Haiku are poems
But haiku should never rhyme
Haiku make you think
Pemberthy Spotted in Warrnambool
How wonderful – yet another Pemberthy sighting has been reported, this time in Warrnambool where Pemberthy was seen at Collins Bookstore. Thanks so much to Corinne for reporting this sighting after reading about by search in Pass It On newsletter.
Warrnambool is in Victoria, east of Melbourne. The new dot is the orange one on the south east coast.
Don’t forget to let me know if YOU have seen Pemberthy.
My Favourite Favourites
As part of my never-ending quest to be more organised, I’ve been tidying up my favourites list. I thought I would share twelve of my favourite favourites. Mostly focused on children’s writing, these are sites that I’ve visited many times and also sites I recommend to others.
http://www.kristiholl.com/Mystery_Lessons.htm Mystery lessons by Kristi Holl. This is a series of detailed and informative articles about writing mysteries, written by a published author of a number of children’s mysteries.
http://www.robinfriedman.com/index.html Website of Robin Friedman, US author. What’s of special interest on this site is her series of interviews with editors. Very informative.
http://www.right-writing.com/middle-grade.html Writing the middle Grade Novel – an article by Kristi Holl (See above). Condenses important information about writing for kids aged 8-12.
http://www.rickwalton.com/freeu/index.htm Rock Canyon University Free School of Writing for Children. This is the tongue in cheek name for a series of very short articles on the craft of writing picture books. Yes, it is tongue in cheek, but the advice is pretty spot on.
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/for_writers/writing_for_kids/writingforkids.html A series of articles about writing for children and YA, from author Cynthia Leitich Smith. Sound advice.
http://www.institutechildrenslit.com/rx/writing_tips.shtml Index to articles on a range of topics related to writing for children.
http://members.aol.com/ddpattison/pb101.html Picture Books 101. A good introduction to picture book writing.
http://www.terryburns.net/LIBRARY.htm Library of Writing Links – loads of links to writing advice, critique groups, research tools and much more, organized into categories.
http://www.writing-world.com/admin1/siteindex.shtml Writing World. Hundreds of articles on all areas of writing – not just writing for children.
http://fictionaddiction.net/articles.html Fiction Addiction. Again not just about writing for children, though there is a section dedicated to our genre.
http://www.fictionforum.net/writers/articles/art09-02.html The Cover Letter. A detailed look at what a cover letter should (and should not) contain.
http://www.underdown.org/ The Purple Crayon. Harold Underdown’s site, full of articles, market news and more.
Enjoy discovering or rediscovering these excellent resources. If you’ve found a great children’s writing site I haven’t mentioned here, let me know.
Things to Do?
Have had a bit of online time this afternoon. Updated this blog and my other , added a stats feature so I can see how many people are reading what I write, and then did some blog-surfing. I’ve been jumping from blog to blog, interested to see what others have got to say. Some were writers’ blogs, others more random.
And I learnt about something called a meme. A meme (in blogging terms) is a list of questions posted in one blog or on one website, which otters then address on their own blogs/sites, with a link to the original. You can see a better explanation here.
Anyway, I cam across a meme which challenges people to write a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. It’s like a new year’s resolution or a (long) to do list, with the added challenge that you make your list public, then keep the world updated on your progress in completing the things on the list.
For a moment I was tempted, but I haven’t joined in. I’m not sure I want to embark on something like that unless I’m pretty sure I’ll find the drive to firstly get the things done, and secondly update others on my successes (or otherwise). Still, I find it an interesting concept and enjoyed browsing through the goals others had set themselves – which ranged from buying a tooth-whitening system, to watching the sun rise on a mountain top.
There are lots of memes around, some for fun, some to encourage site visitors, others to share useful information. I haven’t yet participated in any, but now that I know more maybe I will some time.
In the meantime, thought I haven’t written a list of 101 things, I do write myself a list of things to do each week. I include things I know I must do (where a deadline must be met, for example) and other things I would like to achieve, and I cross them off as I go. My current list includes reviewing the three books I’ve finished this week, updating both of my blogs at least three times (this one’s had more than three, the other needs another entry), assignment marking (done), and more. Come Monday I’ll revisit my list, and start a new one, starting with the things I didn’t get done this week.
Having a list does keep me on track, but sometimes, like this afternoon, I give myself a break and do some stuff not on the list. It is Saturday after all.
Pemberthy Spotted in Anglesea
Yay! There’s been another Pemberthy sighting – this time in Anglesea, West of Melbourne. the new dot is the hot pink one on the south east coast. Thanks so much Jackie for letting me know – though of course I knew this sighting was coming, as Jackie had ordered a signed copy of the book from me last week. Still, it’s nice to know it arrived safely and Pemberthy is now in residence in another part of Australia.
So, the map now looks like this:
It’s never too late to report a Pemberthy sighting. If you’ve just tuned in, I’m mapping sightings of Pemebrthy Bear, the star of my picture book by the same name, as he’s spotted in people’s homes, in bookstores, in schools and in libraries. Keep your eye out for him, and let me know when you see him. You can read more about my mapping exercise here.
For quite some time I’ve been planning to write an article about the review process. So many authors have questions or misconceptions about how to get reviewed, how reviewers work and what they should use reviews for, that i thought it would be worth an article.
Anyway last night I sat down to write an article on the subject – and ended up writing till almost midnight, by which time I’d written not one, but three articles. The first explores how books get reviewed (from being sent out by a publisher through to the review being published), the second looks at who reviews are read by, and why they are read at all and the third discusses how an author can use a review – to promote their book and as a form of feedback on their writing.
I was surprised that I had so much to say on the topic – though I shouldn’t have been surprised, as it’s a subject close to my heart and I’m never short of something to say on ANY topic. I’ll submit the three as a series to a writers’ ezine, and hopefully they’ll prove helpful.
Of course the subject of reviews is a bit subjective. I attended the Re:views conference in Adelaide a couple of years ago where the subject of who reviews were for was a hot topic of discussion, which I’m not sure was resolved. Personally, my reviews are aimed at the general reading public – they’re not long or in depth enough for academic purposes, and they are readily accessible to anyone who can use a search engine, without the need to buy a special review publication. Most of my hits come from search engines, though I do get a lot of repeat visitors, and I seem to have a high proportion of hits from education servers, suggesting that teachers and/or teacher/librarians and, of course, students, are among my visitors.
Anyway, I hope my reviews are useful to the majority of visitors. The fact I get over 300 visitors a day suggests that aussiereviews IS a useful resource.
Back at my desk today is about marking assignments for my tutoring job, so I’d best get on with it.