sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Why Go on a Blog Tour, Part 1

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Last month I had a blog tour with a difference (more on that in a moment) to celebrate the release of Toppling. This week my writer friend http://www.catrionahoy.com.au/embarks on her first ever blog tour, to promote her new picture book Puggle (she’ll be calling in here in a few days’ time).

So, with all this blog touring happening, I thought it might be timely to talk a little about what a blog tour is, and why they are a great way of promoting a book.

A blog tour is, simply, a virtual form of a book tour. So, in a ‘real’ book tour a writer might travel from town to town, state to state, or even overseas to promote a new book – talking to the media, speaking at conferences and holding signings in book stores. A blog tour (also known simply as a virtual tour) takes place online, so the author stays at home, instead touring from blog to blog.

Here’s an example. When I had a blog tour for my verse novel Pearl Verses the World last year, I toured for ten days:

Day 1 – Spinning Pearls, where I guest blogged about the process of writing Pearl.

Day 2 – The Writing Life, where I was interviewed by Brenton Cullen.

Day 3 – Tips for Young Writers, where I was interviewed by Dee White.

Day 4 – Persnickety Snark, where I was interviewed by Adele.

Day 5 – Let’s Have Words, where I discussed promotion with Claire Saxby.

Day 6 – Just Listen Book Reviews, where Allie reviewed Pearl.

Day 7 – Look at That Book, where it was Lisa’s turn to review the book.

Day 8 – Write and Read With Dale, with yet another wonderful review.

Day 9 – Tales I Tell, where Mabel cleverly interviewed me in verse.

Day 10 – Robyn Opie’s Writing for Children Blog where I shared some hints for getting published.

You can see that I visited ten blogs, and my visits ranged from me being interviewed by the blogger to guest blogging, with some blog hosts choosing simply to review the book. Catriona’s tour this week will be similar.

My tour in March this year, to celebrate Toppling was a little bit different, and perhaps not strictly a tour, because instead of me going blog to blog, I invited other bloggers to visit me, on an in-bound blog tour. I also had a tour in November in December last year to celebrate the release of Snowy’s Christmas where I visited other blogs, but instead of visiting every day for a week or ten days, this time I toured on Sundays from the release of the book up till Christmas. I chose to do something different with each of these tours simply to avoid the three tours being repetitive.

Generally, though, a blog tour involves visiting other people’s blogs to talk about your book. While a tour usually coincides with the release of a book, there is no reason a tour couldn’t also be used to build new interest in a book which has been out for a while.

Have you got a book in print? Have you ever been on a book tour? Why not think about getting one organised?

Tomorrow I’ll talk a little about the benefits of a blog tour.

What a Month!

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Phew. It’s the last day of March and I’m exhausted, but elatedly so (is it possible to feel both elated and exhausted concurrently?) I could scramble for my dictionary to check, but, to be honest, I’m just too tired. Instead, I am going to sit here in my comfy chair and tell you all about the month that was, and why I’m just so tired (and elated).

To start with, the end of February saw me dashing back and fro to Perth (a three hour drive) for some exciting events.

On the evening of Thursday the 25th I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of Natural Selection, an exhibition organised by Writing WA. Iwas doubly blessed because not only was I able to attend the launch, but I was aslo one of the fifty authors chosen to be featured in the exhibition. Each chosen author was profiled on a large panel (approximately 1 metre square) with a photo, short bio and a bit about a recent book (in my case, Pearl Verses the World).

The launch was held at the Perth City Council  function room, which boasts spectacular views over the Swan River, and was attended by the authors, publishers, international festival directors and other invited guests.

A quick trip home on Friday morning, then it was back to Perth for the weekend to attend the Perth Writers Festival. As well as getting to sit in some wonderful sessions, I was also a presenter, presenting a poetry writing workshop and a meet the author session as part of Family Day. This was the first time I’d got to see Toppling in  a bookstore – and, of course, I got to sign copies, as well as copies of Pearl Verses the World. It was exciting to see Pearl sell out on the Sunday – a sign that people had perhaps enjoyed my sessions.

Monday March 1 marked the release of  Toppling, and I celebrated right here on this blog with cyber champagne, cyber munchies and some virtual speeches. My friend and fellow author Sandy Fussell was good enough to drop by and launch Toppling. A cyber launch is a great way to launch a book, especially if you want to include friends and rellies who are scattered around the globe.

On March 4 I headed back to Perth for another event – the CBCA’s annual Night With Our Stars, held at Westbooks in South Perth. This event, organised by the delightful Jenni Woodroffe gives children’s and YA authors and illustrators a chance to speak about their latest book to a group of teachers, librarians and book lovers. It is, to me, a bit like speed dating – each speaker gets three mintues to inspire, enthuse or entertain the audience. Afterwards there are booksignings, and time to just mingle.

Back at home and I had a little time to enjoy the feeling of a new book, and to celebrate some more. All through the month I had visitors dropping in here, to guest blog about what they like about children’s poetry. The responses were many and varied – but all made for excellent reading. A huge thanks to those people who gave up their time to drop in here and share their thoughts. If you haven’t read them, be sure to scroll through and see what was said.

I also enjoyed seeing the first reviews come in. If you’re interested you can see Sharon’s review on the OurPatch website, Dee White’s review on her blog DeeScribeWriting,  Jo Burnell’s review on the Reading Stack website and  Malcolm’s review on the Storytime Books for Kids blog. It is always a relief to read a review and realise that the reviewer liked my book.

To finish the month off with an extra buzz, the news yesterday that my first verse novel, Pearl Verses the World has been shorlisted for the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Awards was pretty awesome. I have long dreamed of being on the shortlist one day – and the feeling of finally getting there is pretty amazing.

So, the launch month for Toppling concludes, but there will be much more happening on my blog and in my writing life in the montsh to come, so stay tuned.

What Jackie Hosking Likes About Children’s Poetry

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If you’ve been dropping in regularly then you’ll know that all month I’ve been hosting visting bloggers who have been dropping in to help me celebrate the release of Toppling by telling me (and you) what it is that they like about chidlren’s poetry. Please welcome today Jackie Hosking, poet, chidlren’s writer and editor of the Pass It On newsletter. Welcome Jackie.

Why I like poetry.

I’ve always liked white space.

I’ve found, over time, that I am more likely to read a thing if there is less of it. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy reading novels, because I do, but I definitely enjoy reading pages that are broken up into lots of paragraphs more than pages that look like slabs of ants fighting for a parking space. With this in mind, as a reader, the verse novel suits me very well. As a writer, on the other hand, I find the verse novel to be somewhat tricky because I like to write in rhyme. It seems, for me that I am better at novel verse, than I am at verse novels, so thank goodness for authors like Sally Murphy who are able to write them for me.

Pearl Verses the World is the fifth verse novel that I’ve read and I loved it. I loved that Pearl preferred not to write in rhyme because life is not all hats and cats. (By the way I’ve written a couple of rhyming poems about cats but none about hats so thanks for that pearl, Pearl – I’ll get right onto it.) Did you notice my use of humour just then? It was very subtle but I think you’ll agree that it was definitely there. Sally uses Pearl’s aversion to rhyme as a way to add some comic relief to what is a very serious story and I think that this is probably key. While rhyming poetry can be a tool to express ideas of a serious nature, many of my poems aren’t funny at all, free verse tends to lend itself to such matters in a smoother fashion.

Toppling, Sally’s second verse novel published by Walker Books, tells another serious story. It’s an important book because illness does not just occur in an adult world. Writing such a story as a verse novel, with plenty of white space, allows the reader to take lots of breaths allowing the story to be delivered gently, like a lullaby.

I admire writers of verse novels because of their ability to pare down story to its essential elements. Rhymers do this too but in a more ordered fashion and such is the beauty of verse, free or otherwise – the VERSEatility of it all.

Thanks Sally for allowing me to share why I like poetry with your readers and for saving me the trouble of trying to write a verse novel of my own, thus giving me the freedom to write another rhyming poem about cats…

This one’s called – Bedraggled

A paw in a puddle

A cat in a muddle

She tiptoes in vain

to get out of the rain

And howls at the door

to loudly complain

Wet to the skin

Looking comically thin

We fluff her and puff her

and wrap her in towels

ignoring her howls as

she wriggles and squirms

we each take our turn

to ensure that her fur

is as soft as her purr

~~~~

And if you have a children’s rhyming poem or story that just won’t behave itself, you can contact Jackie’s rhyming manuscript editing service via her blog http://www.jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com/

Thanks Sally!

Jackie Hosking

Editor/Compiler “PASS IT ON”

http://www.jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com/

www.versatilityrhymeandrhythm.blogspot.com/

http://www.cbishowcase.blogspot.com/

Thanks for that jackie. I love your poem – and laughed at your jokes, too!

What Jo Burnell Likes About Children’s Poetry

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Today’s guest blogger is Jo Burnell, here to tell us what it is that she likes about children’s poetry and to join in the celebrations for the release of Toppling. Welcome Jo – and over to you.


What makes poetry?
Can an entire novel be written in verse?
Do there have to be rules?

Sally Murphy’s delightful verse novel Toppling crosses a few boundaries by its very existence. Her choice of simple language allows easy reading but does not remove the ease of poetic flow.

When I went to school, writing poetry meant following rules. One day we had to start each new line with the next letter in a chosen word.
Acrostic poems just made me cross.

Cinquain poems have me baffled. Who on earth thought them up? Wrapped at each end by the title, describing words, actions and feelings fill the three lines in between. There’s nothing plain about the formation of Cinquain. At least you don’t have to rhyme.

Colour poems ignite the senses. Pick a colour. Any colour will do, and fill each line with the way that colour tastes, feels, smells and sounds to you.

Diamente rules just drive me mental. The result might be pretty, but where’s the freedom in following a rule for almost every word?

Haiku goes further than the rest. It controls every syllable. I’m in a World War 3 concentration camp struggling to breathe when I try to write Haiku.

At least with a limerick, I get a run-on and then worry about the details later. However, knowing that the last word in lines one 1 and 3, and 2 and 4 must rhyme and certain syllables must be stressed or unstressed just causes the blood Pressure to rise.

Give me a monster poem any day where all I have to do is write about a monster.

Better still, give me a copy of Toppling, where the words flow freely. Gentle wisdom snuggles between the lines, waiting to be discovered. That is my idea of verse. Where the joy of the read is not disturbed by rules.

Thanks Jo. You say such lovely things about my book-baby. And I’m with you – too many rules can make writing poetry tough.

Jo Burnell is a Paediatric Speech Pathologist and writer.
One of her passions is to get struggling and reluctant readers excited about books.

She is the UQP reviewer for Buzz Words
and regularly posts guest reviews on ‘The Reading Stack‘
Her poem ‘Junior Tragics’ made it to the top 20 in the 2009 Cricket Poetry Prize

What Sandy Fussell Likes About Children’s Poetry

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Continuing with the theme of what visiting bloggers like about children’s poetry, I am delighted to welcome fellow author Sandy Fussell to my blog. Not only is Sandy a friend, but she also had a new book published this month, as well as helping me out (twice) to launch Toppling – first here on the blog, and also at lastweek’s All Saints Literature Festival. Welcome Sandy. Over to you.

I feel like a bit of a fraud talking about this because the bulk of my exposure to children’s poetry has been traditional collections of ‘Australian poetry’, bush poets like C J Dennis, or poems here and there in the NSW School Magazines. I couldn’t write a children’s poem if I tried – and I know that’s true because I did try. I produced the worst five lines ever about turtles.

But while I don’t have a lot of concentrated personal experience with children’s poetry (and I’m working on remedying that), I still know what I like best. I like how I’ve seen children responding to it. Poetry reaches out on a number of levels – story, words, rhythm and perhaps rhyme. To me, children’s poetry begins with picture book texts – the wonderful read-aloud rollick-along stories of Pamela Allen and my new recent favourite, Claire Saxby’s There Was an Old Sailor. I’ve done a number of readings to preschoolers lately and they hang on every word, predicting the story as much from the rhyme and expectation as from the illustration. Children’s poetry is music to little ears, except with words instead of notes.

My other experience of children’s poetry is a growing love of verse novels. It began when I was given a copy of Stephen Herrick’s Cold Skin and continues on with Sally Murphy’s Pearl Verses the World being one of my favourite reads for 2009. Verse novels are ‘in your face’, almost like a stream of consciousness conversation between reader and writer. So it’s no surprise that they often deal with very confronting issues. Toppling introduces the issue of childhood cancer in a way that all children can relate to – whether they have known a cancer sufferer or not.

Children find verse novels easy to read. Unlike a lot of adult poetry, children’s poetry is more accessible to all its potential readers. So while personally I am still on a learning curve with children’s poetry, what I really like about it is… that children love it.

Thanks for dropping by Sandy.
You can visit Sandy online at her website.

What Laura Evans Likes About Children’s Poetry

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I am having such fun having so many different people drop in this month to blog about poetry. If you’ve just arrived here for the first time, I am having a month long bloganza of visiting bloggers telling me (and you) what they like about children’s poetry. This is my way of celebrating the release of my new verse novel, Toppling. So, to today’s post. Today I am delighted to welcome Laura Evans, blogger and all round nice person. Over to you, Laura.
The Beginner’s Mind
By Laura Evans

One of my favorite things about children’s poetry is the beginner’s mind. Babies acquire up to 40 words a day. As the baby grows she will share her word collection: “Da Da” and “Ma Ma.” In the next step, she will actively start collecting words by asking, “What is it?” Sometimes children don’t even need to know what it is, to appreciate a word.

When my son was three, we moved to a new house. After checking that I had packed his toys, he asked, “What else are we taking?” I said we would take our couch, chairs, and tables. Then he asked, “But, Mom, what about the furniture?”

Young children appreciate the sounds of words. To my son, “furniture” sounded like a grown-up word. It was big enough to correspond with the huge task of moving a household. Children like the way that words snap, tickle, and slide over each other. They enjoy the musical sounds of rhymes.

Besides sound, poetry deals in details. Nothing is too small to be captured in a poem. The answers to “what is it” are the details of life. A child begins by naming the things around her: banana, apple, a spoon, a cat or dog. In poetry, the details are so specific that readers are compelled to step closer to see them just as we draw near to examine a small painting. So, when poets write about the red-winged black bird or a giant panda, readers are brought closer to the natural world.

As children grow they continue to gather more words. Words become a basic part of their relationships in life. A child might talk to his Mom different from how he talks with his best friend. A boy can tell his Mom that he was scared at a movie. But he will not admit this to his friend.

Poets use words to crack open silence. Then we gather the silence back around the words in the art of the pause. This creates a frame to showcase the language. A poem may be built on the tension between pauses and the right words. And the right words are arranged on scaffolding that disappears in the poem, especially in free verse poetry.

Choosing exactly the right words is part of the thrift of poetry. Words are chosen and spent with great care. Non-poets will collect and discard words to participate in a common vocabulary of a community. But a poet will not limit herself. She collects words that lay on the fringes of society. Poets extend a democratic hand to any word. Then they save it and wait to use it in the right poem.

By the time a child reaches adulthood, the world can begin to look a bit tarnished and old. Adult poets try to find new ways of looking at our old world. This brings us back to the beginner’s mind. When it is applied to poetry, this is the stuff of miracles. Anything can happen.

Thanks for dropping in Laura and for sharing such insightful thoughts. Laura Evans has published more than five dozen poems in literary journals. Her blog at http://www.teachpoetryk12.com/ introduces newbie
children’s poets to the world of children’s poetry. And she reviews  poetry books for teachers and parents.

sallymurphy.com.au