Ten-Minute Blog Break - 12th January

Logo by Melany Pietersen

What is it about January? I'm feeling totally maxxed out with all the stuff I have to write and otherwise get done by the end of the month. And now there's a Blog Break to write too! Oh well, as Candy Gourlay once memorably said:
“Let's do it all. We're already tired anyway.”

Catherine Friess flags up an event that I hadn't heard of before: International Book Giving Day. Head over to Catherine's Story Snug blog to find out all about this alternative Valentine's Day event.

Although I'm having a crazy January, Anne-Marie Perks has found some space to reflect on last year and to consider her goals for the year ahead, in a post for Big Little Tales.

Can we separate the writer from their work, or the singer from their song? KM Lockwood's blog post is a typically thoughtful piece about how much a creator's opinions or behaviour should colour our judgement of their creation.

Candy Gourlay tried to catch me out this week, by adding more detail to her post after it had gone live! But hopefully she's finished now, and you can enjoy her examination of what a character's "ordinary world" is and how you can use it to improve your storytelling.

Finally, unless you've been living under a rock, you'll be aware of the excellent news that Kathy Evans is about to see the release of her debut novel. So here she is telling us all about the things you don’t know before you’re published.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner and 2015 honours recipient of the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for fiction.