Ten-Minute Blog Break - 12th August

After a quiet last week at the offices of my day job, there's been a sudden return of people from holiday. I hope the same is true of you SCBWI folks and you're all out there raring to read another Blog Break!

Sarah McIntyre contributes this week's must read blog post, fearlessly taking on the furore around the new Penguin Modern Classics cover for Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As well as showcasing some great parodies of the cover art by Philip Reeve, Candy Gourlay and others, Sarah engages thoughtfully and rationally with the issue, without making a knee-jerk reaction.

What is it that makes writers feel so bad about not writing? Sue Hyams contributes a somewhat guilty list entitled Ten Things That Are NOT Writing My Novel (but they're not far off). Strangely, Sue fails to mention writing blog posts in the list, which perhaps brings the total to eleven!

Fans of A Boy and a Bear in a Boat and Good Dog, Bad Dog will want to check out Space on the Bookshelf's interview with their writer/illustrator Dave Shelton.

It sometimes seems as though self-published authors are just hanging around in the wings, waiting for a traditional publisher to pick up their novel and drive them to fame. So I found Julie Day's defence of her independence a refreshing perspective.

Finally, if you're not returning from holiday, but (like Dave Cousins) about to leave, you'll be wondering about suitable reading material. There's a teensy bit of self-interest for me in promoting Dave's post on summer reading, as I wrote one of the recommendations. But there are also lots of other kidlit people offering their advice on great books to take to the beach this year.

Nick.


A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick's most recent blog post is a guide to writing flash fiction, to celebrate the latest issue of Stew!

1 comment:

  1. Great round up this week, I especially enjoyed Sarah's article on the new cover of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I'm kind of hoping she goes for a side line business as a book designer.

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