Katapult - Edition 1 - February, 2018

Welcome to Katapult!

This is a new thingy for me - a monthly newsletter. It will evolve with time and have many changes I'm sure, until I find the structure that works for you and me. Some newsletters will be long and some will be short. Sub-headings will change and some will say the same, but I'm glad you're here to share this journey with me :)

So why call my newsletter ‘Katapult’?

Kat is obviously from my name.

Catapult is a fun word. As a verb it means to hurl or launch. I often find my mind hurling into stories and ideas (anywhere, anytime), or launching into crazy and spontaneous decisions (some I regret later!). What a way to live one’s life!

I pushed the two words together and ‘Katapult’ emerged. I love it!

A Book Joke?

What do you do if a librarian rolls her eyes at you?

The answer is at the bottom :)

What’s Up?

Well, 2018 started nearly two months ago - where has that time gone? - and I have made a pledge to myself I’m going to write a monthly newsletter. I find snippets of news on my social media don’t quite give the full picture of what’s happening here at my desk. 

Yes, I’ve missed a January newsletter, but everyone was on holidays including me so that doesn’t count. Right? No one would have poked their heads out of their Summer reading books and read it anyway. So let’s just merge January happenings into this February newsletter. 

I’m not going to promise I’ll have my newsletters up and running on the first of every month. Too much pressure! But I’ll try to have it out during the first week of the month. Having said that, I’m already late with February, and March starts next week. Eek! 

And I’m not apologising for any typos either. Just read over them and assume I was rushed, distracted, trying to do three things at once, I’m a terrible typer, or I just lost my mind. Any or all of these things could have been true at the time of that typo.

Let’s go back to December. My head was in a mess. There, I said it. A mess! 

I had a pile of picture book manuscripts at 90% finished, I was waiting for a signed contract for two new picture books and I was getting anxious (I thought it was never going to come and that the publisher must have changed her mind - she’d just forgotten to tell me!), the end of the year was hurtling towards me at an alarming rate, Christmas was around the corner, and I started to consider getting an agent. Of course, then I got sick - flat on my back for two days!

I emailed a professional friend of mine to help me sort out my head so I could make a plan (maybe I should have enlisted a team of psychologists). 

As a result, I spent December and January finishing some of my favourite manuscripts, sending them to her for editing, and then making a submission plan for 2018. I also sent another manuscript to a different professional editor.

I booked into the children’s literature Kidlitvic Conference in Melbourne held in May this year, and I joined The Duck Pond Facebook group to keep my motivation fresh and ongoing.

Santa came and went, the signed contract arrived (phew!), we rang in the new year, and relaxed and soaked up Summer holidays.

Hello 2018!

So January was relaxing and all about my husband and I entertaining our two children. We went to the Sydney Opera House to see the 78-Storey Treehouse on the stage. We also saw Operation Ouch at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle. Both were great shows!

Our CBCA Newcastle Sub-branch was on my mind too. I had been the president for nearly four years, and had spend the fifth year as the vice president. I had enjoyed being the VP as a lot of the workload have been taken off me. But did I still want to be an executive committee member? 

I had also found out who was going to illustrate my first Big Sky Publishing (BSP) book called No Baths Week. 

Drum roll …

Cheri Hughes

I was very excited by this. Cheri is very talented and has illustrated several titles for BSP. I was then in communications with BSP to help set up Cheri’s illustration brief. What fun!

The rest of January involved school shoes, labelling uniforms, testing out lunch boxes and making sure new school drink bottles didn’t leak - ha!

And here we are in February.

I submitted one of the professionally edited manuscripts to a publisher. I found out recently it’s going to an acquisition meeting. YAY! Anxiety builds while I wait.

No Baths Week is moving along very quickly. We’ve been working on cover concepts, back cover blurbs, initial character concepts, and sales documents. This part of the process is extremely exciting!

I have also been working on a picture book manuscript based on my childhood memories at my grandmother’s house. It’s such a lovely story and includes some of my favourite sweet delights. Mmmm … jam drops and apple pie! It went to a professional editor yesterday. Fingers crossed.

Flights, workshops and a manuscript assessment have been booked for the Kidlitvic Conference in May. 

We had our CBCA Newcastle Sub-branch AGM early February. So did I put my hand up for an executive position? No I didn’t. But I am happy to be a general committee member. It was time for Kirrili and I to hand over the sub-branch we started mid 2013. It’s in wonderful hands now (thanks Jodie and Liane) so I look forward to seeing it evolve with fresh blood and new ideas. I also have loads of undistracted time to write now so I can seal the deal on more publishing contracts this year. 

I have also booked into a manuscript assessment at the NSW Writers Centre in March with Leonie Tyle. I’ll be working on that manuscript all of next week so it’s ready to submit to her a week beforehand.

Upcoming Events

I’m very honoured to be speaking at the upcoming CBCA NSW AGM on the 17th March. It’s a great opportunity to share my journey so far as a writer and share some sneak peeks of my upcoming books.

I'll be volunteering at the upcoming Newcastle Writers Festival. I'm going to the VIP program launch tomorrow. The Schools Program has been released and is selling out fast. We have some wonderful visitors coming to inspire primary school kids in the Hunter area.

I'll also be attending the CBCA NSW Branch Night of the Notables event at Dymocks, Sydney on the 27th February. This event celebrates the longlisted titles for the CBCA Book Week awards in August.

Publishing Update

My first picture book, Dandelions, is still out and about. I love to hear stories of children still enjoying it and I continuously see dandelions everywhere.

No Baths Week, my second picture book is being illustrated as you read this. I can’t wait to see a storyboard and more sketches. It is scheduled to be released in October this year. I have booked in a venue and date for the launch party, and I’ve started to plan food and decorations. These October school holidays will see me doing some interesting story times in conjunction with Newcastle Region Libraries. More information soon.

Chasing Rainbows, my third picture book (second one with BSP) will be released early in 2019 so it will be illustrated mid this year.

And my fourth picture book, Up To Something, the second with EK Books and Kirrili Lonergan (same team as Dandelions) will be illustrated mid this year with a release date of May, 2019. We’re planning some exclusive pre-launch local activities but it’s too early to reveal anything yet.

Anything to Share?

I’d love to share a secret. I have major problems with passive voice. When working on my manuscripts, I often copy and paste the text into a website called Hemingway Editor to get rid of it.

I know a group of clever girls doing podcasts for lovers of kids' books. It's called One More Page. The second episode was released today. These podcasts are for anyone and everyone who loves books for kids. Very funny stuff!

Recent Book Purchase/s?

Bold Australian Girl by Jess Black and Fern Martins

Grace and Katie by Susanne Merritt and Liz Anelli

Perfect Petunias by Lynn Jenkins and Kirrili Lonergan

Betty the Yeti’s Disappointing Day by Emily S. Smith and Graham Davidson

Ella by Nicole Godwin and Demelsa Haughton

Ella Saw the Tree by Robert Vescio and Cheri Hughes

Where can you find me on social media?

I’ve made it easy. Just click on the live links below and like, subscribe or follow me.

Website

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Feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email: author@katrinamckelvey.com

I’d love to hear from you!

Kat x

PS: So what do you do if a librarian rolls her eyes at you?

You roll them back of course! :)

Appreciate! Announce! Applaud! Event - Book Week Shortlist Announcement

Sarah Foster, Me, Judith Ridge, Sue Whiting

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week Awards are always a talking point for so many people each year. From the announcement of the long list known as 'The Notables', to the shortlist, and then onto the winners, people of all ages are talking about books. This makes every book a winner!

The Notables (long list) for each category was announced late February and so many beautiful books made this list. I had the pleasure of being at Dymocks, George St, Sydney when they were announced. I have a blog post about that event, 'The Night of the Notables' here.

A month later, the shortlist (6 books from each of the categories in the Notables list) was announced at midday at the annual 'Appreciate! Announce! Applaud! Event' (AAA) hosted by the CBCA NSW Branch at Rydges Central, Sydney on 28th March. Freya Blackwood, illustrator extraordinaire, was the keynote speaker. She shared with us her work ethic and work process and told fascinating stories about how work and family life blend and crash into each other while trying to work to deadlines.

At this annual event, a range of book loving people are asked to read all the notable books in one category and then share their own shortlist on the morning just before the official shortlist announcement.

This year those people were:

Early Childhood: Victoria Roberts
Picture Books: Me
Younger Readers: Sue Whiting
Older Readers: Judith Ridge
Eve Pownall & Information Books: Sarah Foster

So, in January I started to hunt down and read about 130 entered picture books before The Notables list was released. All these books were published in 2016 but not all of them were easy to find.

In the end, with the help of Newcastle Region Libraries, I found 70 of them. I had never borrowed so many books in such a short amount of time, but I had so much fun reading the most diverse range of picture books that were of such a high quality. My children found the process fascinating and they read most of these 70 books with me.

When The Notables list was announced in February, the picture book list reduced to just 42 books.

So which ones did I pick?

I certainly didn't like all of them. Some of them I just didn't understand and some of them made me wonder how they ever got published - especially when I'm actively seeking publishers for my own unpublished picture book manuscripts.

But I loved so many that I found it excruciating trying to narrow my list to 6 titles.

In the end I made two lists. One list was full of my favourites, and one list was for the titles I thought may be shortlisted. The two lists were completely different.

I didn't expect anyone to agree with me on either list - especially the judges. As long as we're talking about and reading books, it doesn't matter. In fact, when the shortlist was announce about an hour later, my list went out the door. My entire shortlist guess was wrong - but 3 of the official shortlisted books were on my favourites list. I don't know what this says but I found it interesting.

Here the lists I shared:

List 1: The 6 books I thought may be published in the picture book category:

1) Cyclone by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
2) Desert Lake: The Story of Kati Thanda - Lake Eyre by Pamela Freeman & Liz Anelli
3) Molly and Mae by Danny Parker and Freya Blackwood
4) Circle by Jeannie Baker
5) Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy
6) Something Wonderful by Raewyn Caisley and Karen Blair

List 2: My anticipated picture book shortlist:

1) Big Sky Yellow Kite by Janet A. Holmes and Jonathan Bentley
2) The Patchwork Bike* by Maxine Beneba Clarke and Van T Rudd
3) Out* by Angela May George and Owen Swan
4) The Fabulous Friend Machine by Nick Bland
5) One the River by Roland Harvey
6) Snail and Turtle: Rainy Days by Stephan Michael King
7) Pandamonia by Chris Owen and Chris Nixon
8) One Photo* by Ross Watkins and Liz Anelli
9) Colours of Australia by Bronwyn Bancroft

*The titles that were actually shortlisted

And here are the real shortlisted winners of the CBCA Book Week awards for 2017:

Congratulations to all the book creating teams behind each book on either the CBCA Notables List or Shortlist. You can find all the CBCA 2017 book lists here.

The winner of each category will be announced on Friday, 18th August, the first day of Book Week. Good luck!

Book Week 2017 poster designed by Freya Blackwood

'Brave' by Lynn Jenkins and Kirrili Lonergan - Book Launch Saturday, 17th September

Congratulations to Lynn Jenkins and Kirrili Lonergan on the launch of their new picture book, 'Brave', the second book in their Lessons of a LAC series.

Friends, family, colleges and more gathered at The Locale in New Lambton, Newcastle to celebrate with the girls on Saturday, 17th September.

Cupcakes, craft activities, story time, prizes and lolly bags helped make the atmosphere fun and enjoyable for all ages.

MacLean's Booksellers, Hamilton were onsite helping everyone get their hands on a copy.

I was the chief photographer, hence why there are no photos of me. Phew!

Enjoy the following photos as this blog post is more like a visual diary

 - and all photos have been taken on a better camera than my phone :)

Enjoy xxx

MacLean's Booksellers, Hamilton pop up bookshop

My munchkins!

Storytime!

A fork in the road

Speeches

Kids & YA Festival, 2016

The NSW Writers' Centre hosted its biannual Kids & YA Festival on Saturday, 25th June.

Aleesah Darlison developed a wonderful program full of industry favourites. Anyone who attended the day left feeling elated, inspired and with lots of new friends.

This festival meant a lot to me this year. I caught up with my author and illustrator friends from all over the country, met friends I'd connected with on social media, picked up new tips to help improve my writing, and I appeared on my first panel as a published author. More about that later.

The Keynote Speaker for this festival was the mesmerising Tristan Bancks. He entertained us by revealing his writing process and by sharing some of the stories behind his stories including one about a knitting needle embedded 7.5cm into a buttock. Long story ... you had to have been there! (Not his own buttock btw - ha!)

For the rest of the day the program broke into two streams. It was so hard to pick which session to attend.

Next, I was on a panel called, 'Picture Book Parade'. Aleesah Darlison, Meredith Costain, Andrew Daddo and I were in conversation with Sandra Wigzall about how we started our picture book publication career. The panel was constructed with a wonderful mixture of experiences from using slush piles, to networking at conferences, and to being discovered via writing competitions. 

I was extremely nervous even though our panel was designed to be an informal but informative conversation. We received wonderful feedback so hopefully a few people enjoyed our stories and grabbed some ideas to help them on their publication journeys. 

I was quoted on twitter during this session - how bizarre but fun! I've never had that happen before. I'm very new to Twitter, I only retweet usually, so to be quoted as a tweet by someone else was a little exciting. Thank you so much to NSW Writers' Centre, Michelle Worthington and Debra Tidball for these tweets and retweets photographed below. I look like I slightly know what I'm talking about in that photo, Deb! 

True story!

I had to miss the panel, 'Turning Facts Into Fiction - How do you turn the cold facts of history and modern-day reality into something children and young adults want to read? with Pamela Rushby, Jan Latta, Kylie Fornasier, Libby-Jane Charleston (Chair) as it was on at the same time as ours, but the feedback was wonderful.

For the next short while, I debriefed with my fellow panel members while the program continued. However I did manage to catch the end of the panel, Writing For The World Stage: What are the various paths you can follow to get your book published – and selling – overseas? with Susanne Gervay, Jacqueline Harvey, Michelle Worthington, Sophie Masson (Chair). The snippet I listened to was very insightful!

Sophie Masson, Michelle Worthington, Jacqueline Harvey, Susanne Gervay  

LUNCH TIME! It was a little cold outside during lunch (ok ... a lot) but it was so lovely to mingle among the Jacarandas, eat, chat, sip tea and buy books. 

Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli launched their stunning picture book, Dessert Lake on the verandah during lunch. Pamela shared the highs and struggles she experienced while bringing this story to life and Liz demonstrated her illustration talent. (She was half frozen but still managed to draw better than most of us!)

Also during lunch, Susan Whelan and Sandy Fussell hosted a seminar titled: 'Paying Forward, Giving Back: Networking for Authors and Illustrators'. It was sold out with all proceeds going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. I heard the girls presented an outstanding session full of hints and tips everyone could implement into building a successful career while supporting others in the industry. Clever girls!

After lunch I snuggled into the session, 'Publishers and Agents: What They’re Looking For and How to Impress Them' withTara Wynne (Curtis Brown), Anouska Jones (EK Books), Holly Toohey (Random House), Rochelle Manners (Wombat Books) and Aleesah Darlison (Chair). Great industry tips filled this room from some of the most talented children's publishers in Australia.

Gosh, I wish I could have also attended the session called, 'Learn How Authors and Publishers Write and Develop Series' with Wanda Wiltshire, Chrissie Perry, Meredith Costain, Jodie Wells-Slowgrove and Jessica Owen (Penguin) (Chair). If only I could have been in two places at once. My next adventure is down this path. Watch this space!

To challenge my thinking and to learn more about a genre I'm not very familiar with, I next attended the session, YA All The Way: What makes young adult fiction so enticing to read – and to write? with Tristan Bancks, Steph Bowe, David Burton, Will Kostakis and Adele Walsh (Chair). This panel was fun! The diverse experiences on the panel made it extremely interesting.

Meanwhile, next door another dynamic panel was in place, 'Illustrators Incorporated: Being a successful children’s book illustrator involves more than just drawing pretty pictures' with Michael Salmon, Serena Geddes, David Hardy and Georgie Donaghey (Chair). How I would loved to have been in this room. I did find a leftover whiteboard illustration by Michael later in the day.

And the last two sessions for the day involved pitching. One for picture books and one for kids and YA novels. I didn't pitch this year but I felt so nervous for the people who did. I attended the picture book session and I learnt so much from listening to other people pitch. Listening to live feedback was priceless also. It was a fresh reminder of what to keep an eye on when constructing picture book manuscripts. This was very timely for me as I'm just about to submit a manuscript for an assessment during the upcoming SCBWI conference.

It's always a thrill to see your book in a bookshop, then have people buy it and come up to you to get it signed. And of course I couldn't stop myself from adding to my signed book collection as well.

My day ended with a well deserved social outing in a beer garden at a Balmain pub with my Newcastle author and illustrator friends (and Serena too!). A full tummy certainly did help with the long drive back home after a jam-packed day.

Thanks to the NSW Writers' Centre, Aleesah Darlison, and everyone behind the scenes who helped bring this festival to life. 

I still pinch myself at how many beautiful, talented and caring people I have met in the children's publishing industry during my own publication journey. 

Until the next one, may your writing and illustrating be full of amazing ideas!