Poetry Friday: Roses are Blue

October 16, 2015 by Sally

It’s Poetry Friday and I am far from home – on tour talking to children, teachers, librarians, booksellers and more about my verse novel, Roses are Blue.

So, for something different this week, I thought I would share a radio interview I did earlier this week for ABC Radio in Brisbane, chatting about Roses are Blue, verse novels and poetry, myself and more.

If you’d like to hear the interview, you can find it here . (I tried to embed it here in the post to make things easier, but just couldn’t get it to post.)

Enjoy – and for more poetry goodness, the Poetry Friday roundup is hosted this week at The Poem Farm. Head over there and see what is happening around the Kidlitoshpere.

Teacher Characters #3: Miss Timms

August 4, 2015 by Sally

This is my third post about the teacher characters which appear in my books. If you’re enjoying them, I’d love for you to comment and tell me about your own favourite teacher character.

Who is my teacher character? Miss Timms toppling

What book does she appear in? Toppling, illustrated by Rhian Nest James and published by Walker Books Australia.

Why is she there? A lot of the action in Toppling takes place at school as John and his mates struggle with the illness of their good friend, Dominic. Because of the number of school scenes, there needs to be a teacher. The way she interacts with her students is really significant to the plot of Toppling.

What role does she play? As the teacher of a class of year 6 students, she see them daily and knows them well. It is Miss Timms who has the job of telling the class that Dom is sick – and who also helps them deal with this. She is a really caring teacher, who seems to know how her students are feeling, and gives good guidance.

What did I learn writing about her? I wrote Toppling soon after I wrote Pearl Verses the World. I needed to be careful that Miss Timms and Miss Bruff were not too similar. I wanted them both to be nice people but not one-dimensional. So I learnt, as I wrote about Miss Timms, the importance of fleshing out a character who has only a few scenes. I show, for example, her impatience when Ky, the bully, is mean.

Favourite Miss Timms moment? The scene where Miss Timms announces that Dom won’t be coming back to school for a while because of his illness. I like it because it shows her efforts to be compassionate and honest, but still her level of uncertainty about how to deal with the situation. Good teachers are willing to show their human side to their students.

I hope you’re enjoying learning more about my teacher characters. Later this week I am going to post about my non-fiction teacher character, Mary MacKillop. John and DOm

Toppling, published by Walker Books Australia is available from good bookstores and online. It is also published in the USA by Candlewick and, under the title John and Dom, by Walker UK.

Poetry Friday: Brown Girl Dreaming

January 16, 2015 by Sally

It’s Poetry Friday, and this week I want to talk about a poem I love, in a book I love, even though I only read it for the first time this week.

Perhaps the book first. I bought Brown Girl Dreaming as a gift for myself for Christmas, because I’d heard so many wonderful things about it. Since Christmas I’ve been busy and hadn’t got around to reading it until Myra at Gathering Books shared her responses last Friday, which reminded me to make time to read it for myself – and boy am I glad I did.

Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson is an autobiographical verse book cover novel. Woodson allows us to grow up with her, sharing the story of her childhood and what it was like growing up as an African American child in the 1960s. Through the eyes of a child we see the civil rights movement, feelings of difference and a search for identity – as well as good times with family and friends. As an Australian reader I learnt a lot about the time period, and about Woodson’s life, but I also felt that this was not just a book about the United States, or about that particular time period. By connecting with Woodson’s story we also have the opportunity to connect with the experiences of people the world over. It is a universal story just as much as it is a very poignant personal one.

Onto the poem. As well as the themes and subjects I’ve mentioned above, Brown Girl Dreaming also traces Woodson’s early development as a writer – from being given a composition book before she could write, to the joy of being able to write her own name, to her early attempts to write poems and stories. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be writer. My favourite poem of the book, I think (though I bookmarked a dozen) is called ‘When I tell My Family’, and tells of how Woodson’s family react when she tells them she wants to be a writer:

It’s a good hobby, we see how quiet it keeps you.

They say,

But maybe you should be a teacher,

a lawyer,

do hair …

I’ll think about it, I say.

And maybe all of us know

this is just another one of my

stories.

(Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming, 214, p. 229)

I love the way Woodson shares this moment (I suspect there were many of these moments) through the eyes of her child self. She doesn’t editorialise or tell us that the adults were wrong. She doesn’t say that she was hurt or angry by the adult responses.

Like Woodson, I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a writer, and I had moments like these, too. When I read this poem, I marvelled at how Woodson manages to show us her response so eloquently in those last three lines.

If you haven’t read Brown Girl Dreaming, you are missing out on a beautiful verse novel.

Want more poetry? This week’s Poetry Friday roundup is at Live Your Poem.

I’m Back!

July 29, 2014 by Sally

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 sally murphy and megan daley 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.

Ten Things I Learnt at SCBWI in Sydney

July 16, 2014 by Sally

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.

Roses are Out!

July 1, 2014 by Sally

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday roses are blue

Happy birthday to yooooooouuuuu!

Roses are Blue

So very happy to see my book baby officially hit the shelves today. It’s been a while in the making, but I’m hoping you’ll find it worth the wait.

A verse novel, Roses are Blue tells the story of Amber Rose, and her struggle to come to terms with the changes in her mum, her family and her whole world, after a terrible accident.

The illustrations are from the very talented Gabriel Evans. I’m so pleased to have been paired with him for this book.

Here’s a teeny taste:

I have not got used to my new mum.

Even though I love her

(I absolutely love her),

I miss my happy,

painting,

dancing,

gardening,

smiling mum.

Roses are Blue is available now from a good bookstore near you, or online.

I’m going to spend my day celebrating.

big hug sue and claire

PS: here’s a pic of me celebrating a little early – at the book’s launch in May – with my two wonderful writing buddies, Sue Whiting and Claire Saxby.