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Rebecca Newman is a children’s writer and poet.

Her work has been published in anthologies with Bloomsbury (children’s poetry) and Night Parrot Press (flash fiction for adults), and she has had numerous pieces for children published in The School Magazine (Education Department of New South Wales).

Rebecca's latest published poem is ‘Potion Problems’ in the anthology Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems Chosen by Paul Cookson (Bloomsbury, UK), available from all good bookshops!

Rebecca lives in Perth, Western Australia. When she’s not writing you’ll find her messing about with collage, playing Irish fiddle, or pottering in her tiny kitchen garden. Rebecca is also the editor at Alphabet Soup’s website www.alphabetsoup.net.au, which provides a forum for children’s own writing.

Awards & Honors

(2021) First place in the Toolangi CJ Dennis Poetry competition (children's choice category) for a poem 'Magpie Season'.
(2021) Second place in the Toolangi CJ Dennis Poetry competition (adults writing for children category, judged by adults) for a poem 'Magpie Season'.
(2021) Shortlisted for a flash fiction story 'Poetry', in the Love to Read Local Flash Fiction Competition (run by Writing WA, Night Parrot Press & Raine Square).
(2020) Shortlisted for a flash fiction story ‘Fish’, in Writing WA's Flashing the Cover flash fiction competition
(2019) Recipient of a Paper Bird Fellowship (Writer-in-Residence) at Paper Bird Books, Fremantle, Western Australia
(2019) Second place in Jacking Hosking’s Rhyming Poetry Competition for a poem ‘Bubble Wrap Stomp’
(2011) Shortlisted for the Picture Book: Preschool category in the 2011 CYA Writers & Illustrators Conference competition for manuscript Lizzie Blueboots

Interviews and Media

Judge’s comments for shortlisted flash fiction piece ‘Fish’ in the WritingWA Flashing the Cover competition, 2020
Interview with a Poet with author Nadia L King, 2020
Paper Bird Book Home Club interview, April 2020
Booktober interview with Imani The Author, 2019

FAQ

Where can I read your poems?

I have a poem in an anthology, Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems chosen by Paul Cookson (illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon). My poetry and a playscript have also appeared in The School Magazine — so if you live in NSW you might have seen my work in Countdown and Blast Off.

You’ll also see a sample of my poetry if you click on Other Work.

Where do you get your ideas?

I get ideas from everything that’s happening around me — what I can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Sometimes I go back to memories from when I was a child and write about that. Sometimes I write about how I’m feeling.

In the past, I played Poetry Tag with Sally Murphy (another Australian poet). We took it in turns to give each other a few words to use in a poem and I got my ideas from the words she gave me.

Do you write with a pen and paper, or on the computer?

I use a pen and paper if I’m writing a poem. I have notebooks lying around all over the house. Sometimes I write on a scrap of paper but I don’t recommend it because scrappy bits of paper have a habit of getting lost …

If I’m writing a story, I usually type it on the computer.

Do you run poetry workshops for kids?

Yes! Learn all about my workshops and availability on my Speaking page. For rates and more information, you can email me at rebecca@rebeccanewman.net.au.

Where can I find poetry books?

Have a look in the poetry section at your local library or your school library (ask the librarian to help you if you’re lost). Bookstores usually have children’s poetry books on the shelves and/or you can ask them to order books in.

Write your own poetry books and swap with your friends!

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Rattled is an anthology of rat and mice haiku in celebration of the Year of the Rat. The book includes leaf art and a musical track composed especially for Rattled by Corine Timmer via QR code.

Proceeds go to Apopo HeroRATs.

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\"From the editor and publisher of Barking Mad and Hog Wild comes another delightful collection of haiku themed on the Asian zodiac, Rattled. With this delightful collection Corine Timmer succeeds in sowing respect and empathy for the rats and mice that thrive in the margins of our human-centered world. These poems, many of which are by well-known haijin, including Master Issa, may change the way you feel about rodents forever.\" —Linda Papanicolaou

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Can you hear the distant dragon's rumble of thunder? And smell the sweet swampy aroma of the ogre? Can you taste the tangy tarantula tarts? And see the girl who's really a wizard? From magic carpets and wands to unicorns, potions, creams and lotions, Paul Cookson's brewing a spell of fantastically magic poems.

On this tattered magic carpet

You can choose your destination

For nothing's quite as magical

As your imagination

Beautifully illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon, this enchanting anthology brings together work from a range of classic, established and rising poets. Whether you're in the mood for a haunting or a spell gone wrong, this collection of mesmerising poems will have you bewitched from beginning to end!

Poets include: William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Zephaniah, John Agard, Valerie Bloom, Matt Goodfellow, Joshua Seigal and Rebecca M Newman.

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“An enchanting cauldron full of classic and well established poets and rising stars of the poetry world, there really is something for everyone in Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble.” – North Somerset Teacher's Book Award Review

“Loads of fun, this is a light-hearted and crackling collection of poems which touches on magic of all kinds. [...] The poems are bursting with energy and humour which makes them fun to read and also an easy introduction to writing verse to anyone who wants to give it a try.” – Julia Eccleshare M.B.E, LoveReading4Kids

“The poems are fun, quirky, humorous, some I already know which was so nice to see and bought back childhood memories.

Most of the poems had pictures which were beautifully illustrated and helped bring the poems to life. [...] I can't recommend reading this gorgeous book enough.

” – Dash Fan Book Reviews

“This was such a fun, entertaining collection of poetry that will certainly get you into the mood for all things eerie and hair-raising. You can tell that each poem was carefully chosen to be in the collection by the editor, Paul Cookson and everyone was perfect for it.” – Amy's Bookish Life

“An enchanting collection of poems from classic, established and rising poets, delivering spooky recipes, ghosts, adventures or quiet nights. Complete with mesmerising, bewitching illustration, an anthology, a collection to love.” – Armadillo

“The array of poets used is simply brilliant! [...] Needless to say, as a teacher you NEED to share poetry as much as you can. It is short and quick to read and kids love – winner all round.” – Great British Bookworm

“Full of the Fun factor: Whether you're in the mood for a haunting or spell gone wrong, this collection of poems will have you bewitched from beginning to end!” – Girl Talk Magazine

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Say hello!

You can find Rebecca on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

For more information about Rebecca's events and workshops, please visit her Speaking page. Rebecca charges rates recommended by the Australian Society of Authors. Please contact her directly for availability and rates.

Rebecca Newman

PO Box 3099

BROADWAY NEDLANDS WA 6009

AUSTRALIA

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Select Short Stories, Playscripts, & Other Works

'Fish' and 'Tidings' — two short stories in Twice Not Shy, a flash fiction anthology for adults (Night Parrot Press, 2021)

‘Here is the Child’ lyrics for a Christmas Carol. Set to music by Western Australian composer Joshua Adams and performed at Perth’s St Mary’s Cathedral by The Giovanni Consort (2020)

‘Back in Time to 2019’ playscript published in The School Magazine: Countdown (2019)

Select Poetry

'Rat Lullaby' and 'Handover', two poems in a teacher's resource Teaching Poetry for Pleasure and Purpose, edited by Sally Murphy (Primary English Teaching Association Australia, 2021)

‘Midnight’ haiku in the anthology Rattled, edited by Corine Timmer (Bica Books, 2020)

‘Potion Problems’ featured in the anthology Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems chosen by Paul Cookson, illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon (Bloomsbury UK, 2020)

‘Indian Ocean’ featured in the Poems on Postcards Series 3: In Swings the Tide (2020)

‘The Button Jar’ published in The School Magazine: Countdown (2020)

‘How to be an Emu Egg’ featured in the Eggsibition Exhibition at Paper Bird Books Gallery, Fremantle Western Australia (2017)

‘Body Beat’ published in The School Magazine: Countdown (2017)

‘Bookmarks’ published in The School Magazine: Countdown (2017) and reprinted in 2021

‘Biscuit Bother’ published in The School Magazine: Countdown (March 2015)

‘Odd Socks’ published in The School Magazine: Blast Off (June 2014)

Select Poems in Full

Odd Socks

People say

your socks don’t match!

as if I didn’t know.

But socks that clash

have much more dash,

odd socks—

the way to go.

The principal bought black socks,

seven pairs, all the same.

He says his black socks always match,

I think that’s such a shame.

I close my eyes when choosing socks

one stripes, one spots,

one bright, one grey.

It’s better when my socks don’t match—

sock lucky-dips every day.

© Rebecca Newman

‘Odd socks’ first appeared in The School Magazine: Blast Off, June 2014, issue no. 5.

Biscuit Bother

My sister ate the biscuit

the last one in the jar,

I thought that I could sneak it

but I didn’t sneak it far —

as I snuck it past my sister

she gave an angry shriek!

It’s a problem when your sneakers

have more squeak than they have sneak.

© Rebecca Newman

‘Biscuit Bother’ first appeared in The School Magazine: Countdown, March 2015, issue no. 2.

","title":"Other Work"},"meta":{"order":1},"navigation":{"displayInNav":true},"products":[],"galleries":[],"id":"mSuAXX07Q2hW0ePG7Q","assets":{},"schedule":{}},{"about":{"content":"

Rebecca loves to share poetry and poetry writing with budding poets. Rebecca’s poetry has been published in Australia by The School Magazine (published by the Education Dept of NSW), and internationally in children’s poetry anthologies.

She has experience presenting to students from Years 3 to 6.

Her presentation options include:

Where I’m from: Meet the poet

Where do poets get their ideas? Do poems have to rhyme? Where would you find poetry?

Rebecca will talk about her journey to becoming a poet, bust myths about poets, answer questions about poets and poetry, and read aloud from her own poetry. We will round off the session by writing a short collaborative poem.

I am a Poet: Children’s writing workshop

Fire up those imaginations and let’s get writing! Rebecca will walk budding poets through the process of turning an idea into a poem.

To Book an Event:

Rebecca is currently available for speaking events. She charges rates recommended by the Australian Society of Authors. Please contact her directly for availability and rates.

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2022 is rushing by and I have a few exciting things in store over the next few months!

Firstly, this month you can read one of my blackout poems in issue two of a new magazine for kids aged 10-14. Flight is a quarterly illustration and story magazine, featuring artists and writers from all over the world. You can check out the magazine here.

17 & 18 September 2022 in Perth: I'll be teaming up with fabulous illustrator Cindy Lane to run a poem-and-art mini workshop at the Scribblers Festival Family Weekend. More on that soon.

I've just signed a contract for two flash fiction pieces to be included in an anthology of short stories for grownups. That will be out in October 2022.

----

This month I've been buried in paperwork and filing from 2021. I had a busy year last year!

2021 highlights

April: two flash fiction pieces published in a short story anthology for grownups (Twice Not Shy).

May: The School Magazine's Countdown magazine reprinted my poem 'Bookmarks' with a stunning illustration by Tohby Riddle.

June: one of my flash fiction stories made the shortlist in WA's Love to Read Local Flash Fiction Competition. Then all the shortlisted stories went into the short story dispenser in Raine Square in Perth City! (It's a bit like a vending machine for short stories instead of snacks.)

September: two poems in Teaching Poetry for Pleasure and Purpose, a teaching resource written by Sally Murphy and published by the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

November: the CJ Dennis Poetry Competition awarded my poem 'Magpie Season' first place in the children's choice category for adults writing for children, and second place in the category judged by adults.

That's enough for now, really!

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This year I’m taking part in a Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem, which is running during April for National Poetry Month in the USA. (Thank you to fellow Australian poet Kathryn Apel for the invitation!) The Progressive Poem was the brainchild of Irene Latham back in 2012 and since 2020 Margaret Simon has taken the baton as poem coordinator.

During April the poem has been passing from blog to blog with each poet-blogger adding a line. There’s a list of participating poets at the end of this post.

Yesterday (Day 26) the poem landed with Tim Gels, who offered me a choice of two lines to start the next stanza before I add my own. Here are the two options Tim gave me:

Now let’s write our own — maybe prose, maybe rhyme!

I love all of them, but my favorite ones rhyme!

I’ve chosen the second option.

This is the poem so far, including Tim’s new line:

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!
Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.
I’ll spread my joy both far and wide
As a force of nature, I’ll be undenied.

Words like, “how can I help?” will bloom in the street.
A new girl alone on the playground – let’s meet, let’s meet!
We can jump-skip together in a double-dutch round.
Over, under, jump and wonder, touch the ground.

Friends can be found when you open a door.
Side by side, let’s walk through, there’s a world to explore.
We’ll hike through a forest of towering trees.
Find a stream we can follow while we bask in the breeze.

Pull off our shoes and socks, dip our toes in the icy spring water
When you’re with friends, there’s no have to or oughter.
What could we make with leaves and litter
Let’s find pine needles, turn into vine knitters.

We’ll lie on our backs and find shapes in the sky.
We giggle together: See the bird! Now we fly!
Inspired by nature, our imaginations soar.
Follow that humpback! Here, take an oar.

Ahh! Here comes a wave – let’s hold on tight,
splashing and laughing, let’s play until night!
When the Milky Way sparkles, and the moon’s overhead,
we make a pretend campfire and tell stories we’ve read.

Some stories are true and some myths of our time.
I love all of them, but my favorite ones rhyme!

It’s my turn to offer a choice of two lines for the start of the next couplet! (The next poet Catherine Flynn will choose one of these before continuing with her own line.)

With windows to see other lives, other places

Now add in your story and I’ll share mine, too

With only three days of the poem remaining I can’t wait to see how it ends. Over to you, Catherine!

If you’d like to check out all the stops on this progressive poem’s journey, you’ll find them here.

2021 Timeline for April:

1 Kat Apel at katswhiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman [you are here]
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

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In October I was thrilled to open a parcel and find a beautiful Bloomsbury anthology with one of my poems in it. The anthology is Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: magical poems chosen by Paul Cookson. My poem is on page 97 and is called ‘Potion problems’. All the poems have a magical theme so it’s positively brimming with wizards and witches and spells and potions and dragons and more! (The perfect Christmas gift for the primary school bookworm in your life … ) The anthology was out in the UK in September 2020. It will be in bookshops in Australia from 4 December 2020.

Speaking of Christmas … This year I wrote lyrics for a Christmas carol. ‘Here is the Child’ has been set to music by amazing WA composer Joshua Adams. It will be performed as part of a Christmas concert programme by The Giovanni Consort in Perth on 11 December 2020. (Tickets are still available. Numbers are limited, due to COVID restrictions.)

And my last piece of writing news: I’ve had two short stories for adults accepted for an anthology of flash fiction, due for publication by Night Parrot Press in 2021.

In between all of that I’ve been growing loads of parsley and strawberries in my little garden, buying books at friends’ book launches and playing Irish fiddle tunes. And even playing Irish fiddle tunes alongside a cellist at a friend’s book launch. A wave of the wand and here we are at the end of November.

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Isn’t 2020 a WEIRD year? I’ve been extremely lucky — in between all the weird stuff I’ve had some wonderful happenings, too. After my Paper Bird Fellowship event back in January, I had a poem published in the March 2020 issue of The School Magazine. This one’s called ‘The Button Jar’ and has a fabulous illustration by Cheryl Orsini to go with it.

Also in March: I was interviewed by author Nadia L King about poetry and poetry writing. You can read that interview here.

Then, when all the social distancing started to happen (thanks, COVID-19), Paper Bird Books started the Paper Bird Books Home Club. On weekdays they host a children’s writer or illustrator on Instagram Live.

And in Episode 10 I found myself in the Home Club chair talking about my poetry, where to get ideas, and what to do with a poem. You can watch my 1/2 hour video on the Home Club YouTube channel.

Make sure you check out this Monday’s visitor, too (it’s the fabulous Kathryn Lefroy!). Head to Paper Bird’s Instagram (@paperbird_books) at 10.30am AWST on Monday to watch that livestream.

And my LAST piece of news: This week I was selected as one of 8 poets for the next postcard series by Poetry on Postcards. My poem is called ‘Indian Ocean’. You can read about Poetry on Postcards here.

Now I’m at home all day (thanks again, COVID-19) I’m trying to get a bit of work done on my children’s novel.

Happy Easter!

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If you follow me on social media, you might already know that I finished 2019 on a high note with a second place in Jackie Hosking’s rhyming poetry competition. The end of 2019 also heralded the end of my Paper Bird Fellowship. I was a Poet-in-Residence at Paper Bird for Term 4, and during my residency I was working on my children’s poetry collection, Rules for Sneezing.

Which leads me to this exciting news:

A Paper Bird Fellowship Evening: Let’s Talk Poetry!

I will be joining award-winning writer and children’s poet Sally Murphy at Paper Bird to talk about children’s poetry! And during the evening you can hear us read some of our own poetry. We’d love to see you there.

Date:
6 pm – 7.30 pm Wednesday 22 January 2020

Venue:
Paper Bird Children’s Books & Arts,
42 Henry St, Fremantle, Western Australia

Cost/bookings:
This event is FREE! But bookings are required via this EventBrite link.

The Paper Bird Fellowship is a partnership between Paper Bird Children’s Books & Arts, City of Fremantle Library, The WA Branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and the Australia West Branch of the Society of Book Writers and Illustrators.

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The past few months have been busy! Here’s a quick recap:

This term I’m the recipient of a Paper Bird Fellowship. This means I have the use of a writing studio at Paper Bird during Term 4 while I work on my children’s poetry collection. The collection is tentatively called Rules for Sneezing. I’ve been writing some brand new poems and polishing up some old ones, and preparing the whole collection to be ready for submission to publishers. It’s been fantastic to be able to work on my poetry in such a creative space.

A huge thank you to Paper Bird Books, Australia West Branch of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) WA Branch, and the City of Fremantle Library for granting me this term’s Fellowship.

At the conclusion of the Fellowship I’ll be presenting at a public event, so stay tuned for info about that, because it would be nice to have an audience to present to!

October was a great month — I had my first playscript published in The School Magazine (published by the NSW Education Dept). The play is called ‘Back in Time to 2019’ and it’s about school students 40 years in the future who go on a historical excursion to 2019, when we still had plastic wrappers … and bees.

Here’s the cover of the magazine, and me with the play on the day my author copy arrived in the mail. (Illustrations by the fabulous Cheryl Orsini.)

In October I was interviewed by 12-year-old Imani for a series of interviews she was hosting for Booktober. You can check out the interview here, where I talk poetry, and writing, my favourite ice-cream flavour and how I don’t like the smell of books …

Still in October (a super busy month) I spent the month experimenting with different poetry forms. If you’re on instagram, you can check out my efforts over there.

And in between all that I took 33 primary school students on a bus to recite ‘Mulga Bill’s Bicycle’ by Banjo Paterson at a festival. The 33 kids belong to a Choral Speaking Club I run at their school once a week. Those kids are fabulous.

And that was enough, really! Now it might be time for a long nap.

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So, 2019 is off to a fabulous start! I sold a poem to Bloomsbury Education in the UK for their 2019 children’s poetry anthology Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems Chosen by Paul Cookson. This is extra exciting news for me – I’ve had quite a few poems published by The School Magazine, but this will be my first poem in an anthology. I’m looking forward to holding a book in my hands later this year. (My poem is called ‘Potion problems’.)

Here’s a picture of me posting off my signed contract:

And, yes, I made one of my kids come along when I posted the letter just so they could photograph me with the post box. Nothing’s official until you’ve been photographed with a post box.

In totally unrelated news (unless you file it under ‘2019 successes’), I’ve been trying my hand at propagating succulents. And look!

[Off camera: a pile of brown shriveled succulent leaves that were clearly not a success. Let’s not dwell on those.]

A magical poem and baby succulent magic … a good start to the new year.

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Back in July I tagged myself to share a post about my favourite books from the first half of 2018. So it seems like a good idea to tie off 2018 with my favourites from the second half.

If you’re new here: I focus on books for under 12s. (I just don’t get through many books for grown-ups — or young adults — in 6 months.)

* = I borrowed the book from the library

**= I received a review copy of the book (but not for this blog, I wear a lot of booky hats out there in the real world)

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n

Currently reading:
\nSwallow’s Dance by Wendy Orr.

Favourite picture book read in the last 6 months
\nMaya and Cat by Caroline Magerl
\nA gentle story with divine illustrations. The text is like poetry and there are themes of friendship and resilience. This book is good for your soul.

Favourite fiction book read in the last 6 months
\nLouisiana’s Way Home* by Kate DiCamillo.
\nThis revisits a character from DiCamillo’s earlier book Raymie Nightingale. Louisana’s grandmother wakes her in the middle of the night and they leave home, never to return. A novel about finding your place in the world and your sense of self. Bring tissues.

Favourite nonfiction book read in the last 6 months
\nZeroes & Ones ** by Cristy Burne.
\nThe history of technology. Which sounds dry when you say it like that, but this book is not dry! Facts are given in small sections and illustrations are in a graphic style. Burne uses amusing (true) anecdotes, quotes and weird facts, and there are old photos with humorous captions. Read with pizza close by.

Favourite poetry book read in the last 6 months
\nH is for Haiku by Sydell Rosenberg, illustrated by Sawsan Chalabi
\nPoems (haiku) on everyday topics. Fun and appealing visually and poetically. (I bought this as part of my masterplan to buy children’s poetry books when I see them in local bookshops to prove there is a demand for children’s poetry books. This one was purchased at Paper Bird Books and Arts.)

Favourite new-to-me author discovered in the last 6 months
\nTamara Moss (Lintang and the Pirate Queen)*
\nThis was a rollicking fantasy adventure on a pirate ship. I couldn’t put this book down. This is book 1 in a series.

Favourite new-to-me illustrator in the last 6 months
\nRonak Taher (Sonam and the Silence, by Eddie Ayres) A beautiful picture book about the power of music for a girl in Afghanistan, when music is forbidden. Written in a folktale/fable sort of style. The illustrations are layered and textured and collage-y … and wonderful.

Favourite picture book I read aloud to children in the last 6 months
\nAunt Amelia* by Rebecca Cobb. Aunt Amelia is an unusual babysitter, and awesomely subversive. (The parents leave a DO NOT list, which the children and Aunt Amelia systematically flout.) This book is so. much. fun. I read it aloud to a class of 5 year olds and a class of 6 year olds and it took each class about two pages to cotton on to the joke. And they found it hilarious. Plus: Rebecca Cobb illustrations. So joyful.
\n(NB: official sources advise that Aunt Amelia is a lizard and not a crocodile. This was good for some heated discussion.)

A book that made me cry in the last 6 months
\nLouisiana’s Way Home* by Kate DiCamillo. (See ‘Favourite Fiction Book’ earlier in this post)
\n

A book that made me laugh in the last 6 months
\nGastronauts ** by James Foley. Okay, maybe more groans than laughs. This book has more poo puns than you could ever want. No, really. An entertaining comic-book style novel with a bit of gastro-science sneaking in as a bonus. It’s book three in a series of graphic novels.

A book that surprised me
\nWatch this! A book about making shapes by Jane Godwin, Beci Orpin and Hilary Walker. This is a seriously fabulous book about shapes, and instead of illustrations there are bright photographs of a group of children making the shapes with their bodies. Brilliant for the Under 6 crowd, but I’m 45 and I read it several times just because I love it so much. It would be excellent to re-create in small groups in a classroom. Or at playgroups. Or in your backyard with all the small cousins etc etc.

A book I’ve bought as a gift in the last six months
\nViolet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford, illustrated by Sarah Davis. Violet is the sort of child who ponders life’s mysteries, and notices details, and likes to collect small things. The entire series is a delight.
\n

Most beautiful book covers seen in the last 6 months
\nSonam and the Silence, by Eddie Ayres, illustrated by Ronak Taher. The cover is debossed (I think that’s the right word), matt-finished (not shiny) and grainy-textured when you run your hand over it. Lovely.

\nAND
\nThe Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Walls* by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby. (This middle-grade series has gorgeous covers and the books are chunky and a pleasure to hold.) The book cover shown here doesn’t properly show off the metallic foiling on the cover. It’s even better in real life!

Most anticipated new releases in the first half of 2019
\nFiction: Catch a Falling Star by Meg McKinlay (out February)
\nPicture book: I would Dangle the Moon by Amber Moffatt (Out June)
\nNonfiction: Kids Who Did by Kirsty Murray (Out April)
\n

Three books waiting on my TBR
\nLenny’s Book of Everything * by Karen Foxlee
\nWundersmith * by Jessica Townsend
\nIF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility edited by Allie Esiri & Rachel Kelly

A girl can never have too many books on her TBR. Give me your recommendations for my 2019 bedside pile!

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I’ve seen a few mid-year book tag posts on book blogs recently. (No-one has tagged me, but that won’t stop me joining in.) Because no-one has officially tagged me, I’ve changed up the questions a bit to suit myself. That’s the upside of tagging yourself.

I’m all about children’s books for under 12s. (I just don’t get through many books for grown-ups — or young adults — in 6 months.)

If there’s an asterisk it means I borrowed it from a library. I do love a library.

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Here goes:

Currently reading:
\nThe Dog with Seven Names by Dianne Wolfer

Favourite picture book read in the last 6 months
\nThey All Saw a Ca t by Brendan Wenzel*
\nThe cat walks through the world, and we see the cat through the eyes of other creatures. An interesting approach to changing perspectives. I really loved the illustrations, too.

Favourite fiction book read in the last 6 months
\nThe Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby*
\nMagic! Meddling! Mayhem! and also dry humour. There are pirates. And faeries. And dragons. Basically there’s something for everyone, in a satisfyingly chunky and beautifully-presented book.

Favourite nonfiction book read in the last 6 months
\nThe Bee Book (DK Books) by Emma Tennant and Fergus Chadwick*
\nA hardcover book with all the facts about bees you could want. Includes stunning photographs and illustrations.

Favourite poetry book read in the last 6 months
\nI’m Just No Good at Rhyming by Chris Harris, illustrated by Lane Smith
\nPoems on topics that are super familiar to primary school kids. Hilarious, clever, and entertaining. Every child and adult I shared it with loved it.

Favourite new-to-me author discovered this year
\nKimberley Brubaker Bradley (The War That Saved My Life)*

Favourite new-to-me illustrator this year
\nLorna Scobie (Apes to Zebras: An A–Z of Shape Poems by Roger Stevens, Liz Brownlee, and Sue Hardy-Dawson).* A book of concrete poems about animals, with some illustrations and graphic detail to enhance the text. Good poems! And a beautifully presented hardcover book. I also bought 365 Days of Art because I loved Scobie’s work so much. I haven’t tried it out yet. Because I am no Lorna Scobie. Wah.

Favourite picture book I read aloud to children in the last 6 months
\nThe Hole Story by Kelly Canby and
\nOh, Albert!* by Davina Bell, illustrated by Sara Acton
\nBoth these books are fun to read aloud. Also easy to read aloud (no stumbling). The perfect length. The illustrations were lovely. I (as a grown-up) enjoyed the story. The kids loved the story and joined in with the obvious repetition.
\nBoth excellent read-alouds. Yay!

A book that made me cry this year
\nThe War that Saved My Life* by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
\nAda has a twisted foot and is trapped inside day in and day out. She and her brother join the students evacuated to the countryside in WWII and are put into the care of a woman who isn’t expecting them. I couldn’t put it down.

A book that made me laugh this year
\nDuck! by Meg McKinlay and Nathanial Eckstrom
\nThis is a picture book that’s funny to read out loud and the pictures are funny and the twist at the end is funny and it’s just a wonderfully silly book for those times when you need a good laugh.
\nThe Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone* by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby

A book that surprised me this year
\nRoom on Our Rock* by Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton
\nA picture book that can be read from front to back. And then read from back to front — and this flips the message from negative to positive. With the treatment of refugees and people we’re being told to call ‘other’ in Australia at the moment, this is an interesting book to share with young readers through to older readers.

A book I’ve bought as a gift in the last six months
\nI’m Just No Good at Rhyming by Chris Harris, illustrated by Lane Smith

Most beautiful book I’ve read this year — which sounds fickle, but … hey, I do judge books by their covers. If you’re a book with a beautiful cover, you won’t stay on that TBR pile very long.
\nThe Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone* by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby

This image doesn’t do it justice. The cover is so shiny. The words are in gold foil. It’s a beautiful book.

Most anticipated new release in the second half of 2018
\nFiction: The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Walls by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby (out November 2018)
\nPicture book: Maya and Cat by Caroline Magerl (out August 2018)
\nNonfiction: Zeroes & Ones by Cristy Burne (out August 2018)

Three books waiting on my TBR (yes, I do have loads more than three on my TBR, but I’d get RSI typing it up)
\nThe List by Patricia Forde
\nMy Life as an Alphabet* by Barry Jonsberg
\nWormwood Mire* (Stella Montgomery Book 2) by Judith Rossell

Know any good books I should put on my TBR before the end of 2018?

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Lots of excellent happenings have been … happening … around here. A few months back I said yes to a shared studio space at Paper Bird Books and Arts in Fremantle. There are three of us being creative in the studio space. It’s light and bright, and since I started writing here (about twice a week) I’ve finished three picture books and I’ve written a good number of poems, too.

Don’t you love this mat?

Speaking of poems (and not so much about mats), The School Magazine has bought two more of my poems this year. And I’ve posted new poems to the Poetry Tag site. Here they are, and if you haven’t already, you should definitely zip straight over and see them in all their glory:

SEA SECRETS

BACK TO SCHOOL BLUES

AFTER A STORM

For my birthday, my very clever musical daughter composed a choral work based on ‘Sea Secrets’, which I might post to the blog once I figure out how. *ahem*.

And I’m now on instagram. Over there I’m @rebeccanewmanbooks. I post some poetry stuff, some booky stuff, some garden-y stuff, and some day-to-day-just-sort-of-noodling-about stuff.

In other (kitchen garden) news: this season we’ve planted a new passionfruit vine to replace the old one that’s not really thriving, cucumbers (which are thriving and already have flowers on them, go little cucumber plants!), watermelon, sunflowers, and lettuce. Everyone is thrilled to know that the succulents I planted earlier this year seem to be doing OK. But I imagine even I would have trouble killing those …

\n\n\n\n

","title":"A new studio and other exciting happenings"},"schedule":{"publishDate":"2017-11-11T13:42:43.000Z"},"tags":{"edible":true,"inMyGarden":true,"instagram":true,"kitchenGarden":true,"poetry":true,"studio":true,"writing":true},"id":"wxRps1cQmLdyqBylpIwhU","assets":{}},{"about":{"content":"

New Years’ Resolutions — I have some.

Writing
\nSubmit manuscripts to publishers.

I need to send more of my work out on submission. Shortly after coming to this conclusion: I submitted a short story to an anthology on 5th January. Pat on the back for me.

Garden
\nTurn my garden into a low-maintenance garden that has actual living plants in it.
\n

Ready to plant …

I bought pots of succulents. Lots of them. I don’t love succulents — I prefer leafier sorts of plants that rustle when the wind blows (the same sorts of plants, it turns out, that can be burnt to death by summer sun and desiccated by scorching salty winds). But, emboldened by my new resolve to stock my garden with appropriate flora, I bought a stack of succulents — in particular the ones with labels that said:

COASTAL CONDITIONS

LOW WATER NEEDS

THRIVES ON NEGLECT

FULL SUN ONLY

They are now planted in between my roses (because I can’t give up my roses). I’m still growing some edible plants, too. This year we have cherry tomatoes (with tomatoes on), cucumber vines (with no sign of a cucumber), passionfruit vines (with two passionfruit, hang in there!) and basil, thyme, rosemary and mint.

Drawing
\nDraw something little every day.

I’ve always wanted to be able to draw. And so I’ll try to draw something little every day, even if it’s complete rubbish. Because I quite like drawing. Even if it’s complete rubbish.

In other news, I was very excited to find real mail in my postbox this week.

It’s my latest poem ‘Body Beat’ in the February 2017 issue of The School Magazine (Countdown). The wonderful illustration is by Cheryl Orsini.

And I’ve had a couple more poems up at Poetry Tag (which were not written in 2017 but I thought I’d catch you up). Here they are:

Hope
Ghost Train on Platform 2

2017 is looking good.

~ Rebecca

Save

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Some of you more savvy readers will already know that this year The School Magazine is celebrating 100 years in print. To add to the excitement, today is World Poetry Day, and Jackie Hosking has talked a bunch(?)* of poets who’ve been published in The School Magazine into a poetry blog tour to mark the day. (Yay!)

My very first poem in The School Magazine was called ‘Odd Socks’, published in June 2014 — and that was the first time I’d been paid for a poem, too. The opening line of the poem came to me while I was at work one morning but I can’t remember if I had odd socks on that day. I do have a history of wearing non-matching socks. You would think that people wouldn’t notice socks … especially since I mostly get around in jeans. In fact, it’s surprising the number of Helpful Souls who will point out to you when your socks don’t match. Those same people are unfailingly astonished to discover it wasn’t a mistake, and that I left the house wearing clashing socks on purpose. Since June 2014, I can tell any Helpful Souls that my wearing odd socks worked out to be quite profitable, really.

The icing on the cake was that Kerry Millard illustrated my poem. As you can imagine, June 2014 was a truly wonderful month for me. (I am strongly in favour of The School Magazine continuing in print for another 100 years!)

You can r ead ‘Odd Socks’ on the POEMS tab of my website.

So — Happy World Poetry Day to you!

* Internet wisdom suggests ‘an iamb of poets’ but that doesn’t really trip off the tongue, does it? Oh, the irony. In my online wanderings I stumbled across someone’s vote for ‘a jubilee of poets’ and maybe I should go with that …

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Since we returned from the summer holidays, I have taught myself how to make fromage blanc (with the help of the internet, and a kit), and one of my lovely sisters-in-law taught me how to make sourdough bread.

Here’s my first attempt at fromage blanc:

Fromage blanc. Weird, huh?

And here’s my latest batch of sourdough:

As you can see, my sister-in-law is a very good teacher.

I’ve also been busy poem-making, and you can see two of my recent poems over at Poetry Tag:

Beneath the Backyard Lemon Tree and
Cottesloe Beach Skipping Rhyme (with bonus instructions for skipping in a group). BYO skipping rope. And a large bottle of water if you’re in Perth and suffering through this heatwave.

Speaking of heatwaves, looking out of my window I can see my sad garden. Other than my brave rosebushes, there’s not much in it because we were away over the summer break. So, here’s a photo of some of my roses because I didn’t get around taking a shot of the cos lettuces … or the weeds.

Roses from my garden. They smell like turkish delight.

~ Rebecca

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Over the school holidays we visited friends in Europe. The landscape was so different, and I took lots and lots of photos (it turns out I have a thing for bare tree branches arching over streetlights in the gloom. Especially if it also involves water nearby and/or cobblestones).

More on that later.

Today I have a skipping rhyme for you in celebration of Year of the Monkey. (Happy Chinese New Year!)

You can share it with anyone and print it off — as long as you leave my name attached to it … and do find a rope and skip to it. Well, OK — maybe not today because it’s eleventy-hundred degrees in Perth and we are all wilting. (If you are in another Australian state, feel free to skip to it.)

I really loved skipping rhymes as a child, and I loved the skipping part too, especially in a big crowd with two people turning the rope.

OVER IN THE JUNGLE — A SKIPPING RHYME by Rebecca Newman
\n
Over in the jungle
\nit’s the monkeys’ time for lunch.
\nThey like to eat bananas,
\nthey eat them by the bunch.
\n
Father likes the yellow ones,
\nMother likes the brown,
\nand Baby likes the green ones
\nmunching upside down!

Stay cool. Skip on!

~ Rebecca

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Happy spring! You can tell it’s spring because this is flowering in my garden.

Term 3 is always the busiest term of the year at our house. The calendar pages stuck to our fridge (actually just A4 sheets I’ve printed out) get so full of writing that they can’t take the weight of all that activity and they drop onto the floor … and slide underneath the fridge. Calendar pages that hide underneath the fridge really don’t help much with the Term 3 Busy-ness.

(Also, on a side note: our fridge door is silver-coloured but is not magnetic. Who makes non-magnetic fridge doors, I ask you? Where am I supposed to stick up my magnetic words for fridge-door poetry-writing? And artwork by our artists-in-residence? What am I supposed to do with all the fridge magnets that inevitably accumulate in a house?!)

In poem-y news, I have new poems up at Poetry Tag: the first one is called ‘The Birth of an Idea’ (Sally gave me the words birth, and together) and the most recent poem is ‘For Sally (on her birthday)’ (my words were take, feline, and cloud). Now I’ve tagged Sally, and it’s her turn to write …

As Term 3 draws to a close (we still have a week to go here in WA) I am back to writing as much as I can. This week I’ve been writing first drafts of poems, and working on the final drafts of my folktale-style picture book.

Garden update: No carrots, and the green stuff wasn’t a success. There are nasturtiums flowering though, as well as ranunculi, and one poppy plant. You might find that single poppy plant amusing if you follow me on Twitter:

Oh, April Rebecca. So optimistic.

Wait! I did get some passionfruit off the vine. Three in fact. Proof:

8 sleeps till the school holidays. I’ve got some more writing to do.

","title":"Spring fever"},"schedule":{"publishDate":"2015-09-18T11:34:41.000Z"},"tags":{"fridgeDoors":true,"inMyGarden":true,"poetry":true,"writing":true},"id":"wcspN4Qla9YkdFSMrO","assets":{}},{"about":{"content":"

The year is skipping along nicely. Here it is April and I still haven’t posted up a photo of my poem from the March issue of The School Magazine (specifically ‘Countdown’). You can see me, very excited, on the day my copy arrived in the mail:

The illustrations are by the wonderful Kimberly Andrews.

What else has been happening?

Over at the Poetry Tag site I’ve posted a new poem called ‘Waiting’. (Sally gave me the word prompts GO, FREAKY and TREE.) The resulting poem is inspired by a childhood memory.
I’ve been interviewed! At the Australian Children’s Poetry site, Teena Raffa-Mulligan and I talked about What Makes a Good Poem, and some other poem-y stuff.
I’ll have three poems published in a forthcoming anthology edited by Sally Odgers. (The anthology is called Prints Rhyming: Singing the Year.) More on that soon …

As well as cheering about exciting poetry-in-print news, I’ve been out in my little garden planting seeds for spring flowers, lettuce, carrots and rainbow chard. (No-one in the house likes rainbow chard much but I say IT’S GOOD FOR YOU so if it grows it will be going into our winter cooking.) I’ve never been able to grow carrots successfully but I’m giving it another go because I had a packet of seeds and they were about to expire. What I’m extra clever at is growing Spooky Carrots — wonky carrots with legs and arms and strange twisty shapes. Spooky Carrots still taste like the everyday sort but they are much harder to peel and to wash all the dirt off.

Here’s a spooky carrot I prepared earlier …

","title":"Poems in Print"},"schedule":{"publishDate":"2015-04-13T12:36:34.000Z"},"tags":{"inMyGarden":true,"poemsAboutBiscuits":true,"poetry":true,"spookyCarrots":true,"theSchoolMagazine":true},"id":"ugyOSRbsm3rcIaqHkVtP","assets":{}},{"about":{"content":"

Lorraine reading from one of her poetry collections, Guinea Pig Town.

Today I welcome Lorraine Marwood as a guest-poster. Lorraine is the author of novels, verse novels and poetry collections. She’s here today as part of a blog tour to celebrate the launch of the latest poetry collection — Celebrating Australia: A year in poetry, and while she’s here she agreed to share some wisdom about research and poetry writers. Over to you, Lorraine!

—

Research for poetry writers
\n

I’m wondering if it is universally known that poets research to gather words, concepts, ideas, and information all for the reader’s gratification? (As well as the researcher gaining much knowledge!)

I believe that a poem is as vital a form of communication as non-fiction or fiction, and dives beneath the layers of fact to provide the emotional element that in history or recounting is often lost.

In this collection, even poems with subject matter I knew a lot about had a research component. For example the Christmas poem — ‘Christmas Competition,’ was based on the house and street decorations we have in my hometown, but I’d also collected newspaper cuttings about it. This made it convenient to write a Christmas poem ‘out of season’ and visually remember the amount of time and amount of manufactured ‘festive spirit’ that went into house owner’s decorations. Often one component of my research is newspaper clippings, unusual and also topical.

Research in this instance meant that I was looking for a different angle to present a poem on a tried and true subject.

Books and internet became the basis of research for such celebrations as Chinese New Year, Ramadan, World Oceans day, Walk safely to school day, Bastille day — to name a few. Facts, colours, customs became the entry point for the poem. I had to immerse myself in the celebration across many web pages before I had a strong enough hold upon the facts to go off on my own tangent. After all, I am trying to write in a new way about established yearly events.

My editors made suggestions of what to include if it seemed that the poem still didn’t have enough depth and I re-worked or incorporated these suggestions.

For me getting facts right was very important in these poems. After all, many readers and hopefully many school classes will use these as springboards for exploration of their own celebration.

The vernacular of spoken words was researched for such iconic poems as ‘Talk like a pirate day’ and the Aussie slang poem for Australia Day. Again I used many sources to make a word bank of sayings and then for me finding the all important entry point. Then the poem would form its own structure and poetic devices.

Even subjects that I thought I knew a bit about like ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ were easier to write after research and pinpointing a common theme. Images and photos of celebration all added to the depth of research and equipped me with enough ideas to write.

Here are the opening lines of the St. Patrick’s Day poem

St. Patrick’s Day
\n By all things green
\n and shamrock-shaped
\n by all things leprechaun
\n and pot-of-gold-shaped
\n
© Lorraine Marwood

Of course research was even more important when topics like birthdays, grief and Christmas had more than one poem to represent them.

I really enjoy this aspect of my writing time, it’s like poetic map-making or planning and kick-starts my poems in unusual and exciting ways.

—

And now that you’ve learned something about the research that goes into Lorraine’s poetry, I have a poem of my own to share. Lorraine has challenged the host at each of the blog tour stops to write their own poem based on the patterning of her season-themed poems in Celebrating Australia. (At the first stop of this blog tour, Jackie shares instructions for using Lorraine’s autumn poem as a template for your own poem.)

Here’s my poem!

\n
Winter
\n
Winter is a constant rhythm
\na plink-tink thrum-drum patterning.
\nOne day a pianissimo tinkling
\nof rain on roof top,
\nby week’s end a crescendo
\nof drubbing, clattering, hammering, battering.
\n
Winter is stained glass, blurred,
\na forgotten paintbrush in a waterglass.
\nOne day the muted yellow glow
\nof street light halos,
\nby week’s end a bright fireside gleam
\nof lighted windows along our road.
\n
© Rebecca Newman
\n

—

For more poem-y goodness, be sure to check out the other stops on Lorraine’s blog tour.

Blog tour dates and links:

2 March Jackie Hosking: Topic: What makes a good poem ( according to LM) + giveaway.

3 March Kathryn Apel: Topic: Bringing a poetry collection together.

4 March Rebecca Newman: Topic: Research for poetry writers. [You’re here!]

5 March Claire Saxby: Topic: Inside this collection.

6 March Janeen Brian: Topic: How you create for the creators: how you create ideas to excite children and adults to write poems of their own.

9 March Alphabet Soup: Topic: Writing a class poem — the results! + giveaway.

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A scene from The Juniper Tree. Collage. By me!

It’s hot, hot, hot in Perth this week. That means more tomatoes picked from my garden (yay!) and more washing flapping on the line (also yay! because it dries super fast in this hot weather, and if there’s no washing flapping on the line then that means it’s still in the laundry and that can’t be good).

Other than picking tomatoes and pegging out washing, I’ve also been writing heaps of new poems (here’s one of them — a Rat Lullaby), and creating artwork. I’m taking part in the 52-week illustration challenge — that illustration at the top of this post is my collage for the first week’s theme, fairy tale. I used magazine pages torn into tiny pieces. So it also counts as spring-cleaning, sort of …

And now it’s time for a photo of a lemon cucumber and some little tomatoes from my garden. Lemon cucumbers taste like regular cucumbers, but they are shaped like a lemon with a yellowish blush to the skin. And the skin is edible! So we eat them like apples. (You have to brush off the tiny prickles first though, so you don’t get prickles on your tongue.)

YUM

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You can read my newest poem at the Poetry Tag site — the poem is called ‘Bullock’.

Sally gave me the following words:

DREAM

BECAUSE

MINE

What a combo!

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Today Tania McCartney is celebrating the launch of her newest picture book — Tottie and Dot — with a Blog Blast. She’s visiting a whole truckload of blogs all day today. Heaps of them. (A special welcome if you’ve blog-hopped from somewhere else to read this post!)

Firstly, a bit about the book. Here’s what the publisher says:

Tottie and Dot live side by side. They drink marshmallow tea in the morning. Side-by-side. They water blooms in the afternoon garden. Side-by-side. They make speckled eggs for tea. Side-by-side. All is calm and peaceful until, one day, things change between Tottie and Dot.

How long did it take you to write Tottie and Dot — from solid idea to having the final draft ready to submit to a publisher for consideration?

Timings are so hard to delineate! I write very fast, so the actual original writing time spent on this picture book would have been less than a day. I wrote the first draft back in 2010, and pottered with it on and off (I usually have many picture book manuscripts going at once). That same year, I submitted the text to a couple of publishers with no result, then again in 2011. In 2012, I submitted a revised version to the CYA awards and although it didn’t place, it scored highly and I received some very encouraging words from the judges, so I felt inspired to rework it one more time. It was accepted by EK Books in April 2013, almost immediately upon submission.

So, EK Books accepted it in April 2013. How long did it take the book to be published? (From acceptance to publication.)

From April 2013, I began liaising with my illustrator (and friend) Tina Snerling on the design and layout and imagery for the book. Tina had already worked with me on An Aussie Year so we had a really great working relationship, and were very familiar with how each other worked. Tina began drafting what Tottie and Dot would look like, and in July 2013, she sent through a first glimpse of Tottie and Dot.

\n\n

It was instant love. I adored them on sight. I loved the fuchsia pink but I did ask Tina to make the blue a little more aqua, and the result was wonderful.

From there, we set up a google spreadsheet (August 2013) and began working on the page layout and matching imagery with text. This continued through to around late January 2014, so I guess it was roughly six months all-up from acceptance to finished files. Next came the printing period, and as the distributor is Scholastic, we needed a long lead time before publication — hence the gap between our January end-of-production date and the book’s September release. This kind of timeframe is pretty standard — oftentimes even longer.

How do you like to write the very first draft for a picture book like Tottie and Dot? Are you a pencil-and-paper fan, computer … ?

I find it really, really hard to write longhand now. I’ve been pretty much typing since I was 11 and type up to 100wpm (but I don’t touch type!), so using a keyboard is really the only way for me. It’s especially helpful because I write quickly, my brain works quickly, and I need the speed to get the words down in time. Sometimes I pen part of some texts in a notebook, but it’s very rare. I like to work at home, in complete silence, but if I’m researching or drawing or revising, I do love to write in cafes (always on a laptop).

OK! Tottie and Dot is out in the wilds — what are you working on now?

Tina and I are midway through our next EK book—it’s called Peas in a Pod and is a picture book for slightly younger readers. It’s fun and kooky, and Tina’s draft illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. A glimpse:

It’s going to be very colourful and retro in style. I’m also working with a new illustrator — Jess Racklyeft — who I met on my 52-Week Illustration Challenge. She creates soft, whimsical illustrations that are perfect for my tender picture book Smile Cry — a topsy-turvy picture book for 2 — 7 year olds, where half the story starts at one end of the book, and the other half from the other end! Both books will be out 2015/2016. I’m chipping away at several more picture books and I’m also writing some junior fiction — Ava Bloom, and older junior fiction — Ella McZoo. I’m absolutely loving this genre.

Do you have a piece of advice for writers trying to get that first (finished-and-submission-ready) picture book manuscript submitted and accepted?

I have more than one piece! Let your work ‘breathe’, allowing it to sit for at least a month before redraftings. These revisits will help hone and make it much better, but don’t fall into the trap of overworking. Remember, a publisher will always value a great story idea well over perfect, grammatically immaculate text. Write what you know and love, and whatever you do, write something different. Don’t do what’s been done before. Be sure your narrative is clear and tight, and has a firm story arc, with a solid beginning, middle and most especially — a great ending. Your work should be a story not an account. It needs plot points, twists, conflict and resolution. Add humour, charm and strong, active characters that kids can relate to. When submitting, carefully research your publisher and align it with your work. And lastly, don’t give up. I know it’s a cliché, but just don’t give up. Publishing is a game of perennial patience.

—

Tania and Tina (Tottie and Dot’s illustrator) are stopping by lots and lots of blogs today. Click on the flyer below to be taken to the Grand List of All Blog Stops:

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I love pottering around in our (rather small) kitchen garden and I like to plant seeds rather than seedlings. I’ve got some seed packets of vegetables — heirloom varieties — but last year lots of the seeds I planted directly in the soil didn’t germinate. So this year (three weeks ago, in fact) I decided to try planting them in seed-raising trays and then planting them out. Here are some before shots:

In this tray I sowed seeds of lettuce, sunflowers, beetroot, tomatoes, tansy, and capsicum. (There were actually two trays like this, but they looked exactly alike, so … well … you know.)

In this tray I sowed cucumbers.

My kids eat a lot — A LOT — of cucumbers. So, in the second tray I planted three varieties of cucumber: burpless, mini lebanese, and lemon. These are in cups I can plant straight into the soil and the cups will break down naturally as the seedlings grow. (Cucumbers don’t like to be disturbed too much, so this makes transplanting them easier. <– I almost sound like I know what I’m doing, don’t I? Ha!)

Two weeks later — ta-daa!

Magic! (The giants are sunflowers.)

Only 4 out of 12 sunflowers germinated, but then they took off pretty quickly. The second biggest are lettuces. I sense a few salads in our future …

Very happy cucumbers. Look at them grow!

I planted the cucumbers and the sunflowers into the ground today. Spring is here!

Do you grow your own veggies or fruit?

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The winter months have been busy ones. The most exciting Busy Thing was that I set off to the east coast of Australia for the SCBWI* conference in Sydney. I caught up with so many authors and illustrators I don’t get to see very often (because they live on the east coast of Australia). Mostly I forgot to take photos because I was too busy conferencing, oops. But here I am catching up with the lovely Katrina Germein when I did manage to organise a photo:

With Katrina Germein (I’m the shiny one. Hmm.)

When I got back to Perth I was feeling inspired and started work on my long-neglected idea for a middle grade novel. (You should feel free to applaud). It doesn’t have a title yet. I’m still thinking.

Then I was feeling brave and I signed myself up to a writing course through the Australian Writers’ Centre (specifically: this one) as a sort of Personal Development because mostly I write picture books and poetry and tackling a story as long as a novel is a bit scary sometimes. (It turns out I’m a very succinct writer.)

And when I haven’t been writing I’ve been preparing my tiny garden for spring. More on that in another post soon. (Because I do get excited about my tiny garden and Growing Stuff.)

I can’t underestimate the importance of Distraction and Procrastination in the writing process. So, this morning I found myself looking longingly at this site featuring 10 Stunning Writing Studios. I can’t decide which one I covet most — possibly number 2. (I’m thinking of creating my own 10 Inordinately Unimpressive Writing Studios list. At least I’d have a faint hope of making the cut for that list … )

Lastly — What I should be doing: taking up Sally Murphy’s latest Poetry Tag challenge. She’s thrown me some new words. I’d better get to that this week …

—

* SCBWI is the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. If you write — or illustrate — for children you should check them out. Really.

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I’m just stopping in quickly to say you can now read my latest poem on the Poetry Tag site. Sally Murphy’s words for me this time were:

At a first glance they feel like they belong in a loud-ish sort of poem, don’t you think?

Oh, and Happy Start of Winter, too!

~ Rebecca

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On Friday I found a yellow envelope in my post office box with two copies of The School Magazine. This was because I have a poem published in the June issue of their ‘Blast Off’ magazine. (If you get it at your school, my poem is on page 7, it’s called ‘Odd Socks’.). I was especially thrilled to see Kerry Millard‘s gorgeous illustrations to go with it. Lucky me!

Then on Saturday my Poetry Tag pal Sally Murphy (who was in Sydney for the CBCA conference over the weekend) sent me this exciting tweet:

I like to think that someone in the audience might have been wearing odd socks. I was actually wearing odd socks at the time but I was also on the other side of the country so I couldn’t prove it.

You never know what might happen when you wear odd socks …

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I’ve been tagged by Lorraine Marwood to answer four questions in the Writing Process Blog Hop. (Thanks, Lorraine!) You’ll find my answers further down this post — but first, a bit about Lorraine …

THE TAGGER
\n LORRAINE MARWOOD

Lorraine is an award-winning writer. She has several poetry collections out (Guinea Pig Town is her most recent) and another poetry collection will be out in 2015. Lorraine also writes stories, novels, and verse novels.

Check out her website and don’t forget to read her ‘Tagged’ post, too where you can find out about her writing process and what she’s working on at the moment.

—

And now, my answers.

1. What am I working on?

A folktale-style picture book. It’s a bit dark. I’m also building a collection of children’s poems. I’ve been having fun experimenting with skipping rhymes because my youngest daughter and her best friend really love skipping and the rhythm gets into my head and won’t leave me alone …

And there’s always a new poem to tackle for Poetry Tag whenever it’s my turn to write one.

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

Music features strongly in most of my writing. I’m sure that’s why I especially love writing (and reading) children’s poetry, I love the rhythm and musicality of it.

3. Why do I write what I write?

I suppose it’s the result of years and years of filling my head with the sorts of books and poems I read. The age I remember best from my childhood was 8 to 10 and the 8 to 10-year old me does a lot of my writing. I like stories and poems that stick to kids’ bones and stay with them forever and I’d like mine to be like that too.

4. How does my writing process work?

What I do is walk around with my particular story (or poem) in my head for a long time. Weeks. Months. Every time I go out for a walk, the words shuffle themselves in my head and I go over and over them. And then, when the first draft is pretty much all there in my head ready to go, I sit down and write it in one go. I use a fountain pen. Once I have the first draft written down, I type it up and I do the rest of the drafts on the computer.

—

THE TAGEES

Time to tag some more writers … here are some of my favourite children’s writers. Keep an eye on their blogs where they’ll be answering the Writing Process questions sometime soon. If they can take a break from scribbling in their notebooks.

CRISTY BURNE

Cristy Burne is the author of zany adventure fiction for kids aged 8 to 12. She has worked as a science circus performer, garbage analyst, Santa’s pixie, and atom-smashing reporter at CERN in Switzerland.

Her first book, Takeshita Demons, was inspired by her years living in Japan, a healthy fear of ghosts, and a plastic head she found in her rubbish bin.

Check out her website where you can find out more about her and her books.

—

SANDY FUSSELL

Sandy Fussell lives south of Sydney. She studied mathematics at university, is intensely interested in history, and works in IT. She is the author of Polar Boy and Jaguar Warrior as well as the hugely popular ‘Samurai Kids‘ series.

Check out her website and also her blog. Samurai Kids also has its own site where you can take the ‘Which Samurai Kid Are You?‘ quiz. I got Niya, by the way.

—

CHRISTINA BOOTH

Christina Booth lives in Tasmania, near the city in the bush with her family and pets. She works from her studio overlooking a lake and a variety of wildlife where she illustrates her own books and great stories for other authors. Her latest picture book is Welcome Home.

[I commissioned Christina to do the artwork for the header of my website. I love her artwork.]

Check out her site for more about her writing and gorgeous illustrations.

—

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I love reading poetry (especially out loud) and I’ve been scribbling poems in a notebook for quite a few years now.

2013 was a big year for me poetry-wise. Around the middle of the year The School Magazine sent me an email to say they wanted to publish two of my poems. If you’re in NSW and/or you are a regular reader of The School Magazine, you can read the first of those poems in an issue coming out very, very soon. (It’s a poem about … something quite odd.)

The first words on the poetry tag blog. For Sally!

Then in October 2013 I started playing Poetry Tag with Sally Murphy. We take it in turns to throw a bunch of words on to the Poetry Tag website, yell ‘Tag! You’re It!’ and then the one on the receiving end has to weave those words into a poem. When they’ve posted a poem, they get a turn at throwing a bunch of words on to the site. It’s just for fun and there aren’t many rules. Other than the rule that the challenge words must be included in the poem, the poem-writer can come up with any sort of poem they like. Sometimes it’s tricky and the challenge words won’t behave and I desperately want them to go into places they won’t. And other times the poems almost write themselves. (Want to read my latest poem? Sally gave me the words ferocious, two, hole and brilliant and I came up with a ferocious poem. )

If you’re stuck in a rut it’s a fun way to get unstuck. You could use our words when they go up on the Poetry Tag website if you like. We’re generous like that. Or you could ask someone sitting nearby to give you some words to play with.

GO ON — I DARE YOU.

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