Ten-Minute Blog Break - 20th August

The Blog Break meets Breaking Bad this week, as crazed drug dealers, prize geraniums, summer stodge and parental challenges meet in another eclectic SCBWI selection!



Nicky Schmidt delivers one of those blogs that had me pumping my fist and saying "That is so going in the Blog Break!" Although, as it involves putting herself in a certain amount of danger, I wouldn't recommend she does it too often. Join Nicky as her writerly research into the seamy side of South Africa takes an alarming turn...

Jane Heinrichs is having a somewhat calmer time, spending the summer at her family home in Canada. Her post is a beautiful meditation on what home and family mean to us, and how the seeds sown by an earlier generation can bear fruit in our own.

Over at An Awfully Big Blog Adventure, SCBWI author Miriam Halahmy has some tips for that summer slump. If you're feeling stodgy and unable to get much done creatively this month (a problem I've certainly been having), then check out her post. If that isn't enough incentive, bear in mind that the blog also contains pictures of chocolate (although too much of that can cause stodginess as well).

Finally, I spotted a interesting article by Hari Kunzru in the weekend newspaper. Hari started out, like many of us, with the intention of putting his writing first, but then life caught up with him. Does having a family inspire or impede a writer's art? Personally, I would say both!

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
For his latest blog post, Nick has Submissianxiety, a nasty nervous condition caused by having a manuscript on submission.