A new blog, advanced copies and other fan-froggy-tastic stuff!

The first few weeks of 2014 have been super exciting. Firstly, an advanced copy of my first ever book, Darcy Moon and the Deep-Fried Frogs arrived in the mail. I knew it was on its way from Fremantle Press and had been checking the mail several times a day for a whole week! What a feeling when it finally arrived. One of the happiest moments of my life so far.

Over the moon with Darcy Moon

Secondly, my very clever illustrator, Michael Scott Parkinson and I launched a new blog. Check it out here.

www.darcymoonbooks.com

 The blog is a place where kids can go for homework and research or just have a laugh. There will be information about endangered animals, frogs, recycling, composting and freaky food facts as well as fun stuff too, like crazy drawings and swamp animal cartoons. There’s also a really detailed page for teachers full of Darcy Moon and the deep-fried frog related classroom activity ideas which link directly to the Australian cross-curriculum priority of sustainability. Michael and I have had such fun creating the blog and hope to see you there very soon.

Thirdly (if all that wasn't enough), I was interviewed by the West Australian newspaper  and an article about me and Darcy Moon and the deep-fried frogs will be featured in the ED! Magazine section of the West Australian tomorrow (Tuesday 4th Feb).

And finally, Darcy Moon and the deep-fried frogs, will be available for purchase from 1st March 2014.

Fan-froggy-tastic!

Singapore SCBWI Christmas Celebrations 2013

Singapore SCBWI 2013 Christmas Celebratory Dinner

Some of the Singapore SCBWI crowd got together last night for a Christmas dinner and a great time was had by all.

We enjoyed a sumptuous buffet at the Merchant Court Hotel, Swissotel and not only did we eat, drink and be very very merry, we also reflected on our year and celebrated our collective achievements.

We put our heads together, sharing our writerly highlights for the year and came up with the following statistics.

 2013 we managed to ;

get 12 children's books published

sign another 9 books with publishing houses ready for release in 2014

hold 10 book launches

critique each others work and make significant progress on over 50 different manuscripts

win 2 moonbeam awards

get shortlisted for the red dot award (aside neil gaiman) and the crystal kite

sign with agents, sell foreign rights, have books adapted into plays

travel to hong kong, shanghai, australia, kuala lumpur and london for various conferences, book fairs and workshops

get published in magazines

work on creative projects such as murals, canvasses and Asian content bibliographies 

hold more than 120 school talks at over 70 schools

host dinners with visiting authors Wendy Orr, Sally Rippin and Jacqueline Harvey

and attend the amazing Asian Festival of Children's Content

And these numbers don't include the other 30 members of Singapore SCBWI that were unable to attend the dinner. Some pretty impressive highlights and statistics for a group that started three years ago with a small but enthusiastic group of only five members.

Any SCBWI member will know what I mean when I say that SCBWI is a truly special organisation. Full of creative, passionate and inspiring people who welcome, encourage and support each other through the ups and downs of our creative endeavors. 

Singapore SCBWI has become like family to me. 2013 has been amazing, last night was heaps of fun  and I look forward to sharing the journey together in 2014. 

Proud Mum Moment #3 How to Clean Up Your Room

How To Clean Up Your Room

By Sian Carvell

(although I think there may have been a brainstorm among friends to get all these gems)

If you want to clean up your room you have to be a very brave person or else you will not get it done but I know the trick.

There are actually a few ways and here they are.

Stuff everything in your closet!

Hide it under your bed. Shhhhh!

Put your stuff in your brother/sisters room! Don't tell anyone

Blame it on your dad for playing rugby in your room.

Ask your helper to do it.

Lock the door if necessary.

If your mum is uptight do it anyway ... or do you?

Proud Mum Moment #2 cobra golden eyeball finger rotten wizardry hair nose

Another one of Sian's astonishing snippets of writing came home, scrumpled in the bottom of her bag.

She says she just wrote it just for fun.

I had to share!

How to Make a Witches' Potion.

this is how you make a witches potion:

******

* take a teaspoon of cobra wine and pour it into a big cauldron with a golden outside

* then plop three mens fingers in and if they don't turn into eyeballs put in a bit of rotten bread

*add a pinch full of wizardry essence and then a bowl full of singed chest hair

* get a fat pig nose and a wooden spoon. Stir the pig nose until it is at the bottom.

* all this will result to a delishus stew. It is called cobra golden eyeball finger rotten wizardry hair nose.


YUM SCRUM in my TUM !!!

There's Soup on my Fly

Story Book Theatre performs 'There's Soup on my Fly,' by David Seow

Last week I went to see the Storybook Theatre's 'trial' performance of 'There's Soup on my Fly' by David Seow which will be released next February. David is a good friend of mine but any of you who know him will understand he can be somewhat 'unpredictable.' So I was a little nervous. This was the first time he had seen the interpretation of his story. What if things went wrong? What if he didn't like it?

But, of course, Storybook Theatre were fantastic and we were treated to a clever mix of humour, music, dance and puppetry. We all loved it. Especially the very adorable children who were lucky enough to be little guinea pigs (and puppies, kittens and hamsters) for the preview performance. There was plenty of audience interaction and the kids were calling out, barking, meowing and squealing with delight all the way through. I couldn't wipe the grin of my face.

Storybook Theatre brings books to life and introduces children to performance and local authors.  Click here then scroll down for more details.

Curtis Brown Creative

The Creative Brown Creative crew, Singapore Writer's Festival 2013

I just completed a three day novel writing course with fifteen of the most inspiring and creative people I have ever met. Here we are all are at the end of the course looking incredibly inspired and somewhat intellectually drained. After such an intense three days, it was sad to say goodbye but happily, we all swapped emails and already have a facebook page where we intend to share our writerly news and hopefully, establish some critiquing relationships.

Anna Davis and Jake Arnott

The course was run by Curtis Brown Creative as part of the Singapore Writer's Festival. It was tutored by  Anna Davis and Jake Arnott, so we knew we were in good hands.

Anna is an agent for Curtis Brown UK as well as director of Curtis Brown Creative. She is also the author of 5 novels which have been published around the world in over twenty languages.

Jake is the author of six best selling novels, two of which have been serialized for British television.

The course itself, Writing Your Novel - From Beginning to End and Beyond, was certainly everything it promised to be. We discussed beginnings, character, point of view, story, plot, editing, rewriting, endings, letters to agents and how to get published. We also did plenty of writing exercises focussing on our own work and got a personal twenty minute critique of our manuscripts from both Anna and Jake. Invaluable stuff!

Personally, I got a great deal from the course. Not only did I have several epiphanies about how to improve my story, but I also enjoyed listening to the enormous diversity of stories taking shape amongst the participants. We had crime thrillers, historical fiction, autobiographical, dystopian, photographic and detective novels as well as my children's story and more. It was a delight and an honour to get a glimpse into the creative process of this amazing group of people.

I also enjoyed getting out of my pyjamas and leaving the school run, dinner and dishwasher hum drum to my ever supportive husband for several days :-)

Curtis Brown Creative have a new online novel writing course available. Applications open soon and the next course starts February 2014.

Singapore Writer's Festival - Two Book Launches

Yesterday was the start of the 2013 Singapore Writer's Festival and today I celebrated by attending the book launch of two fabulous books.

Tibby the Tiger Bunny by Emily Lim and The Robot in my Playground by Pauline Loh.

Emily Lim and I met at the SCBWI West Australian Rottnest Retreat earlier this year and on our return to Singapore, Emily introduced me to Pauline Loh. Since then the three of us have met once a month to critique our mid-grade manuscripts and have become firm friends.


So it was with great pleasure that I was able to share their excitement today.

It was an extra bonus that Emily Lim's book, Tibby the Tiger Bunny, was illustrated by Jade Fang who also illustrated my good friend, Sarah Mounsey's books, Purple Paw Prints and Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa. 

It was a bit of a party to tell you the truth. A book launch, a reunion, and a happy day all round.

Emily Lim, me and Jade Fang with Tibby the Tiger Bunny

Emily Lim launched Tibby the Tiger Bunny, illustrated by Jade Fang.

Poor Tibby! All he ever wanted was some friends to play with, but the other rabbits thought he was too strange. After all, he could pounce and roar like a tiger. But he also had long floppy ears and could hop like a bunny.

Was he a tiger or a bunny?

No one knew, until the day Tibby showed everyone just how much of a tiger - and a bunny - he really was.

Pauline Loh, Edmund Wee (Managing Director of Epigram) and Avina Tan

Pauline Loh launched her picture book, The Robot in my Playground, illustrated by Avina Tan.

Lucus loves robots. Especially the robot in the playground near his house. How he wishes that the robot would come to life, and after a big storm, he does!

Both books were published by leading Singapore publishing house, Epigram Books.