Network News South East: Volunteering and Storytelling with Quentin Blake and Friends

Lorraine Cooke

@MottisfontNT

I’ve been a volunteer at my local National Trust property, Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire, since March 2013 and the art gallery there puts on a number of excellent and popular exhibitions each year. This summer – from 19 July to 14 September - there’s a fantastic opportunity to see the work of some of the best children’s contemporary illustrators, including Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury and John Burningham in a new exhibition.

 Quentin Blake – Chocolate Celebration

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see for the first time 21 new drawings made by Quentin for the hit West End production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, full of his usual wit and sharp-eyed observations.

“We are so excited to be showing Quentin’s work this summer,” says Louise Govier, Visitor Experience Manager at Mottisfont and curator of its gallery. “So many of us have wonderful memories of discovering his books and of course of how he brought Roald Dahl’s stories to life. His new work is just as fresh and funny – his drawings of people lusting for chocolate are hilarious. He pokes fun at all sorts of things in modern life, but we find ourselves smiling even as we sometimes recognise ourselves.”

Quentin Blake – Mortimer and the home-made ice cream

The original drawings and watercolours in the show have all been lent by the Chris Beetles Gallery in London, and all of these unique works are for sale. The gallery is also lending stunning watercolour illustrations by artists including Michael Foreman, Emma Chichester Clark, John Burningham, Helen Oxenbury, Rebecca Cobb and Oliver Jeffers which are also for sale. The stories illustrated range from classics such as Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland and classic fairy tales to works by Terry Jones and Michael Morpurgo.

Helen Oxenbury – Everything was still growing

Visitors can take inspiration from the exhibition and set off on an epic imaginative story adventure around the house and grounds, creating their own illustrated books as they go.

There are also special event weekends in August with lots of additional hands-on activities, including helping to make the biggest picture book ever! You might even get some tips from Quentin Blake himself, and meet some of the other authors. Special event weekends are on 2/3, 16/17, and 30/31 August, and feature storytelling, performance, and on the final weekend, storytellers from the Roald Dahl Museum.

The last owner of Mottisfont, Maud Russell, was a great patron of the arts and artists and I’m sure she would have approved of the way arts have been brought to the top floor gallery and the grounds of her home. Long before I became a volunteer there, I considered the elegant house, which began life as a Medieval Priory, a very special place. When I received a request to read some of Quentin Blake’s stories at one of the special event weekends, I immediately said yes and am booked in for the afternoon of August 3rd. I can’t wait.

Me practising my reading.

John Burningham – Allow us to tell you what we’re thinking

Mottisfont is open every day, from 10am to 5pm. For more information, visit the Mottisfont website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont

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@WritesAsRaine

Lorraine has been a SCBWI member since 2011. She writes MG and YA fiction. Her day job often involves nitpicking the spelling and grammar of people under 12 and she takes her red pen everywhere. 

Proofreading Tips: Dashes

Catriona Tippin

An occasional look at punctuation with Proofreading Tips:

Nearly there? Make a dash for it!

Punctuation started as an aid to reading aloud. Originally scribes introduced various marks into text to indicate opportunities to breath or pause or change cadence. With the introduction of printing these marks became formalised and include all the familiar punctuation marks we use today.

We have three ‘dash’ symbols in English punctuation, which have various roles in joining or separating words and phrases:

- The hyphen– is not, strictly speaking, a dash and it’s in the top row on most keyboard layouts. The hyphen is used in compound words (see http://www.wordsandpics.org/2014/02/when-words-get-together.html) and word breaks at the end of a line.

– The en dash(or N dash) – this is the one some word processing programs substitute for the hyphen when you type: word space hyphen space word etc

or you can insert one with ctrl and the minus key in the numerical keypad (that one on the far right)

— The em dash(or M dash) – most word processing programs change two hyphens typed in succession to an em dash: word hyphen hyphen word

or you can insert one with ctrl and altand the minus key in the numerical keypad

En dashes and Em dashes

The en and em dashes were the width of the letters n and m in letterpress typesetting. Traditionally they are ‘set closed’ (set with no spaces on either side) and have specific uses:

The en dash is used for ranges, for instance: 1914–18, pages 1–10, ages 3–5,January–July, Paris–Dakar

A pair of em dashes is used to set apart or highlight a component in a sentence, for instance, here are three sentences each with a different emphasis in the middle, provided by the punctuation:

We’re going on a hunt, for a bear, through long, swishy grass.

We’re going on a hunt (for a bear) through long, swishy grass.

We’re going on a hunt—for a bear—through long, swishy grass.

In each there’s an aside about what the hunt is for (a bear). With the commas there’s a neutral ’rhythm’ to the sentence. The parentheses (curved brackets) ‘de-emphasise’ what they contain – the main things in the middle sentence are the hunt and the grass. With the em dashes there’s an emphasis on the bear, and an attention-seeking interruption in the middle of the sentence.

A single em dash is used to set apart or emphasise a separate thought in a sentence:

“They’re going to go on a hunt—for a bear?”

In the past, letterpress typesetters expertly used the right dash – and then typewriters were invented. They had letters of equal width (see the courier font description in http://www.wordsandpics.org/2014/05/a-fount-of-fonts.html) so no difference between n and m. The QWERTY layout prevented commonly used typebars from clashing, and as few typebars as possible were used. Uppercase O was used for zero, lowercase L was used for number one and an exclamation mark was created with an apostrophe and a full stop. There was a hyphen, and it was used with spaces on either side to represent an en dash, and twice to represent an em dash. Typesetting, publishing and printing continued to use specific en and em dashes.

Word processing has changed this. Proportional fonts have changed the traditional widths of the letters n and m, but we still have the appropriate dashes at our disposal. Their usage has evolved; though some publishers continue to use the em dash—like this—without spaces, some publishers use a spaced em dash — like so — and more often there’s a spaced en dash – this is it – which is the one you’re probably used to seeing automatically inserted.

The spaced en dash is often used as an em dash these days:

We’re going on a hunt – for a bear – through long, swishy grass.

I think this has become an established convention as it is arguably more comfortable to read on a screen, particularly a phone or a tablet where the small screen makes the size of the dash less obvious. Semi-colons and colons are increasingly being replaced by em dashes or spaced en dashes. You can make a case for these punctuation marks and their subtleties – but we use dashes more often now, and that’s OK as long as meaning and legibility accompany them.

To sum up – use hyphens in compound words and word-breaks, and use en dashes for ranges. And for those dashes within sentences? If you’re submitting to a publisher, you could have a look at whether they use em dashes or spaced en dashes in their current list. And for self-publishing – choose one style and be consistent.

More on punctuation in future Proofreading Tips.

Catriona Tippin aka @ProofReadingTip will be back next month with more proofreading tips. 

To see previous tips, click on this proofreading link.

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Catriona Tippin has been a member of SCBWI since 2006 and helps organise venues for SCBWI North East. Details of her writing and illustrating here. She proofreads study guides, house magazines and publicity material for two national educational charities, in addition to working on a variety of proofreads and copyedits for the growing self-published world. Her monthly column is intended to give you food for thought, remembering “Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling or typographical error” (McKean’s Law, named after its inventor Erin McKean, editor of the Oxford American Dictionary). 

The Road Goes Ever On

An inspiration piece – with thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien for the title 

Horton Scar Lane by David Sykes

Some years ago, I volunteered to walk the Three Peaks for charity (24.5miles and three mountains in twelve hours). When the day came, we all set off with enthusiasm over the sheep-cropped turf of Ribblesdale. Lots of collective jollity got us through the first stretch over Pen-y-Ghent.

Then came Whernside. Following the routes of those before you was a great help – but when the peat bogs spread out in brown squelching patches, you had to find your own way. Walking side-by-side was not possible.

Sometimes I found inspiration in the hardships of the navvies who built the Ribblehead Viaduct. Other times, only stern self-talk kept me going. There were moments when other walkers’ relentless cheerfulness just plain annoyed me.

The last peak was the killer – Ingleborough. I desperately sought out Pennine features I loved to get through the endless slog. But even Primula Farinosa and clints-and-grykes can lose their charms when your boots rub on blisters.

The last ascent is a deceptive beggar – you think you’ve got to the top, push yourself up a mother of a slope – and find there’s another incline to go. And another . And another. Till you get there.

So you pop a bit of scree on the cairn at the top, celebrate – and realise another ‘there’ is ahead of you.

Pen-y-ghent Cafe (Creative Commons)

And that feeling, I am sure is familiar to all creative people – writers, illustrators and many others. There is always more to learn, other fells to scramble up. We are always ‘nearly there’. I hope that thought fills you with joy – and commitment.

A suggestion for you. 

Take a breather. Look back over the moorland to rejoice in what you’ve done so far. Listen to the curlews.

Now list ten milestones that are nothing to do with getting published.
 

Ascent to Whernside (John Lucas) / CC BY-SA 2.0

 

[Thanks to Writer Unboxed for this task– do read the rest of the post.]

By Philippa R Francis, who writes as K. M. Lockwood- and is still tramping.

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K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. As well as being a regular contributor, Philippa (@lockwoodwriter) is also part of the Words & Pictures team as the @Words8Pictures Tweetmaster, growing our following and maintaining our 'Industry news' feed.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 22nd July

Following Sarah McIntyre's celeb-heavy contribution last week, a couple of other SCBWI bloggers are giving us their perspective on YALC (the first YA Literary Convention) in London.


Liz Flanagan clearly had a whale of a time at YALC and left feeling a whole new sense of community. Lucy Coats, on the other hand, celebrates a community she already knows well - the tireless book bloggers who do so much to promote YA books by UK authors.

Candy Gourlay can often be found celebrating writing by children, but this week she makes a joyful leap into the world of children's art. On a visit to Grafton Primary School near Holloway, she finds a wonderful variety of artworks which she had never known were right on her doorstep.

Sarah Broadley is dealing with the knotty problem of regional dialect in rhyming picture books, after a crit group couldn't get their mouths around her rhymes. It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

It's great to welcome a couple of new faces to the SCBWI Blog Network this week. Vanessa Harbour is a frequent blogger who has escaped the Blog Break to date, which is something I must rectify forthwith. Much like Seinfeld (the show about nothing), Vanessa's written a blog post about not writing! Is procrastination a bad thing, or just something else for us to feel guilty about?

Marie Basting is also new to the Blog Network, and I enjoyed her thoughtful post about the ramifications of discovering her six-year-old son had written a story all about a murdered koala. Was it Marie's fault for exposing him to crime stories, or were there other social and environmental factors at work?

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's latest blog post is a guide to writing flash fiction, to celebrate the July issue of Stew!

The Debut Author Series: Jo Franklin

The Learning Curve - Insights from Debut Authors 

Nicky Schmidt

Photo by Liz Emerson

For many the road to publication is long and fraught. For others, a publishing deal comes relatively easily. Those who are still trudging the path may find it hard to imagine what it’s like to be a debut author, and authors with a few books to their name may only dimly recall the original experience. 


So what is it like? Does life change? Do dreams become reality and with a deal to your name does it all become plain sailing? And what is the process from slushpile to contract to published novel actually like? I asked Jo Franklin about her journey to publication. 

From the time you first started writing, how long did it take to get a publishing deal? 

Thirty years! But only about seven years and nine or ten books from when I first started submitting manuscripts to agents and publishers. I generally received positive feedback but never that elusive ‘Yes’ until I submitted to Anne Clark. Anne had recently set up as an agent so had an empty list. My manuscript made her laugh and we went from there. 

It is said that writers have to persevere and have a tough skin – did you find you grew in endurance and perseverance? Did you ever think about giving up? What made you keep going? 

When you are feeling euphoric about your creation, it’s very hard to get a handle on whether your work is of a publishable standard. I remember submitting as soon as I typed ‘The End’ for the first time. And I got positive feedback! But I really didn’t have a clue what I did and did not know. Everyone should assume they will get rejected when they send a submission out. But however you prepare yourself, some rejections hurt more than others. I had a dark spell when I wasn’t selected for Undiscovered Voices and two different agents who I already had an ‘in’ with turned me down, all within the space of a month. Took me a long time to get over it. But what else was I going to do? I’m a writer. 

How did you feel when you first landed your deal? Did it feel like the world had changed? How long did the excitement last? 

While I was thrilled to be taken on by my agent, I didn’t go over the top with excitement. Maybe I’ve become a bit of a cynic, but I realise that each stage of the journey is as hard as the last one. Having an agent doesn’t mean publication. When the first publisher made an offer, I couldn’t believe my luck. No the world hadn’t changed radically. But it made public, what I always felt about myself. The excitement comes and goes. As each stage of the process of producing a book is brand new, it’s still exciting. 

If you think about the amount of work you did on your story pre-deal, how much more work did you have to do once you’d landed your deal – did you realise the real work had only just begun and how surprised were you by that? 

I was incredibly lucky. My book had been edited to the nth degree by me and my amazing crit group. My agent used to be an editor so she helped me fashion the beginning to be more satisfactory. My German publishers didn’t want many changes at all. Only strengthening one liners. Luckily they didn’t want to change the structure. 

As the creator of your story, having always been in control of your characters and your plot, how did you find taking on board someone else’s comments and suggestions – was it like losing control and did you ever argue with your editor? 

It was absolutely liberating. Both my agent and my editor want my book to sell. They have much more experience than me. I listen to what they say and generally do what I’m told, which is totally out of character! If I don’t agree, I discuss things with them until we come to a mutually acceptable solution. But this has only happened on very minor points so far. 

Assuming you took the majority of suggestions on board, how do you feel it impacted on your story? 

All changes strengthened it. The edited manuscript is now the master to send out to other territories. My agent and my editor are professionals and I respect that. 

How have you found working with illustrators and cover designers? How much involvement have you had with the graphic content of your book (covers or illustrations)? 

I asked for the illustrations to be run past me so that I could input if I thought they were wrong. I was allowed input on the cover as well. Not that I needed to worry, the illustrations are absolutely brilliant and I hope to have a couple of them framed. I have never met or spoken to my German illustrator, but somehow he managed to telepathically invade the deepest recesses of my memory and has made my main character look like an old boyfriend of mine! Took me a while to get over that one. 

Do you think that having had your first book published, your writing life will be easier and your career will be on track? Do you think it will all be easier the second time round? 

No. Each step is as hard as the one before. I take nothing for granted and I am doing everything in my power to establish myself as a professional author. 

Aside from the editing, what other aspects of being an author have you had to come to terms with? 

I see it as a business. Being in business on your own is hard work. The admin is tedious and I am on a very steep learning curve on marketing, publicity, promotion, author appearances etc. But I am doing my very best to learn these new skills to make a go of it. 

What have been your biggest lessons since landing a deal? 

For me it’s been trying to make a German book deal count towards me being a UK author worthy of being invited to schools to promote reading and writing, or festivals. Despite the encouragement from everyone around me, I don’t quite believe it. 

What one key piece of advice would you offer unpublished writers when working with an editor for the first time? 

Remember how privileged you are. Be approachable, open, honest and don’t act like a prima donna. 

Now that your first book is out – what next? 

My first deal was for two books. Both have been delivered. It was great to have the synopsis of Book 2 agreed by my editor before I started. 

Book 1 Help I’m an Alien has now also sold to Clarion in the US which is amazing. It’s going to be a completely different edition, with different illustrations. Everyone tells me Clarion books are beautiful. Is it really possible to have a book more beautiful than the one I’ve already got? I haven’t started work with Clarion yet, but really excited about the prospect. And the great thing is, I will actually be able to read this one! 

Onto other projects. I’ve already started a new book. Similar age group but for girls this time – but not pink. Definitely NOT pink. That’s going to have to go into the contract if I’m lucky enough to get another one. 

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Jo Franklin’s book, HELP I’M AN ALIEN! (HILFE ICH BIN EIN ALIEN!) is published by Coppenrath in Germany. 

Her second book, HELP I’M A BRAINIAC (HILFE ICH BIN EIN BRAINIAC!) will also be published in Germany in 2015. 

And do look out for the Clarion edition of Help I’m an alien! 

Website www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk 

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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.

The Chalkface Challenge 2014 - The Results

There were 29 entries for the Chalkface Challenge 2014 - the only writing competition judged entirely by children*. This year two schools took part in the judging and reviewing process. The judges were year 3 and 4 children from Sparsholt C of E Primary School, Sparsholt, Hampshire. 10 and 11 year old children from Chew Stoke Church School near Bristol reviewed the results.


The children, supported by their teachers, Lorraine Cooke at Sparsholt and Kirstin Simmonds at Chew Stoke excelled themselves with their conscientious judging, reading and enthusiasm for new stories. Thank you!

Before I announce the winner, here are the excellent reviewers of Chew Stoke who were asked what they liked, what they didn't like and if there was anything they'd change.

The Reviewers of Chew Stoke 
click to enlarge

And here's a report from Lorraine on the excellent judges of Sparsholt:

After three rounds of intense judging, the children in Years 3 and 4 at Sparsholt Primary School have chosen a winner. But before we reveal which one it is, here are some thoughts on how the children saw the process.

The Judges of Sparsholt

They all took their role very seriously, reading, recording their thoughts and swapping within their group during the first round to come up with a top ten – 2 per group. This generally wasn’t too hard with some stories having clear appeal for the target audience while others missed out because they took too long to get into the action or the children thought that the stories were pitched at older children.

A shortlisting panel of Year 4 children reduced the top 10 to the five best entries, then all five extracts were read to all of the children and they voted individually. Voting was close and there were slight differences of opinion between the two year groups, but the winner was equally popular with both 7-8 year-olds and 8-9 year-olds.

So I am delighted to announce that the winner of the 2014 Chalkface Challenge is…

Jill Atkins
for the first 500 words of
Elrac and the Konkipong Tree

About Jill's opening excerpt, the Sparsholt children said:

• I loved it! Elrac is a great character and I long to read the rest. One thing is it could have a bit more description. Taya aged 9
• Exciting! Thrilling, so good. Next time maybe a little more description. Ryan aged 9
• A very good magical story. I want to read the rest! Could have a little more description and funny parts. Cara aged 8

Whilst the older Chew Stoke reviewers said:

• A very interesting story and it is very imaginative, but maybe you could add more characters like other people trying to be wizards. Harry aged 10
• I think the names are really unusual names but in a good way. It did startle me a bit when the man said "Boy!". It was really imaginative. I really liked it. Annabelle aged 11
• A good story with good description though the names could be a little more imaginative but good use of speech. Finley aged 11
• There was good description. I really liked this story make it a bit more interesting. Frankie aged 11

There are four runners up whose opening excepts were sent with Jill's to the shadow judges. Look in next Sunday for these authors, their comments from the children and the shadow judges' deliberations.

In the meantime please enjoy Jill's winning opening excerpt:

Chapter 1 

Deep down in the deepest, darkest cave, Elrac tiptoed towards the glowing cauldron and peered over the edge. His eyes opened wide. The liquid was bubbling like lava from a volcano. He felt excitement bubbling up inside him, too.

“Yes!” he whispered. “It looks right this time.”

Reaching out, he gripped the stirring stick and began to swirl the mixture around. “Boy!” Suddenly, a voice echoed round the cave.

Elrac jumped and dropped the stirring stick, almost tipping himself into the hot, spluttering liquid. Spinning round, he peered up into a pair of piercing yellow eyes. It was his master, Wizzbang.

“Boy!” Wizzbang boomed again, stretching himself to a tremendous height. “Is the potion ready?”

Elrac licked his dry lips. He wanted so much to please his master and to pass the test. How he longed to be a real wizard!

“Well?”

Elrac opened his mouth, but no words would come out.

“No mistakes, this time?” Wizzbang boomed so loudly his tall pointed hat quivered. “I’ve given you enough chances, haven’t I?”

“N-no sir, I mean y-yes, sir.” Elrac had been trying to forget all the experiments that had gone wrong.

“I hope you haven’t ruined this potion.” Wizzbang waved his hands in a mysterious pattern above the cauldron. “My brother, Wozznip, is relying on it. He hasn’t sat down for a week.”

Elrac knew why. The potion was for getting rid of ten enormous boils on Wozznip’s bottom!

“Well? Is it perfect, or not?”

“I-I think s-so, Sir.”

“Think so?”

“Y-yes, Sir!”

“Have you added the Konkipong leaves?”

Elrac gasped. He’d forgotten the most important ingredient - the crushed, dried leaves of the Konkipong tree. Dashing to the shelf at the side of the cave, he grabbed the jar labelled ‘Crushed Konkipong Leaves’. At that moment, a stripy orange cat leapt from the shadows.

“Grimble!”

Elrac tripped over Grimble, then staggered and fell. The jar flew into the air, turned a somersault and landed with a crash on the stone floor. The crushed Konkipong leaves wafted away with the wind that whooshed through the cave.

Sparks spat from Wizzbang’s eyes and a roar resounded around the cave. Elrac lay quaking where he had fallen. His master was very angry indeed.

I’ll never pass the test now, Elrac thought. “I’ve tried to teach you,” boomed Wizzbang. “But you’ll never be a wizard.”

“P-please, Sir, give me just one last chance.”

Elrac held his breath, waiting for the answer.

Wizzbang stared at the ceiling, twirled three times on the spot, sneezed then coughed loudly. “My poor brother,” he growled. “There are no more Konkipong leaves... except...”

“Except?”

“...except on the last Konkipong tree in the world. Fetch some!”

Elrac jumped to his feet. “Yes, Sir! Where is the tree, Sir?”

“On the Neverever Mountain!”

Elrac gasped. People who went to the Neverever Mountain neverever came back!

“You have three days,” said Wizzbang. “And if you fail again…”

“Y...y-you’ll turn me into a lizard?”

“Exactly!”

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About Jill

I am married with two grown-up children and five grandchildren. I live in West Sussex, an escaped Primary school teacher, and erstwhile college lecturer and Bed and Breakfast landlady! I am a school governor and visit school to read my stories to the children. I recently successfully completed my MA Writing for Children at Winchester University. I belong to the Society of Authors, SCBWI and CBC.
My first children’s book was published twenty years ago and to date I have had 46 books published (three more due out this year). I have written for many different publishers and my books range from early reading books to teenage novels.
I love thinking up new ideas for stories, which often come to me in the middle of the night, and I write almost every day. I enjoy writing to deadlines. I also read a lot - a wide range of books: children’s, YA and adult.
I enjoy travelling, mainly to Canada (my daughter and three grandsons live there) and France. I like cats, cooking, speaking French, going to the theatre, classical music, seeing friends and family and walking in the countryside.

Congratulations Jill!

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Did Jasmine Richards, Ben Illis, Amber Caraveo and Karen Ball each choose the same as the children?

Look in next Sunday, same time same place, to find out!

(Not) A Word from Your Editor

Jan Carr is having a well-deserved break from the editorial this week, so I, Nick Cross, will be attempting to fill in. I won’t go on too long, because I know that this post is merely an amuse-bouche before today’s main course - the Chalkface Challenge results!

They’ll be going live early this afternoon, so keep your eyes peeled. I did enter the Chalkface Challenge myself but (spoiler alert) didn’t make the shortlist. Instead, I got some lovely feedback from the students of Chew Stoke School, which is really going to help me focus my book.

So, what’s been happening this week on Words & Pictures?

• Another of our terrific Ask a Publisher podcasts, talking to Karen Ball, publisher at Little, Brown Young Readers and Atom
• Some guy called Nick wrote a Blog Break, and it was as stuffed with tasty treats as a triple-topped deep-pan pizza (but with none of the calories)
• Nicky Schmidt had a lot of us nodding our heads in agreement, as she talked about the realities of the debut author journey
• Saturday saw us celebrating Helen Bonney's prize-winning song of peace (something the whole world could do with right now)

Elsewhere in the SCBWI world, we had a spirited Facebook debate on diversity, prompted by Amy McCulloch’s article in the Guardian.

We also celebrated the sixtieth birthday of one of our most beloved Scoobies, the wonderful Maureen Lynas. Not wanting to let the occasion slip by without the proper fanfare, Maureen’s daughter Katherine organised Maureen Day! The tributes kept coming, in the form of poems, pictures and treasured memories; here are just a few of them:

Amanda Lillywhite

Lesley Moss

Paul Morton

Have a great week, and good luck to everyone who entered the Chalkface challenge. I’ll see you on Tuesday for the Blog Break.

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's latest blog post is a guide to writing flash fiction, to celebrate the July issue of Stew!