Monday, November 2, 2009
More Congratulations...
Well Done and may there be many more....
Thrilled Spinning Gold Team.
Friday, October 23, 2009
News and writerly things to mull over.
CONGRATULATIONS to Sandy Nelson who pitched a book in the Pitch Slam to Harper Collins and found out yesterday it will be published!
The first of many success stories we hope....
(the Spinning Gold team are very excited for Sandy....)
Here is her report for the 2009 BNZ Katherine Mansfield Novice Writer Category which she has recently judged.
*technical accuracy in both subject and form (I like to think grammatical inaccuracy is not a fatal flaw, but the horrible fact is that it often does diminish a story’s effectiveness, it prevents it communicating)
*story architecture – a shapeliness to the story’s development
* an avoidance of cliché, in either language or ideas
* imaginative use of language – fresh, startling imagery, muscular nouns and verbs; ways of describing and characterising that make me pause and re-appreciate, think anew
* believable characterisation
* credible dialogue
* a variation in sentence length and rhythm – sentence-making that has music
* writing that shows rather than tells
* a sense of place
* a narrative ‘voice’ that commands attention, that persuades, that makes me want to read on and on, no matter what is – or isn’t – happening…
All these words from Kate just goes to remind us about the most talked about quote from her keynote speech....knowing your own bone and chewing over it....
Spinning Gold Team
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The debates continue
Meawhile both Maureen and Fifi have managed to recover sufficiently to blog their impressions of and reactions to the Spinning Gold experience.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Virtually Visiting - for authors and illustrators
Those of us who attended the Educational Publishers Panel discussion at Spinning Gold heard from Derek Wenmoth that there are schools out there who would love to Skype an author or an illustrator.
We could look at a similar fee structure as they have. (Meet the author 10 -15 mins free, or in-depth visits for a time and fee determined by each author.)
Add your name in the comments below if you're interested, or email adele at adelejackson dot com ...
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A few pictures
We are keen to get pictures up for you to see, so please send us your photos when you can. In the meantime, see if you can spot yourself in the ones on Fifi's facebook page.
Monday, September 21, 2009
A fantastic weekend!
Committee member Adele Jackson somehow managed to muster up some final reserves of energy last night to blog her thoughts on the conference.
Conference attendee Melinda Szymanik did likewise.
And we love this thought-provoking post about the conference from Derek Wenmoth, who was on Saturday's 'Educate the Future' panel.
More soon ...