5 Cool Things About Poetry

June 15, 2011 by Sally

Okay – as a poet and verse novelist, this topic might seem a bit of a no-brainer, because if I didn’t love poetry I probably wouldn’t write it. But in my teaching day job I am just starting on a poetry unit with my two year eight classes, and believe me, these kids need a little convincing that poetry is cool. So, having devoted yesterday’s lessons to sharing some of my poetry with them and (hopefully) showing them that poems can be cool, I thought it might be a good topic for a blog. So, here goes, with my list of cool things about poetry.

1. It’s quick to read. Generally speaking, prose takes much longer to read than poetry. A poem can be as short as a few lines, yet still say a lot. And verse novels, whilst a little longer than single poems, are generally quicker to read than prose – which is a real bonus for a reluctant reader.

2. It can say a lot. In just a few words, or a line or two, a poem can capture an emotion, a look, a feeling. I read my classes the opening page of Pearl Verses the World yesterday – and the students could quickly connect with Pearl’s isolation.

3. It leaves you thinking. The best poems don’t tell you how to think or feel. They evoke feelings, certainly, and present ideas and images, but then leave you to form your own response.

4. 4. It can be a lot of fun. I read Pemberthy Bear

to my year eights as well – and whilst I could see them initially resistant to being read a pretty pink picture book, they liked it enough to ask me today if I’d read it again. They also laughed at my poems about spiders and baked beans. And, when I read on a little into Pearl, they realised that even such a sad story could have light moments, when we came across Pearl’s first limerick.

5 It’s easy to write. Don’t get me wrong, poetry can be a lot of hard work. But for young writers I always find that they feel a real sense of accomplishment when they produce their first poems. Often kids who are really daunted at the thought of writing a story or an essay are much more willing to write when they realise they only need a few lines to make a poem. And with list poems and other structures their success levels are really high.

I love poetry – and I’m hopeful of making a few converts.

THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF THE WRITER

June 10, 2011 by Sally

It’s always fun to have visitors here on my blog, and today I am delighted to welcome Ian Irvine, who is currently touring the blogosphere talking about his new bookThe Calamitous Queen.

I thought it might be fun to ask Ian all about his glamorous (or otherwise) life as an author. Welcome, Ian.

1. Congratulations on the release of The Calamitous Queen. How does it feel to hold your new book in your hands?

Thanks, Sally.

Well, even though I’ve written 27 books, it still feels pretty good to be holding the final book of the quartet. As series go, this was a quick one to write. The Grim and Grimmers, which are humorous adventure fantasy for ages 9 to adult, are relatively small books, only about 45,000 words each.

Nonetheless, the series still occupied a significant slab of my life and work and dreams. I wrote the proposal nearly three years ago, and worked on each of the four books for intervals over the next couple of years, in between other larger books. It’s wonderful to see the first book in a series published, but it’s also great to receive the last book, know that it’s finally finished and I can’t tinker with it any more, and it’s off to make its own way in the world, for good or ill.

For details and sample chapters of these books, see here: http://www.ian-irvine.com/grimgrimmer.html.

2. Your series is called Grim and Grimmer. Does that title in any way reflect your real life?

Not in the least. I have nothing to complain about. I live in the country in a lovely green part of Australia with my wife of 35 years, Anne, who these days is a full-time etcher. Our children are grown up and doing interesting things with their own lives. I’ve pursued an interesting profession for the past 30 years (I’m a marine scientist specialising in the assessment of marine pollution), and I’ve also been a full-time writer for the past dozen years.

I’ve never had a major best seller but most of my books are still in print. My big 11-book epic fantasy series, the Three Worlds books for which I’m best known, have all been reprinting regularly in Australia and the UK for the past 10-12 years, and have been translated into many languages. I’m very fortunate.

Blurbs, covers and first chapters for these books can be found here: http://www.ian-irvine.com/threeworlds.html.

3. Lots of people imagine authors locked away in an attic somewhere, bashing away on an old typewriter. Tell us about your workspace.

My office is upstairs, but it’s not an attic. I set up my little consulting company a quarter of a century ago and I’ve worked from home ever since. When we renovated our house 20 years ago I designed the perfect office for myself, a large, airy room on the eastern end of our house. The southern end is the literary side, where I do almost all of my writing, and the northern end is the scientific side. Despite writing full-time I still do some consulting, though latterly the writing side has steadily been encroaching into the scientific side. And a good thing, too!

In the early days (I began writing in 1987) I used to write the first draft in longhand then type it up on my trusty 512K Mac, because I found it difficult to compose at the keyboard. However, back around 2001 I gave that up because it was really annoying for an amateur typist like me to type up a 200,000 word manuscript. It was such a waste of time. Since 2001 I’ve composed on computer, and done most of the editing on screen too, though occasionally if I have the time I’ll print the draft out and edit on paper. Sometimes it’s easier that way; one sometimes sees things on the printout that aren’t obvious on screen.

4. What some of the fun things you get to do because you’re an author? Cocktail parties, red carpets, elaborate awards ceremonies?

Ha! If anyone really believes that being an author is terrific fun, I recommend they track down Mortification: Writer’s Stories of their Public Shame (ed. Robyn Robertson, 2003) which you can get on Amazon. In 70 commissioned articles mostly by well-known authors, this book details the shame, humiliation and ignominy that most authors, even famous ones, suffer from time to time in their public appearances. You’ll love it. Well, perhaps not the disgusting (though hilarious) article by Irvine Welsh.

For instance, the book signings where no one comes, the launches where your embarrassed relatives are the only ones there, the moronic questions asked by bored interviewers who have probably never read a book in their lives and have no intention of reading yours, the locked, empty, unlighted halls you’ve just driven four hours through the rain to, to give that talk you spent all morning labouring over …

But hey, it’s not all highlights.

Yes, there are cocktail parties, though I’m not sure they’re the best way to meet people. You can never have a decent conversation, for starters. There may be red carpets, too, though if there are they’d be for celebrities, not ordinary working authors like me.

For me, the fun social things I do as an author are panel sessions where there’s a great rapport between the panellists and the audience, and socialising with other writers in the bar afterwards. Not very glamorous, but then I’m not a glamorous kind of guy.

But the best part of being an author is hearing from people who love my books, and occasionally, people who have been helped by my stories through difficult patches in their lives. That’s what really matters.

I’ve covered a lot of them above. However I don’t think I’m the only author in the world to find writing the first draft a challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a writer and never want to stop, but the first draft, crafting something out of nothing, is always hard work and frustrating, no matter how much planning I’ve done beforehand. And when I’m reading the draft, I can’t but think that this is the biggest pile of rubbish ever put on paper.

But the difference between a professional and an amateur writer is that the pro knows how to turn a very ordinary first draft into a polished final draft that’s worthy of the hard cash readers shell out to get it. I do many drafts of each book, never less than seven or eight, and sometimes twice that many, just tweaking everything to get it right. That’s where the quality comes from, for me at least. I much prefer the editing to the original writing.

6. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your life as an author?

Only that I’m a contented man. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve never written a book yet that I’ve been entirely happy with, and until I die I’ll never stop studying the art of storytelling and trying to become better at it.

For more information, please see my gigantic website: http://www.ian-irvine.com/. I also have a large and friendly Facebook author site with giveaways and competitions where there are about 10 of my books to be won every week, http://www.facebook.com/ianirvine.author.

Thanks for visiting, Ian. Enjoy the rest of your blog tour.

You can cee what else Ian has to say at the following blogs:

May 27, 2011 Gabrielle Wang How writers work

May 30, 2011 Onyabus, Omnibus Books

June 6, 2011 Ian Irvine Introducing the Calamitous Queen blog tour
June 7, 2011 Nords Wharf Public School Questions from students

June 8, 2011 Susan Stephenson, The Book Chook Literacy and writing

June 9, 2011 Catriona Hoy Humour and writing

June 10, 2011 Kid’s Book Capers – Dee White Review of book and interview

June 11, 2011 Sally Murphy The exciting (or otherwise) life of a writer

June 12, 2001 Claire Saxby FFF(fun, fantasy, fiction): mix and stir (or how it all comes together)

June 13, 2011 Alison Reynolds Why Ian wrote this book

June 14, 2011 Dee White (deescribewriting blog)Tuesday Writing Tips Tips on how to finish a series

15 June 2011 St Joseph’s Primary School Questions from students

16 June 2011 Sheryl Gwyther The 10 Best Things about writing ‘Grim and Grimmer’ + Things that Almost Drove You Nuts!

17 June 2011 Braemar College,Christine Wilson Questions from students

18 June, 2011 Writing Children’s Books with Robyn Opie The How-to’s of Writing a Series

19 June 2011 Angela Sunde Where Ian’s ideas for the series came from and how he knew there would be four books in it

Books of Influence

June 10, 2011 by Sally

Having talked yesterday about how cool it is to have guest bloggers visit, I’m excited to share that today I’m guest blogging over at Sophia Whitfield’s blog.

Sophia asked me to share five books which have influenced me. Whilst I found it really hard to focus on just five, it was a really fun trip down memory lane. You’ll find the post here. Drop by and leave a comment!

5 Cool Things About Hosting a Blog Tour

June 9, 2011 by Sally

1. 1. Visitors. Who doesn’t love visitors? An excuse to mix with someone who you maybe you haven’t seen for a while, or who you just love to spend time with. Blog visitors are the same – someone who you maybe haven’t even met in real life, but who you have connected with in some way online, drops into your blog to chat about writing, or life, or whatever. Fun.

2. 2. Content. Having someone drop into your blog is a chance for some fresh new content. Maybe the visiting blogger knows something you don’t, or maybe they can say it better, or even just differently, than you would.

3. 3. Celebrations. Most of my visiting bloggers come because they have something to celebrate – most often the launch of a new book. Having them visiting my blog brings the party here. How cool.

4. 4. Education. Okay, maybe this one overlaps with number two above, but it bears saying. Having a visitor to your blog for a guest blog post of an interview is a good chance to learn something – and/or for your readers to learn something.

5. 5. Sharing the Love. When you host someone on your blog, you are showing them you care, by giving them an opportunity to tell you, and your readers, all about themselves. And, in turn, having them here cana lso bring new visitors, as the visitor tells his/her own followers about his visit and invites them to visit.

See, it’s all win-win. And I’m excited because, although I’ve not had any blog visitors for a little while, Aussie author Ian Irvine is popping in on Saturday to talk all about the glamorous life of a writer. I can’t wait. And, if you’d like to be the next in line for a visit, let me know.

Five Cool Things About Being Shortlisted

June 6, 2011 by Sally

On Friday I was delighted when the school library officer at my dayjob showed me her newly-arrived copy of Toppling. Yes, of course I’ve seen my book-baby before, and love it – but this is the first copy I’ve seen with the gorgeous bronze sticker which says it is a shortlisted book in the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Awards. I was so excited I had to snap a photo just to prove it was real and to show my family, my friends, complete strangers – and you.

Pretty, isn’t it? Being shortlisted is pretty cool, and if you are here reading this blog there’s a pretty good chance you ‘get’ why I’m so excited about it. But I have to admit, some people seem a bit surprised that I’m so thrilled ‘just’ to be shortlisted. After all, I haven’t won anything – just been put on a list with five other books. So, here goes – five cool things about being shortlisted.

1. Validation. Making it to the shortlist says to me that people – judges, in fact, who are passionate about children’s books – like MY book. It’s not just me and my mum.

2. Exposure. As an author, I am well aware of the name to make a name for myself. It sells books in stores, and manuscripts to publishers. Being on a shortlist means more people get to know my name – and my books.

3. Sales. Being on a shortlist, especially this one, translates directly into sales. Because Children’s Bookweek and the CBCA Awards are well established and respected, schools tend to buy, display, read and discuss shortlisted books. And bookstores tend to stock them, knowing that they will sell.

4. Kids reading my book. Because of number three above, more kids will have the opportunity to read my book which is, after all, why I wrote it in the first place. Nothing makes me happier than to think of a child reading one of my books.

5. Stickers! Okay, so maybe I should have outgrown having stickers on my work back in primary school – but I didn’t. When I see a copy of one of my books with a pretty sticker on it, I have to touch it (and photograph it, squeee about it, smile a lot…)

So, yes, I’m pretty excited about my book baby being on that list. Thanks Chris for showing me the sticker!

Five Cool Things About Winter

May 31, 2011 by Sally

Tomorrow is officially the first day of winter here in Australia, and I have a confession to make: I am NOT a winter person. Give me blistering sun any day of freezing cold – though my real favourite is hot enough to swim, mild enough not to HAVE to swim. Anyway, to me winter is cold and damp and miserable. But, in the spirit of my quest to put a positive spin on stuff, I thought I’d devote a post to the good things about winter. So, here goes – five cool things about winter.

1. 1. Rain. Yes, I know I just complained about the damp, but I must admit that I love the sound of rain, and having lived for the past ten years in the Wheatbelt and seen the horrible impact of drought, rain has acquired an even deeper meaning for me. As I’ve listened to the rain in the past few days, I have been thinking of my farming friends and rellies, and knowing that the rain is making life just a little easier for them.

2. 2. Soup. Warms the soul, fills the tummy – but is most delicious when it is cold and miserable outside. I made a big batch of potato and leek soup last night, and as I write this am still digesting my lunch time helping. Yummo.

3. 3. Fleecy socks. They’re warm. They’re fluffy. And my newest pair is hot pink. What’s not to love?

4. 4. Snuggling up in bed. I don’t love being cold at all – but I do love pulling the doona up just a little bit higher and feeling warm and cozy in bed. It does beat the feeling of tossing and turning trying to cool down on a scorching summer’s night.

5. 5. It’s short. Perhaps the best thing about winter in my part of the world is that it is short. There are only a few months of the year when it truly is cold and miserable. The rest of the year the days are mild, the sun shines, the birds sing and life is good.

Roll on Spring! And Summer.