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Thanks for the helpful little blurbs, Candy. Off to vote now!

But even so, it's such a good shortlist. I've read almost everything here and trying to decide which one to vote for has given me a headache.

This is a great list! Pleased to see a book that's not in English, too. Looks a lovely book. Congrats, everyone.

I already voted but what a list!

What an excellent and varied list. It was tough picking just one, as they would all be worthy winners.

Don't Let Go by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross always gets me! I have to steel myself to read it out loud.

Thanks, Addy. And Debi Gliori's 'No Matter What' -the UK English non-board book edition. Interesting what Jane said about the US market being happier to have something tear-jerking. 'No Matter What' in the States has a massively toned down ending to remove all reference to death. If you know the book (in the English version), you'll know how crazy that is. The final couple

Something Else by Kathryn Cave and Chris Ridell always kills me with the line, &#39;You&#39;re not like us. You&#39;re something else&#39;. And ditto the line from Dogger. I can almost burst into tears even thinking about Dogger!!! I also love, love, love the line from Tiger Who Came to tea about being in the cafe with all the lights outside..<br />*lies in corner and sobs for rest of day*

Ah, yes! Thanks, Charlotte!

That&#39;s lovely, Clare. Sooo happy Debi&#39;s going to be at Winchester!

That scene in Tiger says so simply and unsentimentally what it&#39;s like to be a child. I also like another book by Kathryn Cave and Nick Maland called, &#39;Friends&#39;. I love this, &quot;when you are lost, in the wood, in the wood, I will find you.&quot; Bravery and friendship in a lyrical line - love it.<br />Now, cheer up, Caroline!

What a lovely post Abby. Wonderful to read about such moving stories, and what they mean to people. Also great to find out about books that I&#39;ve not heard of. I can feel a trip to my local book shop coming on.

I interviewed a bunch of kids about their favourite books and it was interesting that when they started reminiscing about the picture books that they loved when they were barely out of babyhood, they got quite emotional (watch the film <a href="http://www.candygourlay.com/2012/07/we-read-my-diy-documentary-of-what.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>). <br /><br />I so agree with you about Oscar Wilde -

thanks, Sally! Hope you enjoy a good weep!

I love your &#39;We Read&#39; video - such an important film to see, I think. I&#39;d forgotten The Happy Prince and THAT line. Waaaah indeed.

I can&#39;t possibly read this! I&#39;m crying too much! Could someone pass me a tissue?

I meant to say &#39;ALL of the work&#39;

you&#39;ll set everyone off, Jackie!

One line that has always stuck in my mind is from Not Now Bernard - But I&#39;m a monster, said the monster. It may not tug on the heart strings as much as some others but I can still remember the first time I read it - I felt his confusion!

Lovely post. I loved The Maggie B by Irene Haas as a child which is a surreal story about a girl bringing up her little brother on a boat all on her own. Even as a child, I felt there was a sadness to this story although it was a &#39;wish-come-true&#39; and when Margaret sings her brother to sleep, I always feel a little teary.

&quot;Her Mother&#39;s Face&quot; by Roddy Doyle and illustrated by Freya Blackwood. It&#39;s just so beautiful to look at, and I love how the girl struggles to remember what her mother looks like. As she grows up she sees her mother&#39;s face reflected in her own. I was very teary just thinking about my grandparents and trying to remember the sound of my grandpa&#39;s voice. He didn&#39;t talk

I know what you mean although I felt so very sad reading this out loud. Kept wondering if I did that ignoring thing too much. Children just enjoyed it for what it was.

Thanks, Amelia. I don&#39;t know that story but will look it out.

Meant to say, have you read &#39;Bye, Bye Baby?&#39; by the Ahlbergs?

Ah, that&#39;s so sad! And clever with the ending. I love the way pci books can be appreciated at different stages of life.

This is my most favourite post on the whole trying to get published thing ever. EV-ER!<br /><br />Absolutely brilliant. And yup...you are funny!<br />If I say publication is just round the corner, please don&#39;t punch me in the face. But I really believe it.

PS Have just posted this on the Writewords website..

... and about your grammar &#39;most favourite&#39; ... surely it&#39;s &#39;most favouritest&#39;?!

Ahem! Good morning, early bird!<br />And yes isn&#39;t it brilliant? Go, Maureen!

Love it. Look forward to laughing with one of your books. :)

Briliant, brilliant, as only your posts can be, Maureen! And I am much heartened, given the vast size of my own slushpile and gazillion years spent skiing down it! There may yet be hope for me! *rushes off to scribble furiously*

Great post, Maureen. Made me feel a bit better about my pile. And in answer to your question: 2 book shelves and 3 drawers full of multiple versions of 1 adult, 2 YA, 1 mid range, 1 chapter and a heap of stories (two of which actually got published - yippee I&#39;m a writer ;-) ). And that doesn&#39;t include the current WIP either!

My slushpile is HUGE. In fact if I hadn&#39;t stopped printing things - and started having bonfires - we wouldn&#39;t fit in the house.<br /><br />And you are very funny. Clearly, as if you say it enough times (and put it in yellow boxes) it must be so :O)

Leave Caroline&#39;s grammar alone, Candy Gourlay - she thinks I&#39;m funny! And she&#39;s re-posted! Thanks Caroline :) I shall refrain from punching you.

Thanks, Liane - on day you might just get to do that!

You will, Nicky, it&#39;s us determined (obsessed) folk who make it in the end. Love the idea of ski-ing down the slushpile I&#39;ve always just slid down on my bottom crying Aargh!!!

Impressive list, Jeannette and I&#39;m pleased to see you have multiple versions too. I was a bit bothered that I&#39;d written the Jawbreaker three times and then had to walk away. It&#39;s still not right. It may never be right!

Ah, you spotted my subliminal message!

So that&#39;s what you&#39;ve been doing up in the attic for the last twelve years.

Did you miss me?

Of course, where&#39;s me tea?

Excellent post! And heartening, as I&#39;m on my 9 1/2 th (can I say that?) novel, most of which have been re-written at least five times. I&#39;m really hoping this is The One, but, boy have I learned a lot along the way! Oh, and I did the Cornerstones self-editing course too. Eye-opening! Good luck with Prince Bob!

Here&#39;s my list. Like you Maureen I now realise that 7+ and MG is where i want to be. Great post and so reassuring not to be alone. But really proud of my backlist. There&#39;s some great stuff in there.<br /><br />1 x MG dystopian fantasy<br />1 x picture book<br />1x MG girls adventure<br />2 x 7+ adventure series<br />1 x ya space gothic<br />1 x MG boys humour

You should be proud, Jo. That represents a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and hopes. I like the idea of a space gothic, could you do that for MG? Has anyone else, I wonder?

Sent via ancient Imac from a field of turnips:<br />Me too! I have a big slush pile and have been on a similar journey (though I have never knowingly been funny).<br />Great post Maureen. Congratulations on finding an agent and good luck with the next stage of your journey.

Right OK - I&#39;ve a way to go yet then - <br />Picture books x 4 ( far too difficult)<br />mid-grade x 1<br />7-9 x 2<br />YA novels x2 - though one is being extensively rewritten, now, actually, so why aren&#39;t I doing it? Stop distracting me Lynas ;o)

Maureen that was wonderful! Thank you.<br />I feel heartened.<br /><br />Can quite face piling up my slush yet - it&#39;s all over the place but it includes some picture books too.<br /><br />Now here&#39;s a thought - how about some comedy glasses? They could be your trademark?

What marvellous piles you have, Maureen. Loved reading this - it sparkles!

Brilliant post, Maureen. You are definitely funny! I can relate to your struggle of what to focus on. For me, following through and completing all the ideas I have is a big struggle for me as well. Congratulations and keep on writing! Colleen :)

Thanks Amanda. Good luck with your journey too.

Sorry! Get on with it! Write! Write! Write! We need your books. Kathryn - You Have Talent!

I could borrow some from Edna Everidge! Or maybe Elton John?

Lol and guffaw! Lovely Addy, thank you :)

It&#39;s so hard isn&#39;t it, especially as the next one is always better than the one you&#39;re working on now and will be much easier to write - or so you think until you actually start to write it!

Wonderfully inspiring post Maureen and Nicky, definitely,your time will come. My slushpile holds my bed up so it has its uses. And btw Maureen....you are very funny ;-)

I&#39;ve always thought you were funny, Maureen - and not just ha-ha funny!

I may adjust the life-long friend comment. It&#39;s under review from now on. You have one year. Watch yourself grrr.

Fantastic read, Maureen! And definitely an inspiration to the rest of us to perservere! My slushpile must be nearly as long as yours--I just haven&#39;t forced myself to compile everything and see exactly how much I have written. :) Thanks for sharing!

Journey begins ...<br />Stage 1: &#39;Oh, I shall be an illustrator&#39;. <br />Action: Complete sample artwork and dummies for x4 picture books. <br />Event: 2 deals on table<br />Outcome: Table mysteriously disappears. <br /> <br />Stage 2: &#39;Oh, I shall be a picture book writer&#39;. <br />Action: completes picture books - x10 <br />Event: x3 accepted by publishers<br />Outcome: currently

Linda, I really like the look of Ernestine. It&#39;s scarily like some pushy parents I&#39;ve seen!

Nice interview, Addy! Aww my dream is to have a picture book someday but I never really managed to write something that publishers wanted. You need a certain kind of magic in your writing to get your PB published ... well done, ladies!

What a lovely interview, and very informative. Congratulations to all of you!

Thank you all for such thoughtful and inspiring answers! I love hearing authors talk about process and their paths to publication. Congratulations, everyone! And, Clare, I&#39;m intrigued by this 25 word book.

Congratulations to all of you, and thanks for sharing your publication stories! And a big thank you to Addy also for a great interview!

Lovely post Addy. It&#39;s always fascinating to hear how long it takes most authors deto get to the first published book. I always see that as a hopeful sign! Thank you.<br />Maureen

Wonderful and inspiring interview! Congratulations to all three of you!

Thanks for all that fabulous information, ladies. It did stop me writing - but it also inspired and fuelled my thoughts! It&#39;s good to hear how normal people actually make the grade. I&#39;ll go fetch my stylus and persevere. Thanks, too, to Addy for bothering to interview you all.

Thanks to the debs - you were great fun to interview and soooo helpful!

Wow, that&#39;s so interesting guys! I could never write a picture book, I&#39;m so impressed with anyone who can! Must be very tricky to leave creative room for illustrators, too.