Word Explosion Success!

I have been away from my blog a very long time and I apologise to all those who thought I may have fallen off the blogging planet. Amongst lots of other things (Christmas, snow, illness etc) I have been responsible alongside a colleague for the first Children and Young People's LitFest in North Cornwall. We had a number of workshops run by Caroline Binch, Bridget Crowley, Tim Bowler, Helen Dunmore and Jon Mayhew. Jon travelled from Cheshire to Cornwall to do two excellent sessions on Gory Ballads and Scary Stories, one of which was at Bodmin Jail, the other at Bude Castle. He had the largest turnout with 40 adults and kids at Bodmin and his book is not even out till April!! It was also fantastic because a parent came up to us at the end of his Bodmin session and explained that her son was extremely dyslexic and had been shy about sharing his story, however he had really been inspired by Jon and the session as a whole, which simply has to be a mark of success. It was also a joy to spend some time getting to know Jon and introduce him to a taster of Cornwall (and I don't just mean clotted cream scones!).
In addition I went to the session with Helen Dunmore, most known for her Ingo books. She was gracious and approachable to all who came to see her... a real gem. So I think I can safely say that it was a great start and we have lots to develop and build on for next year. It also inspired and motivated me in my writing as I admit to having had little writing time, although I did submit a short story in January. I think I had lost a little confidence and needed some encouragment and inspiration to revisit it and pick it up again. This has begun with a spring clean of my blog with a new design and the intention to keep it regularly updated and more writing focused. It has been a brilliant week and a special thank you to Jon for traveling so far and doing such great workshops that inspired the children of Bude and Bodmin this week.

February Children's Litfest Update

Blimey it has been ages since I posted, time just slipped away from me. I have been very busy trying, amongst other things, to organise North Cornwall's first Children and Young People's Literary Festival. The event is themed around Myth and Magic, and with the help of some lovely people I have managed to secure Tim Bowler and Helen Dunmore to come and do sessions in the festival. I am working on trying to contact Angie Sage through her agent, but we also have lots of local talent. If he is still able I am hoping our very own Jon Mayhew may also do a session on writing scary stories! We have our own Victorian jail to hold it in, complete with resident ghosts! It is mayhem at the moment but I am hoping it is all coming together slowly and will be ready to launch.
I am at a loss for a name for the festival that will attract young people as well as children. Any ideas out there?
I have been doing lots of research for my book on living conditions of early nineteenth century Cornish mining families and the influences on their values and mindset. It has been fascinating but has made me decide to change loads in my book already. I also received an exciting ebay purchase today. It is a box that has a secret method to open and lock it - it involve tapping the box in the correct place to lock and unlock it. It is solid wood with a barn owl carved into it. I bought it because it has given me great ideas for a very important artefact in my book. Will post a picture next post.
I received my copies of the two books pictured above to read. I have read Ingo before but wanted to read it again and I had not read any of Tim Bowler's. 'Bloodchild' is his latest but I felt drawn to River Boy, at least for now. What are all you wonderful people in blog land reading right now?My current books ar, 'The Screwtape Letters,' by CS Lewis and 'Physik' by Angie Sage.