Ten-Minute Blog Break - 1st July

The Bunker Diary has been very much in the news this week. I knew that my teenage daughter had read the book and disliked it, so I asked her why. I expected a reply that cited the darkness and brutality of the story, but instead she said: "The character arcs were too flat."
I guess this is what comes of having a writer and a librarian as parents!

Nicola Morgan has written an eloquent post that aims to sidestep the Bunker Diary controversy and focus on why we shouldn't fear bleak books for teenagers. Ewa Jozefkowicz also finds inspiration from the book in her blog post considering the nature of happy endings.

Space on the Bookshelf seem to be sneaking into this column rather regularly of late. This time, their appearance is because of another informative award round-up, analysing the non-fiction shortlist for the Booktrust Best Book Awards. Children's non-fiction doesn't always get the coverage it deserves, so it's good to see awards like this celebrating it.

My wife has been pestering me for literally years to visit the Keswick pencil museum - to the extent that I've renamed it "Chessington World of Pencils" and turned it into a family joke. But Layn Marlow has no such prejudices; as a self-proclaimed "pencil nerd", she's blogged about her visit to the museum, and may even have managed to change my mind!

Everywhere I look - either at home or at work - there are stacks and stacks of books. But it hasn't always been that way, and I enjoyed Miriam Halahmy's reminiscences for The Edge, about a childhood where books were in rather short supply, and how she grew to cherish the few that she owned.

Finally, Sam Zuppardi often posts a weekly illustration, but this week he chooses to pair it with a lovely piece of observational storytelling. Read all about The Bubble Man.

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick really should write another blog post, but until then, you can enjoy his recent fairy tale on the "dangers" of fairy tales: The Improbable Prince.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 17th June

Does Tuesday really come around incredibly quickly, or is it just me? Mind you, after a frenzied weekend it's rather nice for me to sit down and go through the SCBWI blogs, then share the best of them with you.


I spent Father's Day pulling up old carpets, visiting the dump, then putting a nail through a water pipe and almost flooding the house! Luckily, other fathers seemed to be having a more sedate time, and it was a perfect opportunity for John Shelley to showcase his own dad's paintings. In an affecting post, John talks about inheriting his artistic talents from his dad, and how lucky he was to be born into a generation where going to art school was a viable career option.

The YA and fairy tale debates I highlighted last week have rumbled on, and Katie Dale had the neat idea of combining both in a single blog post. Is there (she asks) anything better than reading for pleasure, or anything worse than being told what to read? Sally Poyton also combined two topics into one post, the need to celebrate fairy tales and (somewhat more randomly) hell hounds!

There is a lot of sniffiness (from writers especially) about celebrity authors barging into the world of children's books. I therefore enjoyed Ewa Jozefkowicz's balanced post about this phenomenon, and her thoughts on which celebrity writers do and don't make the grade.

Loretta Shauer is interviewed on her publisher's site this week, talking about her latest picture book work. Loretta's journey from amateur artist to full-time illustrator is one that I'm sure many of us aspire to, and wonderful to read about!

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick jumped fearlessly into the media furore this week, writing a fairy tale on the "dangers" of fairy tales: The Improbable Prince.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 15th April

Your erstwhile Blog-Breaker, Nick Cross, has decided to skive off for the week, and I’m here in his stead. It’s only a small change really, we’re just adding a “Y”– Nick for Nicky… I was a little concerned that it might be a quiet week on the blogs, with little to give you in your ten minute blog break, but I’m delighted to see that our stalwart SCBWI bloggers are blogging diligently.

Who doesn’t love a competition and the possibilities that come with it? Ewa Jozefkowicz has kindly done all us children’s writers a good turn by creating a record of all the competitions  coming up over the next 12 months in the children’s book genre. So far there are nine competitions listed – if you know of more, do let Ewa know in the comments section of her blog.

Anna Violet posted to Words & Pictures last week  about the sketchcrawl in Manchester led by Lynne Chapman. In her own blog, Lynne reveals her experience of leading the sketchcrawl . And gives you the lowdown on what she keeps in her kit bag to illustrating the post with stunning sketches done during the course of the day.

Old books and particularly old picture books hold many evocative memories. Paeony Lewis, faced with a house move, blogs about which books she decided to throw out and which to keep and why. Have you held onto old picture books from your childhood – and if so, which ones?

Some of you may have noticed that there’s been a thing called a Writing Process Blog tour doing the rounds of the blogosphere. The tour has been a fascinating insight into the writing process of so many writers. The striking thing that comes through is that there is no right or wrong way to write, only “your” way. Take a look and see how Kathy Evans, Sue Hyams and Larissa Villar Hauser  set about their writing.

And finally, I couldn’t possibly do Nick Cross’ column for him, without taking a look at his own blog post for the week. This week Nick, in inimitable style, considers how important it is for writers to get a firm grip on their ambition so that they’re able to creatively realign themselves to a realistic vision. As he so wisely says, madness is the way for those too focused on the market.

Nicky.

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SCBWI-BI “member abroad”, Nicky Schmidt  is an ex scriptwriter, copywriter, and marketing, brand and communications director who "retired" early to follow a dream. Although she still occasionally consults on marketing, communications and brand strategies, mostly she writes YA fiction (some of which leans towards New Adult) in the magical realism and supernatural genres. When not off in some other world, Nicky also writes freelance articles - mostly lifestyle and travel - for which she does her own photography. Her work has been published in several South African magazines and newspapers. As well as being a regular feature writer for Words & Pictures, Nicky also runs the SCBWI-BI YA e-critique group. Nicky lives in Cape Town with her husband and two rescue Golden Retrievers.