October roundup – just one week until Mountainfell!
Hello, and welcome to my October ‘mini’ round-up. It’s been a busy month, not least because my latest middle grade book, Mountainfell, is due to hit bookshops in only one week! It feels incredibly surreal that, after all the many months of drafting, it will finally be out there in the world and on the shelves. In other news:
My author copies arrived!
It’s always a special moment to get a big box full of your own books, not least because of the panic it induces when you think you’ve accidentally ordered something big, heavy and expensive, then to discover what it really is (and feel the relief at having not accidentally ordered something big, heavy and expensive). It’s truly a joy.
Storytale festival
I had a brilliant time at the weekend hosting a ‘Dream Up Your Own Fantastical Creature’ event as part of Storytale Festival. We had some brilliant chats about animals both real and imaginary, what inspired some of those in Mountainfell, and also a very special technique for inventing your own. (If you’d like me to come along and do a similar workshop or event at your school or bookshop you can contact me here).
Sponsored Write
I’m pleased to say that the Green Ink Sponsored Write raised £1,867 for Macmillan Cancer Support. I was really happy to be asked to take part in it again this year. If you sponsored us, thank you so much, and happy reading! Perhaps see you for it again next time.
Books I’m reading
I’ve just started Kieran Larwood’s brilliant The Legend of Podkin One Ear and I’m really enjoying it. I also have a very spooky (and very adult!) book called Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez to read this Halloween. I saw her give a talk (in an actual crypt!) for my local bookshop, Storysmith, and learning all about her and the book was fascinating. I can’t wait to scare myself silly with this one.
And finally…
Some lovely reviews have been rolling in for Mountainfell, which is so heartening and encouraging for me. Among these fantastically generous reviews are this one and this one. Booksellers, book bloggers, teachers, librarians and everyone who champions books – thank you! You make the world go round.
That’s it from me. See you again for another instalment of the mini-blog in November.
Blog interlude – book plates giveaway!
Hello! I’m interrupting my normal blog service to let you know that I have a number of specially signed book plates to give away throughout October as a thank you to anyone pre ordering Mountainfell. Whether the book’s going to be a present for someone else, for you, a school library or even a bookshop, simply message me with a pre order receipt of some kind (or just let me know you have done – I’ll believe you!) and an address I can send the book plate/s to. I’ll keep sending them to whoever asks until I run out!
September roundup: festival events, sponsored writes, and animal sidekicks
Hello friends. It looks as though my September mini-blog is very long this month, however, don’t be fooled. I am simply using a bigger font. Hope you enjoy all my news, writer life tidbits and cat pics. Onwards!
Storytale Festival
I’m so excited to be taking part in Storytale Festival again this year. Come and find me in Storysmith, Bristol on 23rd October 2022 for a free event where I’ll be helping you to dream up your own fantastical creatures like those in my book, Mountainfell. hope to see you there!
Meet the Sponsored Writers
I’m taking part in this year’s Sponsored Write in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support again this year in October, as I’ve mentioned, and would love it if you could support us with a few quid. In return for your generosity you’ll get our collection of short stories delivered to your inbox 48 hours later. Perfect! What’s more, you can now read Q&As with all of us Sponsored Writers who’re taking part this year, and learn the individual reasons why each of us are doing it, right here.
Mountainfell’s animal sidekick
I love animal sidekicks in stories. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing that an animal sidekick can’t massively improve (films, books, life… the list goes on). So of course I couldn’t wait to put one into Mountainfell.
Scrat is Erskin’s pet cat, but with a difference. Firstly, he’s a secret, because people in Erskin’s village of Lofotby do NOT keep pets. Secondly, he’s a bit… strange. He’s very big. His teeth are very long. And he has silver markings that seem to change (although surely that’s just a trick of the light…). Sometimes Erskin could swear he knows exactly what she’s thinking, too.
When I was writing about Scrat I took more than a little inspiration from a beloved pet I used to have. She was a rescue cat who we called Kitty Boobins, and she looked like this.
She was the quirkiest, most demanding cat who ever lived, and when she decided she was going to sit on your chest and purr in your face when you really ought to have been getting out of bed, there really was nothing else for it but to lie there. An electrician who was fixing our fuse box called her ‘the loudest cat I have heard in my life’. And she once shouted so much at a friend who’d been looking after her for the weekend, that she made him ill (don’t worry, he was fine after a rest).
A lot of my love for my legendary Kitty Boobins went into writing Scrat, and I hope you’ll love his funny little personality as much as I do – and as much as I loved Kitty Boobins.
Finally, I wanted to share this brilliant clip of a crab swimming that I found on the internet the other day. If ever you wondered where the ideas came from for Mountainfell’s weird and wonderful magical creatures, look no further than nature itself:
What REALLY goes in to writing a book - plus news and reviews
Hi everyone.
I hope you’re all well and that, if you’re in the UK, you’ve managed to stay cool in the extreme heat. Welcome to a rollercoaster mini-blog of first reviews, Sponsored Writes, and the cold hard realities of writing a book. Onwards!
Mountainfell’s first review
First up it was fantastic to see the brilliant Stephanie Burgis (author of The Raven Heir, The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart and many more) post such lovely things about Mountainfell on Twitter and give it its very first review. Hooray! It can be scary sending a new book out into the world, so early recommendations like this are to be treasured.
Green Ink Sponsored Write 2022 kicks off soon
Every year I take part in the Green Ink Sponsored Write, where published authors come together with Green Ink’s amazing writing students to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support. How? By each of us spending one chosen day in October writing a short story, which will become part of an anthology sent exclusively to our Just Giving supporters 48 hours later. If you’d like to be one of those supporters, you can donate your chosen amount here. Thank you!
The reality of writing a book
Finally, ever wondered what really goes in to writing a book? Well, I’m here to tell you the WHOLE truth. In list form. (As it’s a mini- and not a maxi- blog). Get ready, here goes:
You have an idea and it’s EPIC
Idea grows. You plan and plan until planning gets too boring and YOU’RE IN
Wow. This is the best thing you’ve ever written!
Time to reflect. Oh, God. This is the worst thing you’ve ever written
This is the worst thing written, ever
Time to rewrite
Actually, this isn’t too shabby… you can relax
Editor has questions. Time to rewrite
The rewriting continues
Get a pressing deadline. Everyone gets covid
The book is, finally, finished. You press send and instantly fall asleep
Nope, it isn’t finished. Wake up. Editor has questions. Time to rewrite
Eye starts to twitch every time book is mentioned
The rewriting does not end
Existential crisis
You are stuck in a time loop where all you do is edit
You are done with this book. DONE
You are never going to put yourself through this, ever again
Where am I? What is time? Who is “book”?
Finally book is written, rewritten, edited, polished. You read it with dread… and are pleasantly surprised to find that you don’t hate it
Actually, you quite like it
You might even be a little proud…
Are you?
Yes, you think so. All that work might have been worth it after all.
Press send and cross fingers. Time to sleep and play Hollow Knight
You promise yourself it’ll be a long time before you attempt to write anything else. A long, long time.
A seriously long time. You need a break from writing. A proper one.
Except, wait! You’ve just had an idea, and it’s EPIC…
Well, there you have it - and although every book is different, there always seems to be a decent dose of all or most of the above, at least for me. Do you relate to this if you’re a writer? Or does anything surprise you if you aren’t one?
Mountainfell available to pre order
If you’d like to read the product of all that work and polishing, you can pre order my new book, Mountainfell, now :-)
Introducing the world of Mountainfell
July has been an exciting month, in which I got to reveal the cover (and name!) of my brand new, upcoming book: Mountainfell. And here it is again - below - illustrated by the phenomenal Sandra Dieckmann. I feel so lucky to have the things I’ve imagined brought to life by such an immense and striking talent. Thank you, Sandra. The book comes out in November, but you can pre order it here.
Right here on the old mini-blog, I’m also thrilled to be able to share with you a special insight into the mysterious world of Mountainfell. Read on…
The cover of Mountainfell, illustrated by Sandra Dieckmann
Welcome to the world…
Imagine you live in a small village with rough seas on one side, that’s cut off from the mainland on the other by a treacherous, towering mountain. Horrors are said to live there. Strange, wild creatures, evil trees, witches… and most deadly of all, the gigantic, fearsome cloud dragon. This is Mountainfell. And what’s worse, as the daughter of the Mountain Keeper, Erskin finds herself living at the very foot of it, in constant fear of its hex magic and as the subject of scorn and rumour among the superstitious villagers. She wishes she could escape from it - then life would be so much easier. But fate, it seems, has other plans…
A peek at the back cover:
A few people you should know:
Erskin - as the Mountain Keeper’s daughter, life’s already tough - but daydreaming helps Erskin to cope.
Birgit - constantly embarrassed by Erskin’s weirdness, Birgit is Erskin’s elder sister, but the two are nothing alike.
Scrat - okay, Scrat isn’t exactly a person, more a… cat. But he’s also Erskin’s friend, and with silver markings that seem to change and a feral disposition, he’s pretty unusual too…
More on the horizon:
I’m looking forward to sharing more with you before November. But until then, remember you can pre order Mountainfell if you want to (it really helps if you do!) - and feel free to ask me any questions. You may find I answer them in the next edition of the mini-blog…
For now, however, I leave you with the dedication, because it says a lot about why I wrote this book and what it means to me. And, I hope, what it could mean to readers, too. Looking forward to telling you more, soon.
You say May, I say June... book news and recent reads
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the belated May round-up that I’m counting as June’s too… Yup, I missed a month in the monthly mini-blog! I’m already late, so without further ado, onwards:
Latest book progress
Last month I sent my editor the latest draft of my next book, while wiping the sweat from my brow. Afterwards I celebrated by doing a few of my favourite things. I admit that the first of these was sleeping. After that there was some cake. What about you - do you treat yourself when you’ve finished a big project? How do you like to celebrate? Now the sleeping and cake eating is done, I’m playing around with a few fun ideas and secret side projects and having a great time while I wait for news on this one.
Shakespeare Week winning entries
I wrote a poem for Shakespeare Week to help inspire children across the country who were coming up with their own creative responses to ‘Still my beating mind’. Now the winning entries have been chosen and you can see them in the online exhibition. I loved reading/listening to/admiring them and was thrilled to see that my poem had helped inspire a few! A massive well done to every single person who took part.
Recent recommended reads
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown - this book (that says it’s for 7-10 year olds) is such a pure and beautiful tale. You’ll love Roz the Robot - who wouldn’t love a wild robot with such a pure heart?
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - I’m listening to this one as an audiobook and it’s superb in this format: Chiwetel Ejiofor is an incredible narrator. Reference to the stone statue of a fawn and a lamp post have already put me in mind of Narnia and taken me to the magical ‘betwixt’ world of who I am now and my childhood memories/imaginings, while the story describes the strange place that Piranesi inhabits.
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey - I became obsessed with the sci fi series The Expanse recently, to find that the TV series only takes the story so far… so now I have to read all the books to find out what happens, starting with this one! (P.S. Camina Drummer can be my bosmang forever).
BONUS BOOKS: The Ghouls of Howlfair and Molly Thompson and the Crypt of the Blue Moon by Nick Tomlinson - my husband and I love these brilliant books, so we’ve started reading them to our kid at bedtime and he’s been loving them too. There’s nothing quite like a fun, spooky tale with the lights dimmed…
What have you been reading? I’d love to know! Take care and see you again in July for another edition of the mini-blog.
April mini-blog - poetry, progress, and soo many books
Hi everyone,
I have plenty to share with you, and I’m only just getting round to writing this month’s round up. April has run away from me a bit, and it isn’t the first time. Aprils are slippery things if you ask me. Anyway, that means it’s mini-blog time… Onwards!
Shakespeare Week poetry
I was honoured to write a poem for Shakespeare Week again, this year on the theme of “still my beating mind”. Mountains (and my grandparents, who were mountaineers) have been on my mind a lot recently, as you’ll see if you read the poem. What will your creative response be? What stills your beating mind?
New book progress
Did I mention mountains? That reminds me. My new book is numerous drafts in, and I’m at the stage where I’m puzzling out lots of questions and trying to get everything just right. Hopefully more news soon… !
Praise for Glassheart
I was delighted to see this tweet (and this one!) from the brilliant author Anne Booth a couple of weeks ago, heaping praise on Glassheart. It reminded me that saying something nice really can change a person’s day. If you have something nice to say about someone - or something they’ve done - do be brave and tell them. The world really can’t have too much generosity, and some might come back your way, too.
Recent reads
Books I’ve read and loved recently are:
Melmoth by Sarah Perry. Beautiful, horrifying and sumptuously dark.
Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson. Fast paced, gripping, and brilliantly inventive.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh. Gorgeous, lyrical, and tugs at the heartstrings ohh so much.
Bonus: brilliant upcoming books
One of the most exciting things about writing books is getting the opportunity to read some of the gems yet to come out. I’ve read some absolute stunners recently, including:
The Late Crew by Rab Ferguson. Keep your eye out for this exciting yet sensitive middle grade sci fi tale that weaves together life as a young carer, budding school friendships, crash landing spaceships and, of course, aliens! Due in July 2022, and published by Onwe.
The Mooncatcher’s Rescue by Karen Lamb. This book for those aged 8+ is so heart warming and magical - expect quirky ghosts, bonkers pirates and thoroughly enchanting writing. Due out in September 2022 and published by Walker Books.
A Billion Balloons of Questions by Amy B. Moreno. This picture book for ages 4 and up by my talented friend Amy is perfect for kids who’re full of curiosity, skilfully weaving in aspects of life in a bilingual home. Plus, the illustrations by Carlos Velez are soo beautiful. Coming May 2022, published by Floris Books.
That’s it from me for now. See you in May!
March mini-blog: World Book Day message, current events and activities
Hi all,
Has anyone else noticed that World Book Day has started to become “World Book Day… Week”? I’m thinking, how about World Book Day Month? Or, better yet, why not World Book Day Year, and hey, let’s have it every year, eh? Hooray for books! Onwards!
One of the reasons I write:
The WBD mood may be dampened with the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the start of another war. When I was a kid I noticed a lot more than adults realised, and I worried more about it than I let on, too. I wrote Glassheart about how it might feel to have to piece your life together again after war. And one of the reasons I wrote Nevertell - besides loving magic, fantasy, fairy tales and simply yearning to write - is that, way back when I learned about Gulags in Russian history, I had the tremendous urge to a) understand how it must have been for the people in that situation, and b) to put things right through make believe (in my case, writing fiction). Another way of looking at that is, I wanted to express my feelings about an injustice.
Message for World Book Day:
My message to anyone feeling worried or overwhelmed this World Book Day is this. Reading a book is a great way to escape from the worries of the world - brilliant! But reading a book can also be somewhere for our imaginations to go to find expression. Imaginations grow inside books. They get stronger, more vibrant and more powerful. Sometimes, ideas ripen out of them, like fruit from trees - and ideas can change the world. This is your world - our world - and standing up and saying so when you feel that things aren’t right - expressing yourself - is one of the most brilliant things you can do. There are so many ways to do that - reading and writing stories are just two out of billions. It feels good too - whether anyone is listening or not, you’ll still know you did it. And people are listening.
Activities for home or the classroom:
You may be feeling powerless and wondering what you can do at the moment. Well, as I’ve said, expressing yourself is deeply powerful. Writing, saying, singing, drawing, or expressing something, shows yourself - and the whole world! - how you feel. And it can let other people know that you support them, too. So why not try any of these, which would be suitable for home or the classroom:
1 - Write a poem about how you feel about war. I once woke up with this in my head: “War is like a blunt pencil - pointless.” At the time I was SO pleased with myself, because it perfectly expressed how I felt - but I’m sure you can do much better!
2 - Write a letter to someone - real or imaginary - who is fleeing from war. Or write your letter to someone who is being brave and standing up for what they believe in, despite the danger - like one of the people in Russia who is protesting against the war, for example. What would you like to say to any of those people?
3 - If it’s hard to put your feelings into words, you might like to try drawing a picture about either of the above instead, or try this: draw the world you want for the future.
If you’d like to share any of your work with me, either through my website or via Twitter or Instagram, I’d love to see, and will share it with your permission so we can show everyone what the children of the world think.
Some inspiring reading:
Here are just a few brilliant books I’ve read recently that touch on the human experience of conflict:
Boy, Everywhere - A. M. Dassu
On the Move: Poems About Migration - Michael Rosen
Nisha’s War - Dan Smith
The Midnight Guardians - Ross Montgomery
A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll - this one is about someone speaking up because of an injustice of the past.
Do you have any books on this topic you’d like to add in the comments?
My February: brilliant books and writer perks
Hi everyone,
It’s my first monthly mini-blog of the year, which begs the question: what happened to January’s? Well, for one reason and another it didn’t happen, but as it was January I’m telling myself it doesn’t really count. February is my birthday month, however, so I couldn’t let this one slide. Onwards!
The perks of being a writer:
The other day I had the absolute privilege of seeing a glimpse of something very special - the latest version of the cover of my upcoming book. It is an absolute beaut and I can’t wait for you to see it, too! Draft three is in, so I’m in that lovely limbo state where I’ve had no feedback yet, and everything is all floaty and great. I’m sure I’ll have more news and updates for you very soon…
Best books to take you on an epic journey:
The fantastic people over at Shepherd.com (a website that does a brilliant job of supporting authors and their books - do check it out, whether you’re a writer, reader or both) asked me to do a ‘5 Best Books’ list. So here’s my offering: “The five best books to take you on a truly epic journey”. I hope you enjoy reading the list as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Making authors talk to you about strange things while you get your books signed:
Finally, I went to an event yesterday at my brilliant local bookshop, Storysmith. Max Porter (author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Lanny, and The Death of Francis Bacon) was talking to Simon Moreton (Zine creator, writer and artist) about his recent book, WHERE?, which I’m very excited to read. I had a lovely chat about writing, mark making and art with Max Porter while getting my copy of Grief is the Thing signed, then for some reason told Simon Moreton all about a real life survival stories programme I once watched (it was terrible but I used to LOVE it) while he signed WHERE? Why? Who knows.
Have you ever chatted to an author about something incredibly random? If you could ask any author any question, what would it be?