Sally Murphy's Blog, page 53

Whew! What a busy couple of weeks. After all the fun and frenzy of Bookweek, I jumped on a plane (two planes, actually), and flew across Australia to visit sunny Townsville, in Queensland. The thirteen hour journey was worth every second, because once there I spent a couple of amazing days working with the students and staff of Kirwan State School.

At Kirwan, all four year six classes have read and studied my three verse novels. They haven’t just read them – they have  talked about them and written about them and analysed them and, I suspect, there are kids there that now know my books better than I do!

Every student wrote me a letter asking me to visit and telling me their responses to Pearl Verses the World. They are all also preparing for panel discussions where they will analyse my writing style. All of this is wonderful, but what is the most wonderful part is the very personal connections that so many of the students have made with the books. They are opening up to each other, to their teachers and to me about their own life experiences and how they find themselves reflected in the pages of the books. For me, this is heart-warming, and inspirational, and perhaps slightly overwhelming.

As a writer I spend a lot of time working in isolation and wondering if what I am doing is reaching readers. When I visit Kirwan, I know that my books are certainly doing all of that, though I think the biggest reason this is happening is because there is a team of teachers who present the books in a meaningful way, and wonderful young readers who are prepared to engage.

Thank you Kirwan for having me, for the second year running. I look forward to visiting again in the future.

Last week was Children’s Bookweek here in Australia, and I was lucky enough to spend the week visiting libraries around Perth and talking about books and writing.

A big shout out to the staff at The Grove,  Manning, South Perth, Cambridge, Mt Claremont and Canning Bridge Libraries, and to the staff and students from Cottesloe Primary School, Mosman Park Primary School, Manning Primary School, St Columba’s Primary School, Como Primary School, South Perth Primary School, Floreat Park Primary, Holy Spirit Primary, Moerlina School, Mt Pleasant Primary and the parents and littlies who came along to Storytime at Mt Claremont.

It’s hard to pick out highlights from such a wonderful and joy-filled week, but here are a few:

1. This gorgeous display of pictures illustrating the theme for the week, Books Light Up My World. 2. The questions. Some are funny, some are insightful, some are hard, but the questions are one of the best parts of each session.

3.  Sharing my books. Writers spend so much time working in isolation, that a week like Bookweek is a wonderful opportunity to share with audiences. Not only do I get to inspire young readers, but they inspire me equally, if not more.

4. Games! Dressing up, singing, dancing, laughing. Can’t believe this is part of my job.

5. The fact I get to it all again next year. I’ve already started taking bookings for Bookweek 2016. I’m looking forward to coming to a library or school near you.

Since Bookweek I have been to Townsville to speak to the students  of Kirwan State School. That’s the subject for another post.

It’s Poetry Friday and, here in Australia at least, it is Spring! Not being a winter person, I ahve been looking forward to Spring for weeks – months even.

So, of course, today I want to share a poem about Spring. A few weeks back Heidi from My Juicy Little Universe hosted Poetry Friday, and shared a poem mourning the ending of summer. You can read her poem here.  I loved the form of her poem so much that I wanted to experiment with it for myself. I  set myself an extra challenge of using one rhyme sound for each stanza, just tos ee if I could. Here is my effort:

Spring is Here!

Birds are tweeting. Spring is here

Lambs are bleating. Spring is here

Cold is fleeting. Spring is here.

Sun is greeting. Spring is here.

No more shivering

No more dithering

No more quivering

Spring is here!

 

Leaves are greening. Spring is here.

Birds are preening. Spring is here.

Folks are cleaning. Spring is here.

Garden tools leaning. Spring is here

 

No more complaining

No cold raining

Or chill blaining

Spring is here!

 

Magpies singing. Spring is here.

Kids are swinging. Spring is here

Spring is springing! Spring is here.

Yes spring

spring

spring

is finally here!

(Copyright Sally Murphy 2015)

Thanks so much to Heidi for the inspiration.

Poetry Friday today is hosted by Teacher Dance. Head over there for a round up of all the Poetry Friday goodness.

It’s Poetry Friday. I’m in the midst of one of my busiest couple of weeks ever – Book Week, a burst of promotion for Fly-In Fly-Out Dad, a move of house, family illness, a busy period with my studies, a writing deadline… Anyway, rather than let this prevent from participating in Poetry Friday, for the second week in a row, I’m sharing a quick post in the form of a haiku poem.

I took this photo on the Abrolhos Islands last year. I’m fairly sure this plant was a weed, but it reminded me of tiny little trees from a Dr Seuss book. Thus, my poem.

 

 

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by the amazing Sylvia at Poetry for Children. You’ll find the round up there.

More Bookweek fun today, speaking to kids from Manning Primary at the Manning Library and St Columba’s, Como  Primary and South Perth Primary at  South Perth Library. Yes, I’m a little blurry – I’m not very good at standing still

It’s Children’s Bookweek, and I had a lovely time today speaking to children from Mosman Park Primary and Cottesloe Primary at The Grove Library in Cottesloe. Thanks to librarian Stewart and the teachers and parents who brought the children along. I have no idea what I was doing when this photo was taken – I tend to get a bit dramatic. But I had a fun – and hopefully the kids did too.

 

 

It’s  Poetry Friday  and a busy week for me, so here is  a quick haiku inspired by a morning walk.

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Reading to the Core.

Have a great Friday!

It’s been a big day for me in terms of local media. The South West Times, ones of my local papers, ran an article about me, Fly-In Fly-Out Dad, and my visit to Dalyellup Primary yesterday, and then I was interviewed on ABC South West Radio, also about Fly-In Fly-Out Dad. Hopefully local residents aren’t sick of hearing about me at this point.

I made the paper, hard hat and all.

Both of these bits of coverage eventuated because, in the lead up to yesterday’s visit I asked the Capel library, who organised the visit, if they could promote it to local media. They did, and the result is fabulous.

If you are an author or illustrator trying to get the word out about your latest book, don’t overlook your local papers and radio stations. In fact, they should be on the top of your list of organisations to promote to (you do have one of those, don’t you?).  Here are my 7 quick tips for  working with local media to boost your profile.

  Remember that although YOU want to promote yourself and your book, media outlets aren’t in the business of free advertising – they are looking for content that will interest their  readership or listeners. You must offer something of interest other than ‘I have a new book and I want people to buy it.’) In my case, Fly-In Fly-Out Dad is really relevant to many local families.
 Be prepared. Even though you might get called up at the last minute (I got a phone call this morning, two hours before I was interviewed), you should always have, even if in your head, answers prepared for the kinds of questions you might get asked. These might be about your book, it’s particular subject matter and the writing/publishing process but will also possibly be personal questions about yourself. Think in advance about what you might say. Interview yourself as practice.
 Be flexible. When a media outlet suggests a date, time or location, try to fit them in. My interview and photo shoot for the paper was at 9.30 in the morning, which involved me getting up at 6 am and driving home from Perth.  Today I was planning a day at home working, but when I got the call I said yes and reorganised my day. If there’s a good reason for saying no to a day or time, explain why and also suggest an alternative time.
 Try new things. To be honest, I am terrified of live radio. There is no delete button, no opportunity to take it back. But saying yes and having a go means I now have a new skill.
 Be positive. Even if you are not having a great day, even if you are tired, or in pain, or stressed, put on a bright smile. Everyone loves a smile!
 Offer ideas (at appropriate times). For my photo shoot, I took along my hardhat and hi-vis vest and showed them to the photographer. He loved the novelty value, and, seeing the photo in the paper this morning I knew it was a good idea. For the radio interview I had nothing special in mind, but I took a copy of the book along in case the announcer hadn’t yet seen it.
 Cross promote the interview. I have shared the newspaper piece on Facebook and Twitter, and also let my Twitter followers know about my radio appearance both before and afterwards. Rather than just saying ‘look at this!’ or ‘listen to this!’ share the way you feel about it or why it’s relevant.

Local media is a wonderful resource for you as a creator. If you make yourself an equally wonderful resource for the media outlet, then great things can happen.