Thanks to the irrepressible Michael Wagner I've been tagged in the 7-7-7 PROJECT. This is how it works: you need to find page 7 or 77 of your manuscript, count down 7 lines and copy the next 7 to your status and then tag 7 other writers.
So here’s mine, from DISCOVERED: A Beagle Called Bella, which comes out in March in the US and Canada, with Henry Holt. It is also the last story in Rainbow Street Pets, in Australia.
Now, every night after school, Tim took Sherlock for a walk. Sometimes when his dad got home they all went for another long walk together, down to the beach or a fenced park where the dog could run free. But unless he had soccer practice or something else he had to do right after school, Tim always walked Sherlock first.
Two years ago, when Tim’s mother had left home and gone to live halfway across the country, Tim had hated getting home from school. Mrs. Gunther from next door would meet him at the school gate and take him back to her house till his dad got home from work.
And here's an early picture of Bella for the cover:
Now I'm tagging: Rosanne Hawke, Michelle Hamer, Dianne Wolfer, Kelly Artist Illustrator, Roland Harvey and Fleur McDonald. Look them up on Facebook to see what they're working on!
If you’re not away or flying back from Bologna or at festivals and conference, the SCBWI Network is:-
5-7 p.m.
Monday 2nd April
at The Hughenden
14 Queen Street Woollahra (near Paddington, Sydney).
I have been on a conference and festival trail where I have met kids, librarians, teachers, adults, even politicians from Queensland to Picton to the beautiful Dixon Room in Sydney’s heritage Mitchell Library overlooking our Botanical Gardens towards the Opera House.
I’ll be keynote at the Glouceter Festival , touring the USA with my ‘Butterflies’, visiting Taree, Melbourne ….and more ….. and I am looking forward to speaking at the IBBY Congress in London. It’s crazy but the wonderful life of a writer.
Deborah Abela, Serena Geddes, Lesley Vamos, Christopher Cheng … are just back from Bologna Book Fair; and
shared a fabulous time with heaps of brilliant authors and illustrators in Somerset on the Gold Coast like Jacqueline Harvey, Michael Wagner, Oliver Phommovanh, Ursula Dubosarsky, Tristan Bancks, Karen Brooks, Leigh Hobbs, Scott Westerfield, James Roy, Georgia Blain and the brilliant list goes on.
Frane Lessac, Mark Greenwood, Sally Murphy, Norm Jorgenson, A J Betts, Dianne Lawrenson, Samantha Hughes …
….and all those WA writers and illustrators are on the move throughout WA and NT at festivals and reaching remote indogenous communities.
Sarah Davis and Deborah Abela have flown to Alice Springs to join them. Love it.
Aleesah Darlison is back from Hong Hong; Jan Latta just back from China speaking at festivals; Jacqueline Harvey is doing her Alice-Miranda tour in the USA and UK.
Sue Whiting’s at All Saints in Perth which I loved when I spoke there last year
This is the coolest community ever!
If anyone is in Sydney on Monday 2nd April, there’s a great talk by Wendy Blaxland on non fiction writing; catch up with SCBWI Conference information on 29th June-2nd July and networking at The Hughenden.
Finally finishing up my other book work, namely Michael Wagner's 'The Undys - One Wacky Week'. There are a lot of illustrations in Michael's books. He likes to keep me busy! I think there was around 140 - 150 in the latest. Luckily they are all in black and white pen otherwise I'd still be going.
I have now started on the finals of my picture book. This little spot illo is a rough from the book where Wendy spends some time in hospital. I like this illo of Wendy. It sort of sums up her whole personality. I need to get everything to Penguin by the end of January which sounds like a long way away but is not when you factor in the xmas period and because I'm doing a mixed media thing I'm sending all my illos down to the printers in Melbourne to be scanned then get them back again to work on the computer so it's all a bit of a drawn out process. Just knocked back a bunch of School Magazine work too so I now have a free run ahead which is highly unusual.
Will keep you posted...
