I recently befriended a beguiling six-year-old named Susie Simpson. My all-grown-up friend, Susan Lennox (nee Simpson), introduced us. Susie lives in a tucked away drawer in Susan’s chest of memories. Susie Simpson used to love to sing Christmas carols in July, wear tights with rainbow stripes and hopscotch her way across the street. But since […]
Something Old, Something New
Why Authors Love Writing Fractured Fairy Tales Almost As Much as Children Love Reading Them !! Leave a comment below to enter a prize draw for a fractured fairy tale by Caryl Hart or Leigh Hodgkinson !! In the Princess and the Peas, by Caryl Hart, a doctor concludes that a young girl with an aversion […]
My First Day of School – As a Visiting Author
Yes Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My reaction was unequivocal when my daughter’s Year 1 teacher invited me to read a picture book manuscript to her class. I had initially approached Mrs. R for feedback about a fractured fairy tale I was working on, and her thoughts on how a teacher might use it with a class. The opportunity to […]
20 Tips for Writers from SCBWI
On the weekend of November 18-20, I attended my first ever creative writing conference organized by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) UK in Winchester. It was welcoming, invigorating, informative, humbling, encouraging and inspiring. I joined SCBWI upon the recommendation of several of the writer mothers profiled on Mums Write and can now […]