Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Sketch and Scribble at Taronga Zoo with SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators)

There was no need to ask me twice to attend the first official SCBWI Aus East/NZ event of 2015. A walk in Taronga Zoo with fellow children’s authors and illustrators while sketching and scribbling sounded like a wonderful idea. And this event was childfree.

I couldn't work out what to wear. Will it be cold? Hot? Sunny? Rainy? Do I dress for comfort or to make an impression? And my biggest mistake was not making this decision before I went to bed the night before. Making it at 6:30am in the dark was not a great idea. I decided to pack sunscreen and an umbrella, wear a Cardigan (layers) and my reliable black boots (comfort and style). My outfit was finally sorted. My bag was now huge as I also had a packed lunch, my iPad and keyboard, folder, pencils, and lolly snakes (of course!).

The trip from Newcastle with Kirrili Lonergan and her friend Emma went to plan. We left at 6:45am and arrived right on time at 9:45am. We even managed to sneak in a pot of tea (one of the nicest I have had in a while) at a beautiful café on Military Road while it poured with rain.

We gathered inside the zoo entrance and met people I hadn't seen in a while and new ones too, though they seemed familiar thanks to Facebook and LinkedIn. The rain had cleared a little thank goodness.

Off to the giraffes we went. Deborah Abela threw a few word phrases at us along the way to kickstart our creativity - but I planned to work on current unfinished manuscripts. So there I sat, on a tripod camp seat in the middle of a major walkway trying to balance an iPad and keyboard on my knees while wearing a skirt. It was a little hard to sit in that position but I managed it…for about 3 minutes! I  adde a little section to one of my picture book manuscripts while there. 

During the fourth minute I took a quick photo of the giraffes with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background for Instagram. Then I went back to writing.
 

Soon hunger and distraction set in. It was time to put the computer away (again), get off the camp stool, rummage through my bags and take a walk while I snacked. I took a few more photos of the giraffes before I moved to the tigers.

The tigers were boring. They were cute but they were lazy and quiet.  I couldn’t settle so I wandered back to the elephants.

The elephants were just magnificent. They were getting bathed and scrubbed – pedicures included. I couldn’t believe the amount of dirt that came off them. During the clean, the cheeky elephants took the hose off the keepers with their trunk and drank from it. After they were moved to another spot, they covered their freshly cleaned bodies with sand. Sand! Looking back on my day, this event was my favourite. It was a very active part of the day for these slow, quiet animals!  
    

 

From here I decided to write a blog post. Camp stools, animals, rain, constantly moving and distractions made working on my current projects difficult.

(writing, writing, writing)

The next stop was the bird show at 12:00pm.

(writing, writing, writing, more writing)

I got so involved in writing my post I nearly forgot about the 12:00pm bird show. I missed the first 10 minutes which actually was half the show. I can highly recommend the second half and the view.

Lunchtime! We gathered on the grassy area beside the bird show for a picnic. A gorgeous rooster came for a visit and performed his spectacular midday ‘cock-a-doodle-do’. It seemed strange to hear a rooster do that in the middle of the day. My bag became lighter as I ate my packed lunch before I slipped off for a fresh cup of tea.

Sarah Davis and Deborah Abela directed sharing time while we steamed as the sun broke through the clouds. Scarves came off and hats went on.

The display of talent was extraordinary. In such a short time, these talented illustrators gave a glimpse of how quickly and effortlessly they can put amazing images on paper. They shared their favourite pieces of equipment too. Top secret!

After lunch we went for a wander back to the elephants and then down to the seals and penguins.

If you are familiar with Tarongo Zoo you’ll know we were at the bottom of the hill by now. The only way up after a full day and a 5:45am get up was via the cable car.

The day finished with more caffeine, something sweet, and a group farewell.

Conclusion? I had a wonderful, unique day. I felt a little guilty about going to the zoo without my children, but I got over that by lunch.

Would I go again? YES – but I would plan it differently. I got very distracted and I packed too much. The weather was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold, then cloudy, then rainy, then sunny, then cloudy, then sunny.

The good news: I learned I need controlled conditions, a flat surface, a comfortable chair, and no distractions during my writing time.

But I loved meeting new people, I loved the atmosphere, I loved watching illustrators involved in their craft, I loved the location and I loved socialising. I think the day worked much better for the illustrators than for me as an author.

A huge thank you to the organisers: Susanne Gervay, Deborah Abela, Marjorie Crosby-Fairall and Liz Anelli. Your concept and vision for and organisation of this day was very much appreciated. Thank you to my Newcastle friends too. Your company is always uplifting.

If you are interested in our SCBWI group, more details are here: http://australiaeastnz.scbwi.org/
And the SCBWI blog with a great post about our day posted already is here: http://www.scbwiaustralianz.com/

 

 

Book Launch: 'Jam for Nana' by Deborah Kelly and Lisa Stewart

Author Deborah Kelly launched her beautiful new picture book ‘Jam for Nana’ at Belmont Library on Saturday morning, 29th March.

More than 100 grandparents, parents, librarians, family members and book lovers came to celebrate a beautiful story about pancakes, jam, and family.

Deborah spoke about how her Nana had to leave Hungary because of war and how her Nana loved to make and eat real apricot jam.  Deborah recalled how her Nana taught her to spread jam on a pancake using the back of a spoon before sprinkling it with icing sugar. The pancake was then rolled before eating.

Deborah read ‘Jam for Nana’ aloud to the children. You couldn’t hear a sound because the children were captured by the story.

Belmont library created a display of the original illustrations by ‘Jam for Nana’ illustrator, Lisa Stewart. Her intricate drawings and collaging were very interesting to examine up close.

After Deborah read her story, she invited the children, big and small, to come and spread homemade apricot jam onto homemade pancakes using the back of a spoon. Icing sugar accompanied these delicious treats. I’m sure most people couldn’t eat just one! There was not a pancake left.

I loved how Deborah used the colours of yellow and orange from apricots and sunshine to decorate the room.

Licking sticky fingers and eating jam and sugar made for lots of fun, but I’m sure the library staff were quietly hoping the children didn’t touch every book on the shelves that bordered the space.

 
Well done, Deb! You have worked so hard to present a beautiful story that has come from the heart. As a person who spent a lot of my childhood at my grandmother’s house, I can relate to home cooked sweet treats made with love. You have given a story to the world that is warm and special. I’m sure there will be lots of grandparents who will read this book to their grandchildren at bedtime. I’m guessing the grandchildren will ask for pancakes and jam for breakfast when they wake up!

The Adventures and Misadventures of Starting My Blog

Blogging looks fun! It’s trendy, effective, and a great way to connect with people – strangers, friends and family.

The thought of having an internet space where I could entertain and educate readers while practising the craft of writing sounded glamorous. I always found using new forms of technology exciting. I thought setting up a blog and adding my first post would be easy.

WRONG! (for me anyway!)

I have been given advice by many publishing industry professionals to blog. So I started reading and following a few blogs by other children’s authors and illustrators. Their blog pages looked lovely. The more I read them, the more my confidence grew.

Last year I went through the process of working with a website designer to build my website. My website designer very carefully took me on the journey of going behind a website and learning how it is built. Very complicated things were explained to me – I probably understood a fraction of it. However, I still felt I knew enough to build a blog.

'To Do' List

After having ‘blog (HWC)?’ on my ‘To Do’ list for over twelve months, I found a blogging course through the Hunter Writers’ Centre. Three panelists presented a wonderful workshop on the anatomy of a blog, why blog, what to blog about, who to blog for, how to build a community of followers, craft writing for a blog, and technical challenges and tips.

This all seemed easy and made a lot of sense. I went home feeling energised and inspired to build my blog. This is when the real fun (and a million questions) started!

Structure - What do I want to add? Which template? What’s a Gadget? What is a Widget? How many do I need? What will my tag line say? Customisation? How do I organise my information? How do I organise my privacy settings?

Navigating ‘blogger’ – what is a dashboard? How can I make my blog reflect my personality and achieve its purpose? Hang on - What is my purpose? How do I use this new program? Where is the delete button? Why did it do that? How do I go back? Why are there 3 search bars?

HELP!!!

I think I now need a workshop in actually building my blog. I had the idea I would just magically find a blog waiting for me somewhere on the web and all I had to do was start typing.

WOW! I was wrong again!

After spending a few days playing and wandering aimlessly around ‘blogger’, I resorted to ringing my website designer. After 20 minutes of following her instructions, my blog started looking similar to the vision I had in my head. Why didn’t I ring her two days earlier?

A week later I organised a one-on-one session with a friend, an avid blogger. We sat together with a cup of tea and nutted out my final questions while looking at our blogs side-by-side. It all makes sense when you have a personal blogging mentor. (She even helped me label, format and publish this post.)

I have spoken to many bloggers in the last few weeks. We have had lots of laughs and shared tips on building a blog. These conversations helped me feel much better. All of them have had, and are still experiencing blogging challenges. Phew – it’s not just me!

You are reading this post on a functioning blog. The background matches my website pages, my heading and colours are customised (it is so exhausting being a perfectionist), and I have some gadgets going down the left and right-hand side. This is a work in progress.

I’m still learning about labels and formatting. I also have no idea how I want to archive my posts. But I like the idea I have started, and I can change how it’s structured when I’m ready. (Note to oneself: sort out your layout before you go and customise everything!)

I hope you will come on this blogging journey with me. I’m looking forward to sharing my adventures with like-minded people who are interested in how I develop as a children’s author while juggling the rest of my life. 

Blogging still seems like fun now I have some of the scaffolding sorted. Hopefully something drastic like it completely disappearing won’t happen. But that’s a problem for another day.

Feel free to leave a comment or suggestions.

Here we go…