Wednesday 23 July 2008

Wordle!

Ever wonder how frequently you use words in your stories? Well now i've got a better solution than "find"!

http://wordle.net/create

Photobucket

In the first two chapters of my novel, my two most used words are Ben & Said. I'll have to work on that.

Avron Course

Hey Guys,
I've applied for this Writing for Children & Young Adults course that Avron are running. It costs £499-550 for the full weeks residential, but you can apply for a grant from Avron for £300. Anyone fancy coming with? You can book a place and not pay anything while you wait to hear if you can get a grant.

http://www.arvonfoundation.org/static.php?pcid=357

Celebration BBQ

Would like to invite you all and any friends/flatmates/brothers/lovers that you would like to bring to a BBQ to celebrate the excellent news that I got this morning.

There was a suspicion that my cancer had relapsed, but thankfully the suspicious lump, who I have named Herbert in honour of the equally mysterious Bill, turned out to be inoffensive scar tissue from surgery. Hurrah!

Come celebrate with me at my house on Saturday from 3pm. Bring a bottle and something to slap on the BBQ. All welcome.

8 Northumberland Ave, Forest Hall, Newcastle, NE12 9NR
near Benton metro.

Saturday 19 July 2008

Children's Conference

If you guys are going, i'm going to leave it up to you to contact them.

Send an email To Enid (enid.stephenson@googlemail.com) and Anna (aganley@societyofauthors.org) RE: 'society of authors conference student options' with your choice - needs money either cheque or cc plus full address, phone and emails.

Choices were:

a) you and your fellow students can come at members rates, all in, including housing.

b) you and your fellow students could come for £40 each for the two days - no meals or housing but all talks/workshops.

c) £70 per student lunch only plus all talks/workshops for the 2 days, no housing.

DO NOT LEAVE THIS MUCH LONGER. It's only fair that we let them know soon, as they were so generous to offer it to us.

David Almond said it was in the works

Skellig the opera!

Friday 18 July 2008

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Children's writers group conference

We should get back to the lady about how many of us want to go at the reduced price. She needs money either cheque or cc plus full address, phone and emails for all of us, so we need to get that sorted and send it off. Let me know.

Sunday 13 July 2008

Children's Writers and Illustrators Group Conference

To anyone that is interested:

Children's Writers and Illustrators Group Conference

Phillip Pullman will be in attendance, as well as David Almond!

I can email you a copy of the itinerary if you're interested.

But, it's kinda really expensive...

So I sent an email to the co-ordinators and they've sent this reply:

We've come up with various options:
a) you and your fellow students can come at members rates - they are as low as we can go I'm afraid
HOWEVER
b) you and your fellow students could come for £40 each for the two days - no meals but all talks/workshops
or
c) £70 per student lunch only plus all talks/workshops for the 2 days.
Let me know what you choose. We can only offer this to a very limited number of students so I suggest you don't hesitate for too long!
Outings are £10 each and can't be reduced...but are very optional and there is a lot of good stuff going on in Cambridge for free.

I think there are plenty of ways to make this affordable, choosing the £40 option and getting meals at boots and taking things that can be made easily like cuppa soups and whole fruits and veggies. Getting there can be done on the Megabus and if you book early, fares are only £1 (but be aware that you have to travel from Newcastle to London, London to Oxford, and then on to cambridge. Long freaking day on a bus) but hey, it's cheap and you get to take the scenic route). There are quite a few hostels in Cambridge, and I bet if we ask around, some of the uni's might let us stay in their dorms quite cheaply.

I think I want to go. Who wants to go with me?

Getting Published

Here's a nifty tool that allows you to search for magazines that publish creative writing. It allows you to enter specific search options such as the length of the piece you want to publish, the genre, payscale you are looking for, etc.

http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx

"I'll keep this short..."

I saw this on the BBC News website and thought it might be interesting...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7495000/7495638.stm

Wednesday 2 July 2008

Castle Writing

Hi. Cassie & I are heading out to Alnwick tomorrow to do some serious writing in the castle/gardens. Anyone want to join us? I will be driving so can take more peeps up. The atmosphere up there is great for writing and I want to get up again before the schools break up.

http://www.alnwickcastle.com/

Lynne x