When I first went freelance a few years ago, I was grateful for the chance to work stress-free and uninterrupted. I reckoned without my two rescue cats – Cleo and Twinkle. Here is a typical day. 6:15am Alarm. Writer gets
Happy International Women’s Day
When I first started teaching, back in the 1990s, I mainly taught teenagers. It used to grieve me to see so many young women behaving as they and their futures and careers were less important than those of the boyfriends
Dates for the diary
All of a sudden, 2018 is here and being a published author is actually real! So, dates for the diary so far: May 1st – the e-book of The Uncooperative Flying Carpet is launched. TBC – the world launch of
Faith
To quote the late George Michael, you “gotta have Faith,” and as I delve deeper into the lives of the wonderful children’s authors who I am writing about for Big Boots, that certainly seems to be a running theme. Firstly,
Looking forward to an amazing year!
Every writer’s dream is to be published. Mine was to be published by the kind of organisation that shares my values and will meet the needs of dyslexic readers too. 2018 is the year when my own writer’s dream comes
Can cool girls wear pink?
A couple of days ago, I was talking to my neighbour and asked him what he believed his daughter would think of the new cover for “The Uncontrollable Flying Carpet.” His reply was a surprise. “She wouldn’t like it because
Packing my Big Boots
According to Winnie the Pooh, “when you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.” (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/97211-when-you-see-someone-putting-on-his-big-boots-you) Well, I’m getting ready to pack my own Big Boots ready for this
Empty Nests
Empty nest syndrome is when your children grow up and leave home, leaving their parents alone in the family nest. I believe writers have the same emotions when they come to the end of a character. At the moment, the
Hans Christian Andersen
Since my books are inspired by and borrow from characters who were created by or whose stories were collected by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, I was excited to see this free MOOC (massive open online course) run by
Great advice from J K Rowling
I really love this story from Fairfax Media’s stuff.co.nz on life tips from J K Rowling. I admire her not because she’s a successful author of children’s book (I’m just jealous of that ;), but because of how she respects her success