sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Writing Quote of the Week

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The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.

(Robert Cormier)

Snowy’s Christmas Blog Tour: Week Five

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Welcome to the fifth stop on the Snowy’s Christmas blog tour. Illustrator David Murphy (yes, we have the same surname – he’s my wonderful brother in law) has dropped in to chat about his role in the book’s creation. Welcome Dave.

1. What was it like to get your first publishing contract?

It was very exciting to receive a phone call from Sally, telling me we had received a request to write and illustrate Snowy’s Christmas. After the excitement had died down I suddenly realized I had an enormous amount of work to do in a very short amount of time. I had heard other illustrators explain how they had spent 6 months to two years creating their masterpieces. When the contract arrived I realized I had a much shorter period. From the first pencil stroke to the last illustration; I completed Snowy in just under 5 months. It was worth it, though. Particularly, as it was also an opportunity to work with my fabulously talented sister in law Sally Murphy

2. Tell us about the steps involved in illustrating a picture book.

Every publisher, editor and illustrator work differently. In my case, I created an online studio where I posted my illustrations for comment by Kimberley and Linsay, at Random House. This was, initially a very rough layout, which they commented on. I had a rare face to face meeting and ironed out some of the small details in the characterizations and staging of the story. From then on it was pencil – post – comment – revise – repost – inks. Random House had the inked line art scanned and sent me the files. I then digitally coloured them. Then more rounds of illustrate – post – comment – repost. There were many late nights over a hot illustrating table of graphics tablet. On one night it was so hot (being the middle of summer) the ink literally flowed out of the nib. Luckily we were able to fix it up post scan.

3. What role are you playing in promoting the book?

I love talking to people about my work – I always have. Since Snowy’s Christmas hit the shelves, I have had great fun talking to all sorts of people. The ABC radio interview was a highlight. I also have several local events where I will be discussing and reading from the book. I have been approached by people from all walks who want me to talk to their groups. This is not only great fun but it gives me a chance to spread the word about Snowy…and every copy of Snowy’s Christmas I sign also get’s an original Dave Murphy illustration above my signature.


There was one thing I did to give me some confidence when speaking in front of people, and that was to have a large plush version of Snowy made. He’s gorgeous and gives me something to pat when I’m talking. I have to watch him closely, though as a couple of three and four year olds have tried to walk off with him.

The only thing I have regretted about the release of Snowy’s Christmas is not being able to do anything with Sally (we live on opposite sides of the country). She gave me such a fantastic story to illustrate that I think we could have a lot of fun talking about the book. Who knows, maybe the next one…..?

Over to you Dave – is there anything else you want to talk about?

Yes – The Australian Christmas

Christmas is special in Australia. It has its own traditions and its own special meaning to Australians. I could not illustrate this story without drawing imagery directly from the Australian bush. The bushland and its inhabitants in my illustrations were inspired by what I see in the grasslands and woodland which I regularly bushwalk through. I populated the background with some bush creatures anyone should be able to see on a bushwalk in Australia. I have also included small Aussie Christmas touches : the Christmas decorations in the gum tree, the Bush Christmas heralds and, of course, the cricket match at the end of Christmas day (back page).

The idea that Santa uses kangaroos when he is in Australia has been part of the Australian psyche for a long time. Sally’s story brings this idea to life brilliantly. I am very proud to be able to illustrate the story and add to the Australian bush Christmas tradition.

Thanks for sharing, David.

Snowy’s Christmas is available across Australia in bookstores and department stores. Online, you can purchase it from Booktopia (at below rrp).

If you’ve missed the start of the tour, you can follow it at:
Week One: 4 October Deescribe Writing Blog
Week Two: 11 October Write and Read With Dale
Week three: 18 October Alphabet Soup Blog
Week Four: 25 October Let’s Have Words
Week Five: 1 November Sally Murphy’s Writing for Children Blog (you’re here)
Week Six: 8 November Aussiereviews Blog
Week Seven: 15 November Samantha Hughes’ Blog
Week Eight: 22 November Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s Books Blog
Week Nine: 29 November Stories are Light
Week Ten: 6 December The Aussie Christmas Blog
Week Eleven: 13 December Tales I Tell

When the Universe Aligns a Poem is Born (and remembered)

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Weird. I’ve just had one of those strange moments where a series of coincidences leads you to ponder whether there’s any such thing AS a coincidence. Here’s what happened:

Last night, as I lay half-awake in bed, an image came to me, which my brain instantly started teasing out into a poem. The metaphor was so strong that I was sure I would remember it in the morning. But, as every writer knows, those late-night and mid-night flashes of brilliance rarely remain in the light of day and thus it was for me. When I sat down to write my daily poem this afternoon I had a vague feeling that I’d begun a poem in bed last night, but no idea what it was about.
Earlier today, my son (Murphlet Four) did some origami and, amongst other things, made two origami bats, which he left on the dining table.

Then, this afternoon, the Murphlets have had Malcolm in the Middle playing on Foxtel. This is a show which never ceases to distract me from my work and, today, I’d half watched an episode involving a swarm of bats.

Afternoon tea time came and, as I sat at the dining room table the origami bats caught my eye. ‘Isn’t it funny,’ I thought to myself, ‘how such a coincidence happens.’ Out of all the animals Murphlet Four could have made, he’d made a bat, an hour or two BEFORE the bat episode was on the television.

Now, here’s the eerie part. Just as that thought crossed my mind, last night’s poem came back to me. My late night head-poem was about bats in a mango tree! I jumped up, came back to my desk and started writing – and the poem was still there. Now, I’m not especially fond of bats, and have never written about them before – so what alignment of the universe cased me to create a poem about them late last night, Murphlet Four to make two bats out of origami this morning, and an episode of Malcolm In the middle featuring bats to show on the television this afternoon?
Whatever it is, I’m grateful for the latter two because, combined, they led to my recapturing that late night flash of inspiration.

Blog Tour Stop Four

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The Snowy’s Christmas blog tour rolls on. Today I am over at Claire Saxby’s blog, talking about the difference between writing a Christmas book and a non-seasonal book. Drop by and, if you have time, leave a comment se we can see who’s visited.

In the meantime, David spotted Snowy for sale at Borders online. Hopefully this means it will also show up in their brick and mortar stores. Remember, if you see Snowy on sale anywhere, let us know, as it’s really interesting to hear where it shows up.

If you’ve missed the start of the tour, you can follow it at:
Week One: 4 October Deescribe Writing Blog http://www.deescribewriting.wordpress.com/
Week Two: 11 October Write and Read With Dale http://livejournal.com/users/orangedale/
Week three: 18 October Alphabet Soup Blog http://www.soupblog.wordpress.com/
Week Four: 25 October Here!
Week Five: 1 November Sally Murphy’s Writing for children Blog
http://sallymurphy.blogspot.com/
Week Six: 8 November Aussiereviews Blog http://aussiereviews.blogspot.com/
Week Seven: 15 November Samantha Hughes’ Blog http://samantha-hughes.blogspot.com/
Week Eight: 22 November Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s Books Blog
http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com/
Week Nine: 29 November Stories are Light http://sandyfussell.blogspot.com/
Week Ten: 6 December The Aussie Christmas Blog http://aussiechristmas.wordpress.com/
Week Eleven: 13 December Tales I Tell http://belka37.blogspot.com/

Blog Tour Stop Three

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The blog tour to celebrate the release of Snowy’s Christmas continues today. If you’ve just tuned in, every Sunday for eleven weeks David, Snowy and I are visiting a different blog to talk about Snowy, about writing and about illustrating.

Today both David and I are visiting the Soup Blog to share five things you may not already know about Snowy’s Christmas. In actual fact it is ten things in total – because I shared five things about writing the story and Dave shared five things about illustrating. So, head over to the Soup Blog to learn more. And, while you are there, you can enter Rebecca’s competition to win yourself a copy of Snowy’s Christmas.

In the meantime, some more sightings of Snowy’s Christmas have been reported. It has been spotted on sale in two Kmart stores (in Cannington, WA and Kalgoorlie) and also in Myer and David Jones in Perth city. Am guessing this means it will be in more Kmart, Myer and David Jones.
If you see Snowy in a store, drop us a line and let us know.

sallymurphy.com.au