Books and other stuff

The Girl the Dog and the Writer in Rome

Just a few things I’m reading/watching/buying/loving lately:

BOOKS

YA // Between Us by Clare Atkins – compelling new #LoveOzYA about an Iranian asylum seeker, and a boy she meets at school whose dad works works at her detention centre. So well-crafted with alternating narrators, some parts told in verse.

MG // Missing by Sue Whiting – a gripping new middle grade mystery about a girl determined to believe that her mum who’s missing in Panama is still alive. Heartbreaking and had me hooked right to the end.

JF // The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad – charming, quirky, wanderlust-inducing (and will leave you craving raspberry gelato) – a gorgeous kids’ novel about 10-year-old Freja Peachtree’s adventures with a madcap writer in Rome. Quirky characters, a unique feel and LOTS of delicious food.

My Lazy Cat

PB // My Lazy Cat by Christine Roussey – Boomer the cat arrives on the narrator’s doorstep one day, and quickly becomes her best friend. But the girl decides Boomer’s quite lazy, unlike her with all her activities, from judo to yoga. When her day doesn’t quite go to plan she follows Boomer outside, and discovers the art of doing ‘nothing at all’. Love this story, and the illustrations are adorable!

OTHER STUFF

Shopping: at Miniso – hello, Japanese sheet masks (and other random fun stuff).

Eating: at Sushi Hotaru – favourite sushi train ever, great for a post-Kinokinuya browse.

Sushi Hotaru

Watching: I, Tonya –  shocking insights into Tonya Harding’s background, phenomenal acting!

Listening to: Lots of podcasts, including (surprise) ours! Episode 1 of One More Page debuted last week, and articles have popped up in a few places, like Books + Publishing here and the SCBWI blog here. Exciting times – and it’s almost time for Episode 2 next Wednesday, with our guest interviewee the talented illustrator Nicky Johnston.

Other bookish podcasts I’m listening to lately include That YA Podcast, Better Words, and Words and Nerds, plus long-time favourite So You Want to be a Writer. And in non-bookish pods, excited to discover Wowee!, interviewing artists and creatives, like jewellery designer Emily Green.

November news: A podcast and a prize!

So, it’s November and it’s the Christmas/end of year countdown and I don’t understand how we got here so fast?! Aside from wondering where all the time went, a couple of exciting things have happened lately in the land of all things books and writing …

One is a new podcast. Specifically, a kids’ book podcast co-hosted by my writer/book-freak friends, Kate Simpson and Nat Amoore, and me! It’s called One More Page, it’s starting in February, and you can find out more at our shiny new website here. And here’s a trailer put together by our resident cinematographer, Nat:

As you can probably tell from our cat/frog/chicken personas, we’re aiming for all-ages appeal. There’ll be interviews with authors and other book industry types, along with chats/games/interviews with kids to discover what they’re reading and recommending. It should be fun. And maybe even a little bit funny.

Also, I won a writing competition! Greenleaf Press, a business supporting writers headed up by kids’ author Aleesah Darlison, held their first picture book manuscript competition recently, and I was beyond excited to discover I’d shortlisted from the hundreds of entries received. Then won! And then I found out another entry of mine was longlisted too, which was a lovely unexpected bonus. The main prize was a detailed manuscript critique from Aleesah, which was very much needed and appreciated.

Aside from that, I’m doing NaNoWriMo to work on a new junior fiction book. I have a love/hate relationship with NaNo as I’m sure so many others do. It’s a way to force some words out in a short period of time and get a draft down, which is a good thing as even if it’s terrible, there’s something to work on and improve. But it’s also an annoying burden, inducing feelings of not-doing-Nano guilt every time you dare to turn your attention to something else (*cough* Stranger Things … and Younger). Anyway, I managed to do the 50K once before (in 2013), so perhaps I can do it again? To be honest I’m really aiming for more like 30k with this book, so if I even make that I’ll be happy!