This afternoon I pack my bags and head on up to Auckland for the Spinning Tales gathering, The second National Conference for New Zealand Children’s Writers and Illustrators.
One of the conference organisers, Melinda Syzmanik, has posted a lovely post which fits my thoughts exactly about why you should try to attend conferences.
I have been beavering away (interesting word to use as NZ doesn’t have beavers) on tightening a manuscript using today as the deadline.
Laura Pauling has given me great advice in her article on making a revision list from your weakness and Publetariat has a fabulous article with 4 links to help you overcome publishing despair.
Fictiongroupie has a good article on motto’s for yourself and your character. I probably need one for conference as well...Relax could be a good one!
As I sat down to begin this blog post into my inbox popped an email from Mandy Hager...letting all her writer friends know of what not to do when your book is reviewed online.
The Book Reviewer, Big Al, gave a fairly balanced review to a book called The Greek Seaman and then the Author disputed the review.... The comments are a lesson to us all. (warning don’t drink coffee when reading....) It could be a reverse marketing ploy...
What that author should have done before responding so badly was read this...Avoid the Poison Apple. This is a great article on keeping your perspective.
Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on
The 50 Books Kids must read? (The Independent left out a whole heap)
The Top 5 Children’s Books For Adults (winnie the pooh...)
Writing Effective Dialogue
50 Iconic Writers Who were Rejected...there is hope....
Protect Your Blog From Being Hacked
The Top Selling Kids Books Of 2010 (with Stats on ebooks sales as well...Rick is on a roll...)
To finish
The wonderful words of Tahereh Mafi. 9 Things Everyone Needs To Know About Writers...
Maureen...(Catch you at the conference...)
RIP Diana Wynne Jones....Writer, World Builder and Muse....You are sadly missed!
pic....my conference essentials....coffee and chocolate all wrapped up in one easily digested form.
6 comments:
I should of thought of having someone post such a nasty review and then scream at them for my book.
That is a very good point Rogue! After all look what it has done for an unknown 13 year old lately....everybody knows about her song Friday!
If you read the comments through on that link...she has done herself a disservice with the review community...so it could have backfired on her, horribly!
Thanks so much for linking to my post! Glad it helped. And I love the title and cover of your book, Bones. Totally fun!
Thanks Laura,
Bones was totally fun to write!
Lisa Gail Green's post on the poison apple was so insightful. I think everybody's pretty sad about what happened with the Greek Seaman debacle. Nathan Bransford had a great post about it yesterday. And thanks for commenting on my piece about it. We need to develop thick skin to survive in this business.
So, did you get to have some of those chocolate martinis?
Hi Anne,
I had chocolate....I had coffee....I failed miserably in the martini stakes....tho I drank more wine than I usually do.
For me, meeting with my fellow Kids Lit writers, old friends in the game and new ones...is like drinking a delicious chocolate martini. The rich friendships, the coffee buzz of ideas and the content of a well put together conference...easily digested...LOL
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