An overview of my Aquatic Alphabet. A box of Faber-Castell watercolour pencils combined with a Doodle Day challenge made for a fun December. The Doodle Day challenge this month was to come up with anything that begins with the letters A to Z and is related to water, underwater, ocean, etc. To this I added […]
Fallen Angel – Holiday Writing Contest
This is the second year I am taking part in Susanna Leonard Hill’s Holiday Writing Contest. Not only does Susanna gather round a lovely community of children’s writers to share their stories, she also gives out some pretty awesome prizes. For this story, which had to be under 350 words, I have done something I […]
The Totally Subjective Best Picture Book Buying Guide Before Christmas
Books, not only good for reading. Copyright Y. Mes I was talking to two of my friends during our recent playgroup about our children’s favorite picture books and how it can be difficult to decide which ones to get. I have read around 650 picture books since the start of the year (yep, 650, you […]
The First ‘B.I.G’ Exhibition – Brisbane Illustrators Group has launched.
First the important things: WhereBrisbane City Council Library, George StreetLevel 2 WhenNovember and December, 2013 WhoPeter AllertJo BrookerAnn-Marie FinnGraeme FitzsimmonsGiuseppe PoliTanya HempsonLucia MasciulloKatherine MayKaren Mounsey-SmithTony SinglePeter TaylorAnil Tortop I have been a silent member of the BIG (Brisbane Illustrators Group) online page for a couple of months. I have mostly lurked fascinated and faintly intimidated […]
PiBoIdMo Children’s Writers Blog Hop
PiBoIdMo – Picture Book Idea Month I was pretty new to everything to do with writing for children this time last year. One of the first things I came across was Tara Lazar’s PiBoIdMo and I joined straight away. It was free, easy to use, inspiring and you could even win prizes just by commenting! […]
StoryArts Festival Ipswich 2013
Illustration copyright by StoryArts Festival Ipswich In September I attended the StoryArts Festival Ipswich. It was amazing, inspiring, at times intimidating, exhilarating, informative, fun, overwhelming and exhausting. And I am rather sad I have to wait two years to experience it all again. Many thanks to Jenny Stubs and her team from the the Ipswich […]
Short Story Success
It has been a wonderful couple of weeks in my writing life. I have just returned from the inspiring StoryArts festival writer’s conference (of which I’ll post more later). My mind is still spinning with the things I have learned and the people I met.When I came home I was thrilled to see that my […]
New Onomatopoeia Resource – Sounds Like …
The most comprehensive Onomatopoeia resource online!Cost: FREEConceived by: Kristen FultonAvailable: HEREContributors: Myself and many others (see cover).When I first started writing for children, the word Onomatopoeia kept tripping me up (It IS a pain to spell). I found out what it meant: noun [mass noun] the formation of a word from a sound associated with […]
What I learned at the CBCA Awards – Book Week Dinner Queensland
Melanie Hill, Yvonne Mes, Tania Cox, Rebecca Sheraton In honour of Book Week 2013 The Children’s Book Council of Australia Qld Branch held a dinner last Friday, the 16th of August, for the announcement of the Book of the Year Awards and the Dame Annabelle Rankin Award. A great way to get an insight into […]
Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales
Cover by Kelly McDonald I am very excited to be part of and announce the release of: Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales or maybe the heading should be: Look, I’m Published! This anthology features over 30 short stories based on traditional fairy tales or have been created specifically for this anthology by […]