The debates continue

Melinda Szymanik's blog is well worth a read as she grapples with some of the issues the conference raised for many of us. (To promote or not to promote? To write for a market or write from the heart?)

Meawhile both Maureen and Fifi have managed to recover sufficiently to blog their impressions of and reactions to the Spinning Gold experience.

Virtually Visiting - for authors and illustrators

A message from Spinning Gold committee member Adele Jackson:

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.

There's a brilliant website set up in the US that does just this. Have a good look at it here: http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/

If you would like to talk to schools in classrooms and libraries virtually on the Skype network (free from your own computer and in the comfort of your own studio or study) why don't you add your name here and we can begin a list of authors and illustrators who can virtually visit.

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.)

Derek has offered to work with us and look at how we can create a point of contact for schools and link them with the authors/illustrators they want to talk with.

So what do you think - shall we increase our reach ? Who's keen?

Add your name in the comments below if you're interested, or email adele at adelejackson dot com ...

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.

A fantastic weekend!

Wow - we're completely thrilled with how it all went, and we hope you are too. Now bring on the debriefing process ...!

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 ...

Two more websites

Coming to the conference also are Victoria Azaro and Christine Hurst.

Urgent Pitch News:

Gecko Press, from 2011, will be looking to publish 2 or 3 NZ junior and mid-grade novels.
Please note: they are looking for Curiously Good fiction - see www.geckopress.com
If you've got a cross-over novel they'd be interested in that as well.
Let us know asap if you would like to pitch to them.

Keep your websites coming in ...

Two more writers who will be at the conference - two wonderful Jenni's in fact - Jenni Carlton and Jenni Francis!

And be sure to take a look at our sponsors page - we are extremely grateful to all these organisations.

New links - and meet the committee

We're delighted to have four more links to conference attendee websites:

Moira Wairama - writer and storyteller

Jillian Sullivan - author of novels, picture books and short stories

Frances Cherry - novelist, short-story writer and writing teacher

Alex Shinae - writer/illustrator


Plus - now seems like a good time to introduce the committee that has been beavering away to make Spinning Gold happen ...

The two driving forces behind Spinning Gold are:
Maureen Crisp - author, teacher and busy mother
and
Fifi Colston - illustrator, author, crafter and past NZ Post Awards judge.

Maureen and Fifi both happen to be past convenors of the Wellington Children's Book Association (which has incubated the conference). They have an enthusiastic committee working with them on Spinning Gold, and it includes, alphabetically:

Fleur Beale – writer and manuscript assessor

Margaret Cahill - editor at Learning Media, past WCBA convenor and occasional writer

Louise Davies - present WCBA convenor, children's song writer and WCC Community coordinator

Helen Fletcher - award-winning short film maker and budding writer

Holly Gooch - fledgling writer, teacher, mother and children's book addict

Eirlys Hunter - writer; teacher of Writing for Children at IIML, Victoria University

Adele Jackson - Storylines Wellington coordinator '08-'09, illustrator and designer

Johanna Knox - freelance writer, editor and researcher; homeschooling mother

Pippa Werry - author; contributor to School Journal and other educational publishers

Everyone on the committee is very excited about the conference!

Which writers are attending Spinning Gold?

Thanks to all the writers who have sent in their websites and blogs. Here's the list of writing attendees who are online:

Lorraine Orman - author, reviewer and librarian

Maria Gill - author of picture books, non-fiction books, readers, and more

Candice Paewai Reading - author and publisher

Vicki Simpson - whose Yo, Shark Bait won the 2006 Tom Fitzgibbon award

Susan Brocker - prolific author!

Tania Hutley - whose first children's book, Tough Enough, was published by Scholastic this year

Melinda Szymanik - entertaining blogger and author of 5 books including The Were-Nana

Barbara Murison - librarian, manuscript assessor, reviewer, and editor of Around the Bookshops.

If you have a blog or website, and haven't sent it to us - please do.

Next we'll try to gather up the websites of the Spinning Gold committee members, and post those. We'll also add links to the NZ book council pages for those conference attendees that have them, but not their own websites.

Which illustrators are attending Spinning Gold?

Thanks to everyone who has sent us links to their websites and blogs. We'll be adding them all to the Spinning Gold blog over the next few days. (And if you haven't sent yours yet - please do! Send it to spinning.gold09@gmail.com.)

Four illustrators have sent us their addresses:

We have the prolific and highly experienced Philip Webb who has illustrated shelves full of picture books and educational publications.

There is Nikki Slade Robinson, illustrator of over 60 titles, and more recently author-illustrator of That’s not Junk!

We have Thaw Naing - freelance illustrator/comic book artist and concept artist.

And, last but most certainly not least, Wellington author-illustrator Ruth Paul, whose The King's Bubbles is a past NZ Post Children's Choice award winner.

You can go to these illustrators' links from this post, and we're also adding a new sidebar containing a growing list of conference attendees' wesbites.

Meet the Authors Event 17th September.

Click on the pic to make it bigger.

Send us your websites and blogs

Have a look - we've just added a new panel (to the right, and scroll down), containing links to the websites and blogs of Spinning Gold presenters and panelists. Where the presenter doesn't have a website, we've added a link to their page at the NZ Book Council.

Next, we'd love some links from conference attendees. If you have a website or blog, please send us the address and we'll put it up here on the Spinning Gold site. It's one way to start getting to know each other a bit before the conference starts.

Send your links to us at spinning.gold09@gmail.com or let us know by leaving a comment here on the blog.