BLOG BREAK Sketching, Storytelling and Strawberries
Nick Cross presents his fortnightly selection of must-read blogs.
Margaret Bateson-Hill's session on Creative Storytelling was my personal highlight of last year's SCBWI-BI conference, so I was delighted to see her blog post for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure. Margaret talks about how being an oral storyteller affects both the books she reads out loud and her own writing, painting a fascinating picture of how stories evolve in the telling.
Ssh, did you hear something? Over there, by the bookshelves? It's none other than Paula Harrison, practising the Ninja Art of Writing. Read her post for Notes from the Slushpile to find out how the art of stealing time to write can make train journeys, shopping centres and even car parks into a thrilling place to be.
Someone else who finds inspiration on train journeys is John Shelley, sharing some of his recent (and reliably fabulous) illustrations with us in a blog post celebrating the importance of daily sketching.
A couple of weeks ago, Vanessa Harbour was entranced by a day of colourful kids' book art on Twitter. That (and her impending debut novel) inspired her to write a reflective blog post on the importance of cover art.
If you go down to the woods today, you may find this post by Lu Hersey (but only if you've got a really good mobile signal). Better yet, stay at home and read Lu's evocative article about the stories and legends surrounding our ancient woodlands.
When Kathryn Evans helped author Jo Cotterill to research her latest novel, she had no idea of the real-life drama that was about to engulf her. A Storm of Strawberries (the blog post) is an unexpectedly circular tale of heartbreak and the kindness of writers.
Nick.
*Feature image: Blog Break logo by Melany Pietersen
Nick also blogs for Notes from the Slushpile. His most recent blog post finds him Coming Out with a really big secret!
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