So, my blog has been left dejected and rejected for too long. Time for an entry!
I’ve been busy writing my novel, which is going well, but I must keep at it. The story is taking shape and it is looking to be a YA fantasy. I’m hoping to have a browse through the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook for publishers who look for teenage fiction. Anyone with any info about companies/publishers/YA fiction, please feel free to give me a message with your ideas.
However, my poetry is lying discarded in a dusty Word document which desperately needs to be opened…
Today has been a great day, as I finally started my Writing for Children MA at the University of Central Lancashire: lovely people, fabulous nibbles and a talk by Melvyn Burgess (I had an “is-he-really-in-this-room-oh-my-gosh” moment). I’m very much looking forward to this year and getting to know everyone better. Anyone wishing to know more about the MA can click here, as it is well worth looking into.
This year, UCLan plays host to the first ever Jacqueline Wilson Festival, which everyone here is very excited about. Jacqueline and illustrator Nick Sharratt will be coming in to give a workshop and conference from 18th-20th October 2011. Over the summer, the university ran competitions with local and nationwide primary school children to write stories and illustate book covers. The winners will have lunch with the author and illustator. I think this is going to be a great success. Information about tickets is available on the website above.
I have a new job, new flat, and some new motivation. Very positive.
Hi Jennifer, I just picked up a copy of Diffusion at UCLAN the other day and really enjoyed your Rewriting Fairy Tales. I own Greta Hall (home to Southey & Coleridge…visited by all the other big bad boys of poetry of the early to mid 1800s). We invite writers and thinkers to come and present their work to a small select group of interested folk. Last week we had a French Theatre group who came as the culmination of 2 years work on the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. There’s no money I’m afraid, but an intellectual audience who enjoy being challenged to vocalise them, we also have a lovely B&B room that we can put you up in (no charge).
We are also a venue for Words by the Water Festival, host the Southey Conference for Nottingham university, The Wordsworth Winter School and the Romantic English Dept of the uni of California each year. We have been the start, middle, end point for many writers and biographers.
Do let me know if you might be interested.
Kindest regards
Jeronime
Hi Jeronime,
Thanks so much for your message – it was a lovely surprise.
Greta Hall sounds fabulous: I would be extremely interested in your offer, although would like to ask a few questions and find out a bit more about presenting work. Would I be able to email you for more information?
Kind regards,
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer
ofcourse!
jeronime@gretahall.net