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During these tough economic times and the recession, saving money is a must. A girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do-shop for sales! Click on the Save Money for an illustrated sales magazine cover.

Times and medicine have changed since the 1800's. Small vials of medicine have been replaced with plastic tamper proof containers that come in all sizes-including jumbo size. Thankfully, our medicines and perscriptions now come with ingredients, directions on how much to take, and when to take it, and warnings of possible side effects, etc. I am SO thankful for modern medicine and the new age in which we live in!

The past couple of weeks have been full of drama – much more than I like actually. Firstly, my friend is still sick. She came out of the hospital around the 6th February. Long enough for us to think she was going to be fine and for me to travel to Barcelona to attend the Mobile World Congress, which took place from the 11 – 14 February. Unfortunately, we celebrated too soon, and she was

I'm currently working on a CD cover for a band. I've included a "slice" of the illustration. I thought I was finished but have decided to make some changes to the composition as the effect was not really what I was looking for. I'll post the final work when I've completed the changes. Most likely this slice will also change. I really enjoy creating CD covers. A while back I did a remake of Madonna's "Confessions on the Dance Floor" which you can see here.

This week marks the second birthday of my blog, Storypot. When I first launched this blog, I wanted to create a place where I could showcase my children’s stories, with very little commentary. By February 2006, I knew that plan was not feasible. As I mentioned in this post, it was turning out to be a nice vault, but had very little character. So I started chatting a bit about my writing

To improve the blog as it enters its third year, I had to look at some of the things I didn't do well . These are not New Year Resolutions and there are no timelines to them. I will get to them, when I get to them. Still, for 2008, you can look forward to: 1. More book reviews, done regularly to some sort of schedule – I didn’t do book reviews regularly, and I didn’t do many. But I have learnt

As I’ve mentioned previously here, this November I entered the Lieurance-King Autumn Challenge (Fall). The wonderful news is that I am among the winners, and will soon be awarded the Golden PJs. The challenge brief was to write 15 marketing articles during the month of November and submit them to article directories like Ezine Articles. Marketing articles are different from journalistic

I just received an email from the editor-in-chief at Lingo saying he wants to publish Tselane le Dingwe and another story titled Ntatemogolo. Both are Setswana folktales retold. Yay!

Next week Camille Lagarrigue, author of the Miss Behave books will visit the Ricardo Mülder Community Library in Edenvale as part of their holiday programme. The event will be the first public reading of her second book, Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats of Ancient Egypt. Children will also have the opportunity to ask Camille all the questions they have about Miss Behave. There will also be

My other blog, Mobile Life (www.mydigitallife.co.za), is featured in the December/January issue of Digital Life, a print digital lifestyle magazine available nationwide through CNA, Exclusive Books as well as bookstores, supermarkets and garage shops. So if you come across a copy of the magazine at the shops, please pick it up? This kind of publicity will help push my work into the general

I want to congratulate my friend Pam for landing a contract to write five children’s books (mix of fiction and non-fiction as part of a series) for a well-known publisher (sorry can’t say who). The best part is that four of the books have already been written and approved by the publisher and she’s due to submit the last book by the end of the November! Pam and I have been friends for almost

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Camille Lagarrigue, author of Miss Behave and the Secret Agents, saying she was getting ready to launch her second book. I don’t have details of the book and the launch date yet and can’t wait to get my grubby paws on a copy. As I mentioned previously on this blog, Baby loved Miss Behave and the Secret Agents, and looks forward to the next

Today I'm digressing from my usual blah blah and talking a bit about work-related issues. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)has invited me to take part in the “In the public interest,” a live, current affairs programme taking place on Sunday 23rd at 9.30 morning. The programme aims to take the media to task over unfair and inaccurate reporting and to debate issues rigorously. “

LG Electronics SA has adopted Nomthandazo Children's Home in Benoni, near Johannesburg. The company says it will officially open the LG Nomthandazo Children's Home tomorrow as part of its women's day celebrations. LG has donated products to the value of R60 000 and a cash R10 000 towards the revamping of this home. This project is being supported by some of our local actors, celebrities and

The Vodacom Women in The Media Awards 2007, held yesterday in Johannesburg, reminded me why we need to encourage girls to take up media careers. Speaking at the event, Vodacom chief communications officer Dot Field cited an international study which found that women account for 17% of all media coverage. The majority of the coverage is celebrity and royalty-related, she said. The women who

The Citizen recently partnered with 30° South Publishers to offer unpublished South African writers a chance to have their work published and to expand the public's awareness of the wealth of undiscovered writing talent in South Africa, reports Biz-Community. According to Kerrin Cocks of 30° South Publishers, most book prizes are judged by a panel of judges, and many manuscripts sent into

You are invited to attend and participate in the 3rd Conference on South African Children's Literature 17-20 September, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. The conference is for all who are currently involved or who wish to become involved in children’s literature in SA. These include those involved in: - The literature production process (e.g. oral storytellers, writers, illustrators,

Last night I went to see The Lion King (the musical) at the Montecasino Teatro in Fourways. The show made its debut early June. I was predisposed to like the show because:

1)I liked the movie – Baby has the tape, so we watched it so many times I can say some of the lines.

2)Media reports, and the people I know, all spoke highly of the musical.

I was concerned that having seen the movie too many times might spoil the experience, but I was completely blown away.

The script

It stuck very closely to the original script, but with a strong dose of funny local colloquialism that the audience adored.

The set

Very imaginative, giving theatre-goers a very interesting picture of the forest and the creatures where the events take place.

The costumes

Beautiful, they unquestionably make the identity of the characters clear. I’m in awe of the performers, who sang, danced and acted while wearing those cumbersome head-dresses and other animal limbs.

The acting

Sello Maake Ka-Ncube really shines as Mufasa. I’ve seen some of his theatrical work (The Suit comes to mind) and a lot of him when he was on local soap Generations, but wow! His acting has really matured in the past couple of years.

Buyisile Zama as Rafiki – her voice just blew me away. It was the first time I saw her perform, and it’s a memorable experience. If you sometimes get tired of the kind of garbage the local music industry passes as popular music, do yourself a favour and go listen to this lady, wherever she performs. It will revive your faith that local is indeed lekker.

Mark Rayment as Scar – I think he’s the one actor who has the biggest role in the musical and he made it look so effortless. A very good combination of experience, talent and stamina.

The young Nala was very good, the grown up Nala an excellent singer and dancer. Such grace! The grown up Simba was also very good – had the looks, the voice, the acting talent pulling it together.

My only gripe is with young Simba, who was cute and gambolled like the kitty cat he played, but his voice and acting were not strong enough to carry the show at the same level of excellence as the other actors. I found myself wondering if he was perhaps a bit tired?

My companion recognised Timon (Peter Mashiga) as an old friend from Mafikeng. “How can you tell it’s him under all that green stuff covering him from head to toe?” I whispered. Eventually we checked the programme to confirm. It made us feel like we owned a tiny part of the show.

Our attendance was sponsored by MTN, a local cellphone provider.

I’ve been approached by Free Range Films to have my creative work showcased on “Mantswe a Bonono,” a TV programme showcasing South African writers of various backgrounds, works, genres and languages.

The company says it was commissioned by SABC 2 to produce the documentary series which was aired in 2005. This year they have been commissioned for the second series of Mantswe and currently in our research phase of the production.

"Mantswe a Bonono focuses on The language criteria which we are exploring are works written in Sotho / Setswana / Sepede / Xivenda / Xitsonga / Afrikaans. We are especially also researching individuals who are located in provinces such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province, Free State, etc. If they’ve relocated to main cities we’d also be keen to meet with them.”

They say they’ve received lots of feedback on local poets, novel, writers and screen-writers. ”It would be great to hear from people who write for radio, people who write letter, unpublished writers, TV commercial writers, journal writers, etc. If there is a team who works together on their various projects we’d also love to hear from them.”

I must say I feel honoured and excited that they tracked me down from my online presence and approached me. It’s a sign that consistently putting in the work will pay off.

The biggest benefit is that my work will be put in front of a national audience, and hopefully, attract the attention of readers and publishers alike.

But I’m not counting on a giant leap in my career as a result of the coverage (assuming I am selected). I’ve been this road before, where I am interviewed by a big-time media programme and nothing happens beyond the good wishes.

For example, when “Some Roses, a Hamburger, the AK47 and a Puddle," a short story anthology I contributed to was published in 1993, I did a number of interviews, with including a radio chat with Jennifer Crwys-Williams on 702.

Jenny was very warm during the interview, and I was subsequently interviewed on TV about my writing. But nothing came of it except my 15 minutes of fame. Part of the problem, I think, is that I didn’t know how to leverage the coverage into more work/ increased coverage, something I have since made a point to learn.

The next meeting of the SCWBI Gauteng is on the 12 July, from 09h00 – 13h00. Local children’s authors Rob Marsh, Leanne Hardy and Agueda Nunes will show their books and discuss their writing processes.

If I can swing it, I will attend so I can report on the event on this blog, maybe even review the books here. But I'm not holding my breath - lately my schedule has been very hectic. Check out the day’s programme here.

BTW, at the last meeting in May, Russell Clark from Jacana Mediasaid local teachers and librarians identified a need for non-fiction books on some specific topics, and that Jacana was open to proposals on those topics.

Russel also gave writers some writing and submission guidelines:

* Develop a clear concept for your book.
* Put together a proposal and submit it.
* Keep your target group in mind.
* Limit the age bracket for which you’re writing.
* Keep the language level consistent for the target group.
* Do not patronise your audience.
* Write from an African perspective.

I just found out today that my article for the Gauteng chapter of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCWBI) is online. Check it out the post here.

I'm going to see The Lion King ( the musical) on Thursday night. I wish I could take Baby with me, but it's one of the rare work-related social evenings that I've accepted. It will be fun, but it's also business, and no place for a child. Also, I'm going on a school night.

I first met Mariam Akabor’s sister randomly on the Internet. Over a hot plate of curry and rice she mentioned her sister the author, who launched a short story collection (aimed at teens) at the London Book Fair last year.

Of course I had to interview Mariam and introduce her to you, so I asked for an interview. Lucky us, she agreed, so some time in the next week or two I’ll post a Q & A with her.

In the meantime, I got my grubby hands on Flat 9, her latest collection of short stories, which is prescribed as secondary reading in the province of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. Check out my review soon.

I also emailed Ramon Thomas, online child safety guru, the series of questions for our interview as planned. I feel guilty because he’s a busy man and I’m asking a lot of questions. But there was so much I feel you’d want to learn from him…

Over the weekend I had a marathon writing session. It all started when I began to work on a short article on blogging (a South African perspective),I promised to a local writing newsletter. Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop until I had an 8-page document.

Nope, I didn’t waffle. It so happens there are some challenges local writers have to bypass before they can blog successfully, and I wanted to acknowledge them and provide some suggestions.

Anyway, I’m going to trim the article to make suitable reading for the newsletter submission. But I also plan to make the full document freely available on this blog as a PDF document. As soon as I figure out how to do it:-)

Today began what many call the biggest public sector strike in the history of South Africa.

Public Servants, including nurses, doctors, teachers, policemen went on strike today.

A media statement from COSATU says: “the unions are united in their rejection of the current [salary increase] offer of 6.0% and are resolute in our decision to embark on indefinite industrial action in pursuit of 12%.”

“Don’t send your kids to school tomorrow,” the late edition newspapers said yesterday afternoon, as I was going home.

I phoned Baby's school to find out if the strike affects teachers from private schools. The school secretary assured me it’s business as usual at the school, as the problem with government about salary increases does not apply to them.

Phew! Glad Baby's school programme remains uninterrupted. I hope no one robs us, and we don't fall sick during this time, because going to a hospital with skeleton staff just sounds scary.

WRITING NEWS: THE LIMPOPO INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES WRITER’S COMPETITION

I’ve polished a children’s story I plan to submit to the Limpopo Indigenous Languages Writer's Competition for Foundation Phase stories.

Problem is, the story should be in Sepedi, Tshivenda, Xitsonga or IsiNdebele, and I don’t speak or write any of these languages.

So I’m going to ask a friend of my sister’s to help me redo the story in one of these languages and submit it. I need to check with the competition organizers though to find out if they mind that it would be a translation of an original, unpublished story. The competition rules do not say anything about the matter.

According to the rules of the competition:

* The story must be suitable for Foundation Phase (4-9 years).
* The entries must be previously unpublished and original.
* The text must be suitable for a picture book- no illustrations necessary but suggested artwork briefs can be added.
* Easy readers with simple text.
* Length: around 600 words.
* Manuscripts must be typed in double spacing and submitted in duplicate hard copies.

Maskew Miller Longman will award R500 for the best entry in Sepedi, Xitsonga, Tshivenda and IsiNdebele.

Maskew Miller Longman will also publish the winning entries if they meet their publishing requirements. Non-winning entries may also qualify for publication.

The deadline for entries is the 27 July 2007.