Archive for June, 2010

IACCW MEMBER EVENT: How to Write Successful Books for Children

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Julia McCutchen interviews Barry Cunningham BarryCunningham150

Thursday 1st July at
16:00 BST / 11:00 EST

Of course there are techniques and helpful ways of approaching writing  successfully for children. But while it’s fun and important to talk about these – the real substance of what makes an authentic voice for children is what you can do to recover, relive and then recreate from your own experience.

So whether you can reach back and find the still angry teenager, the fierce seven year old that knows that being unfair is still wrong, or the dreamy child who can see palaces in the clouds and the soul in her dog’s eyes – those are the voices that publisher Barry Cunningham, and millions of readers, want to find.

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Keeping it Real – Why Writers Should Share Ups As Well As Downs by Jo Parfitt

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Jo Parfitt in a BoxIt is with great pleasure that I introduce here our first guest blog post from author and publisher Jo Parfitt:

They say you should write about what you know, and so, in 1998 I wrote and published a book called A Career in Your Suitcase, based on what I had learned about creating and maintaining a portable career overseas.

You see, what I ‘knew’ was how to create a career, based on what I most loved to do and then move that career from country to country. In my case this meant from England to Dubai, then Oman and onto Norway.  In a really old chestnut of a cliché, ‘I had been there, done that and got the teeshirt’ and I believed that my experience qualified me to write the book. I was right.  People loved my book and in a couple of years I had sold out. It was time for a second edition.

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Summer Solstice Greetings!

Monday, June 21st, 2010

SunriseI wonder how many of us got up to greet the dawn at 4.44am (here in the UK) on this bright summer solstice morning?

I am really happy to have done so as it truly was an awe inspiring experience. Blessed with mainly clear skies, I stood in the middle of the field next to our house with a high 360 degree panoramic view listening to the chorus of birds in the nearby wood. The deep red glow reflecting off wispy clouds set the sky on fire with what really felt like the “dawn of a brand new day”.

Celebrating the power of the sun when it is at its most potent has been of spiritual significance for thousands of years.

Creatively this is a time to celebrate growth and full expression of all the gifts you have to share with the world through your writing, speaking, relationships … and through simply being true to who you are deep inside.

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The 5 Qualities of Successful Authors

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Courage_Lion2One of the aspects of writing a book for publication that I emphasize with the Writer’s Journey approach is to give as much attention to preparing yourself for published authorship as you do to preparing your work.

This is because who you become as an author is just as important as what you write.

One facet of this relates to developing and strengthening certain qualities that are proven to be of value to support you on the path to publication – and beyond!

The 5 qualities that I recommend cultivating are: courage, commitment, perseverance, patience and authenticity.

Courage

It is said that courage is a decision made in the face of fear, not in the absence of it. And most writers I know would agree that courage to face fears, anxieties and doubts go hand-in-hand with the process of writing.

Why is that?

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