Rottnest Retreat 2014

It's that wonderful time of year again, when the WA SCBWI crowd pack their beanies and make their annual pilgrimage to the beautiful, salt sprayed island of Rottnest. 

The Rottnest retreat has delivered four days of creativity and fun for WA SCBWI folk since 2009, and 2014 was no different. 

There were old friends and new friends.

Quokka

Chatting in the sun on our beach front balcony where we spotted a pod of dolphins and a big daddy sting-ray frolicking in the shallows. 

Creative chatter.

Workshops, guest speakers and peer critiques.

Alison Lester and Jane Godwin

Inspiration.

Sketch and Scribble

Works-in-progress, published books, portfolios, sketches and cover art.

Dancing.

A wonderful happy surprise birthday celebration for our much loved Frane Lessac. 

Awards, congratulations and celebrations.

Warm hearts, big smiles, good friends.

Bike rides, long walks, star gazing and above all ...

... moon catching.

Author Blog Hop-Hoppity-Hop

Emily on the cover of her inspiring autobiography
'Finding My Voice'

I've been tagged on a blog-hop by my good friend and fellow children's author, Emily Lim. 

Emily is the author of many picture books including Prince Bear & Pauper Bear, A New Home for Kai Kai and Jia Jia, and her most recent creation Tibby the Tiger Bunny. She has also won many awards including the MDA first time writers award in 2007, Mediacorp Woman Award Honoree in 2013, and 3 IBBY awards in between.

Emily and I first met at the 2013 Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore. Emily had been selected as the first Singapore Representative to attend SCBWI WA's Rottnest Retreat, in a new exchange program with the Singapore Book Council. I had been attending the Rottnest retreat since 2010 and as I would also be there in 2013 I introduced myself and gave Emily some tips as to what to pack for the chilly wintry weather (a beanie, warm PJs etc).

While we were at Rottnest our friendship consolidated on the dance floor and strengthened further when, on our return to Singapore we formed a critique group and met for regular writerly discussions over lunch.

Read Emily's blog, Mum Mum's the Word, HERE.

Thank you for tagging me Emily.

Now it's time for me to answer the blog-hop questions.

Q1; What am I working on?

Well, my current work in progress has been put aside temporarily while I promote my new book Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs.

Who knew there would be so much to do! 

The book was released by Fremantle Press just a few weeks ago and I've been on a major learning curve on (apart from writing) what an author does. I've already done a heap of interviews via phone, email and skype and I'm now preparing for my first ever radio appearance next week - yikes!

I've also been doing school visits at the Australian International School (750 kids over 15 sessions in 5 days) and am planning a book launch at the Arts House in April. It's a free event and there will be cake, so if you live in Singapore, please do come and help me celebrate.

I've also been having fun blogging on my brand new website darcymoonbooks.com.  Please do check it out.  It is a great place for kids to research their science homework.  And it has fun stuff too, like crazy drawings and swamp animal cartoons by Michael Scott Parkinson, so kids can research interesting facts and have a laugh at the same time.

Q2; How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs is fast-paced action-packed fantasy/adventure story with more than its fair share of slimy frog jokes. Its crazy characters and over the top lot plot will appeal to readers aged 7 to 12, but what makes this story different is that it also deals with some serious themes such as the impact of humans on the environment, endangered species and sustainability - albeit in a fun and friendly way.

Q3; Why do I write what I write?

As a child, the adventure, friendship and laughter I found inside the pages of a book added magic to my life. These days I write to entertain, excite and inspire children like the child reader I used to be.
And I’ve also always been drawn to nature, especially the slimy bits. When I was small, I used to love snails and earthworms. I also remember collecting dead flies from windowsills and peering at them through the school microscope. I was fascinated by their alien eyes and strange, hairy legs. I drew them in a sketchbook and labelled all their body parts.

So I suppose I was always going to write an environmental book. Darcy Moon is a culmination of my two loves. Stories ... and mud!

Q4; How does my writing process work?

I don't plan my work. It evolves. I write every day and I scribble in notebooks and I spend a good deal of my time talking to my imaginary characters. I put them in different scenarios to see what they will do, so I suppose my plot is very much driven by the characters I create.

I certainly had no idea when I started Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs how the plot would play out. I knew my main character would be an adventurous tom-boy with an affinity for nature, and I had a vague idea that the problem would be environmental. But the rest just evolved as new ideas came to me.

My writing process can be summed up by two simple quotes from E.L. Doctorow;

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing.” 

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” 

So now it’s my turn to tag 3 other authors (who will answer the same questions) as they hop on;

Dianne Touchell

I first came across Dianne when I fell in love with her hilarious and heartbreaking debut novel Creepy and Maud. I immediately looked her up and asked to be her facebook friend. She accepted and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her entertaining posts and insightful blogs ever since. 

Read Dianne's blog, Swallows in the Eaves, HERE.

Gavin Latz

Gavin isn't exactly an author (as yet), but he is certainly a writer to watch. His blog, The World According to Garv (read it HERE), is not what you would expect from a Financial Planner. His posts cover topics from fatherhood to mortality and are insightful, laugh-out-loud funny and quite often heart-wrenching. So much so that one of his followers (who just happened to be the boss of 'Financial Writer's Australia') approached him to write for her magazine and add more 'humanness' to the industry. Fantastic!

Myra Garces-Bacsall

Myra is one of the most inspiring, intelligent and well-read women I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Myra is a clinical psychologist and coordinates the Masters and Bachelor's Program in High Ability Studies and Gifted Education at the National Institute of Education, NTU is Singapore (among other things) and her blog, Gathering Books, is dedicated to YA and children's literature.

From author/illustrator interviews, to book reviews and more, read all about it on Myra's blog HERE.

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.