sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Verse Off Week 4

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Week Four of the Verse Off – and a special welcome to any who may be joining us for the first time! (Feel free to scroll below to past posts and see what we’ve been up to.) This is the final edition of the Verse Off, for now, so if you’ve been waiting to contribute, now’s your chance.If you’ve played before, you know the routine.. If this is your first time, here’s the drill…May is a dual celebration with the release of Kathryn Apel’s This is the Mud!,
a humorous rhyming picture book, and Sally Murphy’s Pearl Verses the World,

a free verse novel.To celebrate, each Sunday, we are inviting blog readers to have some fun by responding – in verse – to a prompt. You can choose your style – either free verse (unrhyming) or rhyming verse. This is your chance to prove that your preferred form is the best.If you want to respond in free verse, please post your response on Sally’s blog, and if writing in rhyme, you can post at Kathryn’s blog.The next day – Monday – we’ll post the verses in a new post for all to see.

Here are the rules:

1. There is no ‘right’ answer to the prompt. Be creative.

2. Limit your response to twelve lines (so there is room for everyone’s response)

3. You can respond in either free verse or rhymed verse. If you’d like to do both, post each at the appropriate blog.

4. This is your work, so add your name, and a link to your website or blog, if you’d like.

5. Everyone is a winner! But there is no winner.

Got it? Great. Then here goes with the new prompt…

My Interview With Katie Hines

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In anticipation of the release of Pearl Verses the World on May 1, yesterday I was interviewed on Katie Hines’ blog. You can read the interview here.

March Update

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It’s the last day of March, and so time for another of my monthly updates.

Lots has happened in my writing life in March, with things moving along on three of my forthcoming books. I feel more and more like a ‘real’ author every day.

At the start of the month I was featured in Susan Stephenson’s column at Muselings, an ezine for writers. Susan is an Australian based reviewer of books and passionate advocate for reading to and with children. I really appreciate her taking the time to interview me.

My picture book with Koala Books, which was previously known as Constantine and Aristotle, has now been retitled The Head Hog, after discussions with the publisher. I am quite delighted by this new title as it was, in fact, the earliest title I gave the manuscript before settling on Constantine and Aristotle. It now seems my earlier instinct was a good one. As well as being retitled, I spent some time this month on the editing. A good tidy up of the manuscript was needed, ready for the final illustrations. It’s amazing how a manuscript which you feel you’ve already got perfect, can be made so much more perfect after an editor or two cast their eyes over it and point things out to you. I’m really happy with the edited text and can’t wait to see the illustrations, which are being produced by Ben Wood.

My other forthcoming picture book, Snowy’s Christmas, is also progressing. This month the illustrator, David Murphy, finished the final colour illustrations, which I have now seen (and love). I also got my first look at the cover which has a nice teally kind of background and, of course, the delightful Snowy. I also worked on, and finalised the blurb for this one,which will be released by Random House in November.

And, of course, Pearl Verses the World. the release date for my verse novel-baby is only a month away and I am getting really excited about this one. The rest of my author copies arrived mid month. Although I’d already had one copy for a while, it felt exciting all over again to open the parcel and see my name on that beautiful cover. Walker Books have truly done an outstanding job of putting it all together.
With the release date getting closer, I have spent a lot of time planning promotional activities. I am planning a blog tour for the first ten days of the book’s life, and will be visiting the blogs of ten fellow Aussie bloggers who have kindly agreed to host me. Although I’ve done a blog tour before, and hosted plenty, I’ve never been on one that lasted ten days, so that’s both exciting and a little daunting. I have also decided to invite other authors and poets to visit this blog during my month long celebration, and share some advice and exercises about writing poetry for children. I have had some great names sign up for this, so am really looking forward to having them here. I’ve also got some interviews lined up, and have contributed to teaching notes for Pearl, so there’s lots happening.

Aside from my three forthcoming books, I have been chipping away at a new project for upper primary aged readers, and also started researching for a nonfiction project for adults. For the latter, I am keen to talk to as many country-dwelling Aussies as possible. So, if you are an Australian living in the country, or who has previously lived int he country, and are willing to talk tome about via email about your experiences, drop me a line at my special email address for this project – ruralaussies AT gmail.com (remove the spaces and use the ‘at’ symbol).

I’ve also been writing and editing children’s poetry. inspired by the poetry workshops I attended at Apropos last month, I have started revisiting some of my older poems and tidying them up, and have also written several new poems. I am trying to shape them into a collection – culling some, fine tuning others and seeing where the gaps are. Very challenging but I’m having lots of fun. I love playing with poetry.

What else? Partly to promote Pearl (but also for the love of it), I started a new blog which focuses just on the verse novel, called Versing. It’s still in its infancy, but I’m hoping to create a useful resource both for lovers of the form, and for those who perhaps don’t know much about verse novels. My most recent posts is a list of verse novels for children and young adults.
I also started blogging on an occasional basis for a website called Ourpatch, discussing living and writing in rural Australia. You can see my blog posts here.

Aussiereviews continues to keep me busy, with sixteen new reviews added in March. As always, there’s a real range,from children’s picture books to adult nonfiction. A favourite this month was A Beginner’s Guide to Living. I was fascinated by how the author managed to make her prose just so poetic – and then discovered, when I read her bio, that she is in fact a poet. The influence of her poetic craft on her prose is really apparent.
So, that was my March. The year is marching on, and for once I’m glad of it – as each day brings the release of Pearl one day closer.
See you next month.

Blog Visits

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I’m having an author visit at the Enjoy the Journey blog this week. If you want to learn more about me, drop by and have a read.
And next week, I’m off on a blog tour, visiting five blogs in five days to talk about The Big Blowie, so watch this space for further details.

January Update

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In spite of my still being largely on holidays, January has been a busy month for me. Just the way I like it, really.

There’s been lots happening with my forthcoming titles. Earlier in the month, Virginia, my editor at Walker Books sent me through a new, slightly revised cover for my verse novel, Pearl Verses the World. I loved the old cover but adore the new one, tweaked slightly to really highlight the delightful Pearl. Pearl will be released in May, and I can’t wait! Check out the beautiful cover:


Illustrator Heather Potter has done a wonderful job with it.

I also saw another round of roughs for my picture book with Koala Books, Constantine and Aristotle (though there is some talk now of changing the title). The wonderful Ben Wood is doing an outstanding job of the illustrations and I’m looking forward to seeing them finished.
And, of course, work continues on a project close to my heart, the picture book I am doing with my brother in law David. Snowy’s Christmas will be published by Random House in November, and David has finished the pencil sketches. They are just delightful.

I was also busy with Aussiereviews in January, adding forty new reviews. I also started a blog to complement the site, The Aussie Reviews Blog. This was to take the place of the Yahoo Group I had set up through which to send website updates. The use of a blog is quicker and easier, and seems to have been well received. If you wish to be alerted about updates to Aussiereviews, you can sign up to the blog.

I have also geared up my promotional efforts for the year because promoting oneself and ones books is essential for any author. I had my author site, sallymurphy.net updated, with details of my newest books and forthcoming books, and some broken links fixed. I also decided it was time to update my author photo which was about five years old. The new one is on the right, and makes me look five years older than the last one did (lol), but I like it. And I have joined in some blog tour groups, so that I can both host and participate in some blog tours. Tomorrow I’ll be hosting author Random Noble and later in the month I hope to go on a blog tour of my own. I also started a yahoo group for Australian authors who want to participate in blog tours, which is just gearing up. If you’re interested in joining in, the group is called Aussie Blog Tours and is open to any Aussie author who has a blog.

So that’s my January news. February is promising to be a big month too, so keep your eyes on this page for more news.

October News

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October was another busy month for me, which is why my October news was not posted on time – but still, I’m only a few days late and have lots to share.

Much of the busyness came from working on edits and revisions for two of my books slated for 2008. My verse novel, Pearl Verses the World, is currently being illustrated by Heather Potter, and the text has been copyedited, meaning another round of small changes from my end. I am so delighted with how this book is shaping up and can’t way to see the finished product, which is due for release in May 2009, from Walker Books Australia.

The other round of edits was for a new picture book, Snowy, which has been accepted (drum roll please) by Random House Australia, and scheduled for release in November 2009. This one is moving quickly because of the quick turn around (12 months being a short timeframe for a picture book). I am loving working on this. We’re currently editing the text ready to send it off to the illustrator who is none other than my brother in law, David Murphy, a very talented emerging illustrator. It’s also fun to have the opportunity to work on this with a family member.

I finished the month with a wonderful parcel from my postie – containing author copies of my new chapter book The Big Blowie (published by Aussie Schoolbooks). Part of the Aussie Aussie series, this little book features lots of very Australian elements – a drought, the outback, and a big thing (in the same way as the Big Banana and Big Pineapple, among others). Check out the cover – I love it! It is eye catching.

Actually, I must admit that this cover pic is for an earlier version of the finished thing – the final cover has a much bigger blowfly on it. Anyway, I was lucky enough to share the book with year four to seven students at my local school on Friday and got a great reception, which was satisfying.. The Big Blowie is available from Blake Education.

So with one new book, and two others in the pipeline, you’d think I’d be satisfied – but wait, there’s more. Today I saw the roughs for another forthcoming picture book – Constantine and Aristotle, to be published by Koala Books. I’m in love! Ben Wood is a fabulous illustrator and I’m lucky to have him bringing my little hogs to life.

In between all this, I’m still writing, still reviewing (heaps of new reviews added to Aussiereviews in October), and am busily mastering the use of new red laptop (red ones go aster and look cooler).

What a wonderful life! Enjoy your November. I know I will.

sallymurphy.com.au