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It's Friday again - which means it's time for Featured Blogger Friday. This week I am pleased to welcome Robyn Opie, children's author and blogger. Welcome Robyn. Firstly, why do you blog?I blog for promotion and to help people who want to write children's books. I also blog because everyone else seems to be doing it. No, Mum, I wouldn't jump off a cliff if everyone else did. What do you blog

Today marks the eighth stop in the Snowy's Christmas blog tour. This week I'm visiting Roby Opie at her Writing Children's Books blog, where we are chatting about promotion. Drop by and, if you have a moment, leave us a comment so we know you've visited.

Phew! Welcome the tenth (and final day) of my blog tour to promote Pearl Verses the World.Today I am guest blogging at Robyn Opie's blog about getting published. I hope to see you there.Thanks so much for following my tour. Although today is the last day, the fun continues throughout May with all sorts of activities to promote Pearl Verses the World, so do keep calling by.

Writing Easy Readers by Robyn Opie Easy readers are children's books that fall between picture books and early chapter books. They vary in length depending on the publisher but as a guide work on 1,000 to 2,500 words. This limited word length means these books have fewer pages than early chapter books. Easy readers are aimed at children who are beginning to read, aged from 6 to 8. Easy readers

Creating Believable Characters in Children's Books by Robyn Opie If you've read my previous articles on writing for children you'll be aware that I've defined children's books as books that feature a child as the main character and the target audience is children. So, let's take a look at children as characters. In picture books, no description of the characters is necessary. Picture books are

Creating Ideas for Children's Books by Robyn Opie Ideas are everywhere. All of the time. It's our job, as authors writing for children, to find some ideas and turn them into entertaining stories. The most common sources of inspiration include: our experiences and personalities, children, family, pets, friends, conversations, television, newspapers, books etc. I've never had any trouble finding

Begin with a Bang! by Robyn Opie It is a fact of life that publishers will only read one or two pages of your manuscript. They receive far too many submissions to give each one their undivided attention from beginning to end. And, sadly, some of these submissions don't deserve more than a minute or two of an editor's time. As a reader, I have given up on books that haven't grabbed me in the

Plotting and Developing a Story: Cyclone Santa By Robyn Opie In 2001, my then publisher, Barrie Publishing, produced an Australian fiction series. They were looking for stories with an Australian historical background for a second series. It was at this time I wrote Caught in a Cyclone, set at Christmas 1974 during Cyclone Tracy. Before I could submit my manuscript, Barrie Publishing decided

Last week I reviewed Black Baron, by Robyn Opie for Aussiereviews. You can read my review here. Today, Robyn drops by for a chat about Black Baron and about writing for children in general. Thanks for taking the time to drop in, Robyn What led you to write Black Baron? What inspired a story about a cockroach? I wanted to write a funny story for boys. I thought about things boys liked and

Another guest article, from multi-published children's author Robyn Opie. Enjoy! Sally Getting a Children's Book Published: The Pony Game by Robyn Opie When I'm looking for ideas for a children's book, I sometimes think about subjects children love, such as horses, dinosaurs, sport etc. These popular subjects inspire book after book. Lets face it, they sell in the thousands and publishers

Robyn Opie is here today as part of her 'Pony Game' Book Tour. Welcome Robyn - it's great to see you. 1. The Pony Game is about a girl who wishes she has a horse. Do you/have you ever owned a horse? Or did you wish for one when you were a child? No, I've never owned a horse. And I've actually never wanted one. That may be because the first two houses I lived in - until I was seventeen - had

Have added three new reviews to Aussiereviews today. It's rare for me to add so few in one go - usually I had them in batches of around ten - but with Christmas and the end of the school year approaching I have been too busy to write many new reviews. In fact these three were written by other reviewers. School finishes Thursday, so I'm looking forward to getting so much more reading and

I have been tagged by Joh at johblogs. I’ve never been tagged before, but figure I’ll give it a go. Here’s how it works: Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their

You know how they say everyone has a double, a doppelganger? I went for a run this morning. At a light, a man in a white BMW looked over at me, and then his face registered delight. He rolled down his window and called out something. I pulled out my headphones. He said, "It's me. Tom. Tom [Something.]." I ran through my memory banks. Had we worked together? Did his kids go to school with mine? Nothing rang a bell. I figured it had to be through my writing. In that arena, more people know me than I know them.

He was nice looking, hair going a little silver at the temples, wearing a dark gray suit. He opened his door and leaned out, still talking. I took a few steps closer, but not so close that he could grab me. He was still running through names, sure that recognition would soon dawn. I finally figured out that he was saying something along these lines. He was sure I was his ex-wife's Sandy's best friend, Donna Bostwick.

I'm April Henry, I said. It was his turn to look really confused. When the light turned green, we went our separate ways.

I like to think of myself as unique.

So does anyone know Donna?