Tag Archives: writing

Writing on walls

Despite the wet and wild weather we had a lovely half term and a great trip to London. Here is Finch and his cousin scrawling on a giant chalkboard at the South Bank Centre. When Finch saw it, he couldn’t … Continue reading

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Kelpies Prize 2019

At the end of last week the Kelpies Prize winners of 2019 were announced up in Edinburgh. I say winners because this year there was a change of format to the prize. This year the Floris team were asking for samples … Continue reading

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Waiting

I’m in a funny period of waiting. I have a provisional start date for my job but nothing can move forward until the wheels of officialdom at the university have cranked out a proclamation of fitness to practice. In the … Continue reading

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Changes

Today I am attending the first day of a three-day induction at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital in Exeter. ‘Why would you be doing such a thing?’ I hear you cry! Well, changes are afoot. Many of you will … Continue reading

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Singing trains

Last week was a busy one. My trip to Edinburgh was great. It was beautiful weather up there: clear and crisp, and slanting low light around every corner. I visited my publisher’s office and met my editor properly for the … Continue reading

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Kelpies Prize

I’ve tried to write this blog post a few times and it hasn’t gone well. It’s hard to find words for something that I still feel speechless about. Maybe, in true British fashion, I should start with the weather… On … Continue reading

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Heading North

Tomorrow Big Dreamer and I will be catching a flight up to Edinburgh for the Kelpies Prize awards ceremony at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Friday. The Discover Kelpies team have put up videos of the three short-listed authors … Continue reading

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Discover Kelpies

I have some very exciting news! Last week I received a wonderful email telling me I’d been short-listed for the Discover Kelpies Writing competition. This is a competition run by Scottish Publisher, Floris Books, to find new writers for children. … Continue reading

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Endings

This week marked the end of my wonderful, wonderful writing course. For those of you who are new to my blog, I’ve been going along to an evening class on writing for children over the last term and it’s been … Continue reading

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Sores, Spores and Sickly Bugs

At my writing class this week we explored the genre of ‘gritty realism’. Key authors in this sort of children’s literature are Jacqueline Wilson and Cathy Cassidy. In their books they explore themes such as divorce, living in care, and … Continue reading

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