Adventures in KidLitLand June 2019

I bought a pot of gerberas this month! I got a bargain! They are such happy flowers, don't you think? They make me smile. They bring me joy! As do my adventures in KidLitLand! So what's been happening in June?

I was excited to be asked to be one of the guest judges for the Northern Beaches Young Writer’s Competition this year. Entries are OPEN now and close on the 7th August. It’s for anyone who lives or goes to school on the Northern Beaches of NSW. The judges are an awesome line-up – and I don’t mean just me ;-) There’s also greats like Anna Feinberg, Oliver Phommavanh, Nathan Luff, Jaclyn Moriarty and Erin Gough - I’m shaking my head how I even got a look-in! But I am excited! Follow the link here for more info.

I was also happy to receive the edit of my short story for the Christmas Press Anthology to be released at the end of the year. It makes it feel like it's on its way. But I was mortified at my rookie mistake of not capitalising the proper noun for 'Mum.' How could I have overlooked that! Argh!

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​I also had the most amazing time reading my flash fiction story, Tagging, at an event in the Blue Mountains recently. Organised by a new private gallery and a writing friend, Arna Radovich, I can’t tell you what a wonderful experience it was! Ten authors read their very short stories to an open, generous crowd of people amongst stunning artworks. It was spine-tingling to feel the mood of the room as the pieces were read. As writers, most often our work is read in the privacy of someone else’s head, so being able to read aloud and sense the crowd being carried along with the story was truly magical. Below is a photo of Arna reading her piece, How to go with the Flow: a Survival Guide, which is published in a brilliant little anthology, Story Cities: A City Guide for the Imagination. And at right is a photo of me mucking around with the Impact Anthology, edited by Irma Gold, in which Tagging is the lead story. (PS Technically not KidLit, but I'm not apologising ;-) )

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It was fascinating to hear author Catherine Greer and psychologist Mary Arlington Watt in conversation about Catherine’s thrilling YA novel Love, Lie Repeat, at the Gordon library. A focus of the discussion was perfectionism in young girls. I reviewed this gripping novel last month.

Belrose Public School hosted a fabulous Author Afternoon Tea for TEN members of the CBCA NSW Northern Sydney sub branch this month. The kids were absolutely delightful, listening to and engaging with the authors/illustrators, and the school community so wonderfully supportive. We even had our names up in lights!

The week after, we were back at the school as they generously hosted our CBCA Sub-branch event in the library. The topic of the night was publishing, with self-published Matthew Shallvey and Big Sky Publisher, Diane Evans. As usual, it was a wonderfully interesting and insightful night, with lots of fun networking and catching up with friends. 

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Talking about publishing, I hope you got to read the third and final part of my interview with the delightful Jo Sandhu on the Just Write For Kids Blog. Jo was a generous interviewee and I learnt heaps from the interview. I hope you got something out of it to. You can recap here.

Launches:
What fun to be invited to the launch of the century - Nat Amoore launching her debut mid-grade novel, Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire in over-the-top millionaire style, complete with money raining over the crowd, and school principal and a couple of police officers coming to investigate. The crowds were so thick, I didn't get my fan-girl photo! The kids were super-