Blame it on the 3G

I have to confess that while on my travels keeping up with Words & Pictures has been a challenge. This is partly due to 3G not being as everywhere as I'd like it to be and partly to being called away every now and then to have fun somewhere.

I also have to own up to completely missing a day - August 8th which henceforth will have to be known the Words & Pictures Jubilee.  'Hey hey, Jubilee?' I hear you say, 'Isn't that an anniversary or something to do with the Queen who keeps on having them?'  Well yes it is, but inspired by Mark Forsyth whose 'show' I went to at Edbookfest yesterday, I've unearthed a less well known biblical instruction for how to have a jubilee.

Here it is, paraphrased and tweaked to suit my purpose:

It is written that during a jubilee we should not cultivate the fields but feast on what grows as a result of our previous toil there. (very loosely taken from Leviticus 25:12)

So as August 8th is in the middle of our summer holidays, we can allow ourselves to rest and feast on the amazing quantity and quality of content W&P writers and illustrators have contributed since we launched on March 25th.

Even with our jubilee day on Thursday and let alone feasting on our content since March 25th, just this week we've had plenty to feast on...

On Monday, Savita Kalhan talked us through how she self critiques and edits and the importance of 'waiting' before you do either. The Nick Clone having been despatched on her travels, we welcomed back the real Nick Cross on Tuesday. On Wednesday, if ever there was an advert for online critique groups it has to be the loveliness and success of the Picturebook ECritque group. (I've already covered Thursday, do you think I got away with it?) On Friday John gave us such a jam-packed Picture Book Basics part 2 and on Saturday we were delighted to cheer on Kate Scott, Mike Brownlow and Maxine Lee for their newly published books.

Next week we have Sara O'Connor with more publishing answers in Ask a Publisher, Network News  from Scotland, the making of Duck & Bear, and Maureen Lynas is doing one of her wonderfully analytical posts on the trauma of critique!  There'll be Edinburgh part 2 from me when I'm home and can easily post my pictures and I'm also delighted to have next Saturday's celebration slot...

Don't forget Undiscovered Voices submissions close on Thursday.  

Happy holidays!

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.