlier.
Day six (Sunday) I dropped in to see the lovely Megan at Children’s Books Daily, She asked me ten questions as part of her Book People feature. I talked about my workspace, my routines (double hah!), favourite books and more. (You can see Megan and I together, on the left, at the launch of Roses in Canberra earlier this year).
Day seven brought tears to my eyes as I read Dimity Powell’s review at the Boomerang Books Blog, where she said:
“Murphy is simply master at massaging sensitive issues into refined, understated yet terrifically moving poetic verse. Her words whisper across the pages with the soft intensity of a mountain breeze.”
Wow. Apparently I’d made Dimity cry, too, so we had tears together, across the miles. Dimity also interviewed me, and got to choose a new name for myself: Aquamarine! If you want to find out more, you’ll have to read the interview.
Yesterday was my final stop but one, and I was delighted to visit the new Australian Children’s Site, where Di Bates wrote a lovely review, saying Roses is:
“…sure to tug at heartstrings.”
I also dropped in to Di’s own blog where I spoke about why and how I write verse novels.
Whew! And so we come to today, where we are here, wrapping up the week (and a bit) that was, and saying thank you to the awesome ladies who hosted me, and/or my book, and to all the readers who stopped by and read the posts. Part of the purpose for a blog tour is to promote the book – but, to me, it’s also something much more important: a celebration!
S0 thank you for celebrating with me!
Celebrating with my lovely friends Sue and Claire at the launch.
Off on Tour
I’m off on tour! And I could be wearing my pyjamas the whole time.
That’s right, from tomorrow I’ll be touring the blogosphere, visiting blogs to chat about Roses are Blue, verse novel,s poetry, the writing life and more. I’ll post snippets here, too, but it would be great to see you on one or more of the blogs.
The full schedule is below. See you there!
Tuesday, July 22nd Karen Tyrrell
Wednesday, July 23 Alphabet Soup
Thursday, July 24 Kids’ Book Review
Friday, July 25 Write and read with Dale
Saturday, July 26 Diva Booknerd
Sunday, July 27 Children’s Books Daily
Monday, July 28 Boomerang Books Blog
Tuesday, July 29 Australian Children’s Poetry
Wednesday, July 30 Sally Murphy
@SallyMurphy | Sally on Facebook | SallyMurphy.com.au
Ten Things I Learnt at SCBWI in Sydney
Every day should be a learning day, but there are some days that you learn far more than others.
I’m just back from a magical few days in Sydney where I attended the SCBWI Australian & NZ Conference at the Hughenden Hotel (as an aside, if you are looking for a warm-hearted boutique hotel in Sydney, you can’t go past the Hughenden).
I’ve been to lots of book and writing conferences over the years, but I still have so so so much to learn about writing, about the industry and about life in general. In these few days I’ve learnt dozens – maybe hundreds of new things, some big, some small. But lest I overwhelm you, here are just ten things I learned in Sydney.
- Even if you haven’t seen a friend for two years – or three, or even four – sometimes it feels like you’re just picking up a conversation from a few moments ago. No awkwardness, no need to reintroduce yourselves, you just know each other.
- Sometimes that ‘old friend’ is someone you’ve never actually met in real life but number 1 still applies. You’ve emailed or Facebooked or tweeted so well that you really do know each other.
- Most people like hugs, but some don’t, and that’s okay, though sometimes you can convert them.
- If you must write a story in rhyme, you need to test the storyline by writing it out in prose for yourself to ensure that it works. Sometimes a rhyme can lead you off on tangents. (As someone who has had a rhyming picture book published, and worked on several more, I must confess I’d never thought of that, though I do always have the plot in my head)
- The thing you think you’ll learn or benefit you think you’ll get from a session is often not the most important thing you do learn in that session. It can be something incidental, but something just right for you.
- Not everyone knows what a verse novel is. Actually, I already knew this, but it still surprises/saddens me. (Must do more to spread the word).
- Not everyone likes poetry (again, I know this, but GOSH it is sad). Hopefully through my writing and doctoral project I can make a small contribution to changing this).
- That new technological/technical skill you’ve been procrastinating about acquiring will be the one mentioned by numerous speakers and delegates, sometimes in passing, so that you leave inspired to go and learn to do it. For me, this skill is Skype visits, so watch this space.
- In a crowded conference space it’s okay to step away for a few minutes, take a deep breath, stretch and be alone. It not only energises you ready to dive back in, but it can also make you a nicer person (I hope).
- The tips you get and the ones you share in the coffee breaks/lunch breaks/bar are often not directly writing related but can be incredibly valuable and start both conversations and friendships. In Sydney I evangelised about my comfortable shoes more than I ever thought I would, and learnt about stationery, iPad apps and so much more
I said there were only 10, but I’m a writer and counting is not my forte, so here’s one more: it doesn’t seem to matter the size of a conference, there are always people who you don’t get to spend enough time with. There were so many wonderful friends who I feel I hardly said more than hello to. With a packed conference programme and so much wonderful conversation taking place, you don’t always get hours to spend with each friend – old or new. But you know that, in two years, or whenever your paths cross again, you’ll be able to pick up again. And, in the meantime, we are so lucky to live in a time when technology means keeping up with friends is a daily thing, even when you’re miles apart.
Coming Up Roses
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