Clare McCarron

Here we go with our ✂️✂️✂️ #cheshirenovelprizekidssnippets 20 today and then 10 Tomorrow! This is a closely run race and we’re still juggling! This is not our longlist but our long, long list ! Longlist announced 28th February 2025 at 2pm!

#Cheshirenovelprizekidssnippets ✂️✂️✂️ see you tomorrow at 2pm with 20 more!

Crafting Characters Using the 7 Types of Listening Did you know there are SEVEN levels of listening? The impact of this knowledge in your stories and in your own life are extraordinary. Check it out!

Characters' listening can range from "actual words, to body language, to the effect of differing listening skills on a relationship"

writersinthestormblog.com/2025/02/craf...

#Writers #Authors #WritingCommunity #Writing #KathySWriter

In a world of overwhelming choice, I love the whittled-down book selection at my local street library | Jane Howard There may be a book I want to read, there may not. But making the choice feels so much easier than keeping up with new releases I am a voracious reader, but it is easy to feel there are too many books in the world. How do you find the time to keep up…

In a world of overwhelming choice, I love the whittled-down book selection at my local street library | Jane Howard

A banner for the Festival of Libraries at Bath Central Library - 11 - 3 22nd February, featuring lots of local authors.

Who else is coming to this? I'll be there 11 - 3 with my books which you can buy from my fair hand, signed and dedicated.

Reading Rights Summit: ‘Shared reading is a public health intervention that should be available to all children’ Find out what happened when BookTrust and Waterstones Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce hosted the Reading Rights summit in Liverpool, as part of a campaign to address the 'invisible privilege ...

"Shared reading is a public health intervention that should be available to all children."

We loved hosting the #ReadingRights summit with Waterstones #ChildrensLaureate @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social this month.

Here's what happened - and what's next 👇

www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-fea...

"This isn't something that's just nice or lovely. It's something fundamental to becoming a human being."

Waterstones #ChildrensLaureate @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social shares why reading is a right for every child. #ReadingRights

If she can do it, we can all do it.

Photo of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.

This is the face of courage and compassion. Thank you Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for speaking truth to power on behalf of the marginalized.

Everyone is an Artist: The Importance of Imagination, Creativity, and the Arts - Professor Penny Hay at The Egg Tickets are now available for Everyone is an Artist: The Importance of Imagination, Creativity, and the Arts - Professor Penny Hay at The Egg, Bath on Wed 19 Mar 2025 at 6:00PM. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!

Nervous/excited! Please join us for my inaugural professorial lecture: 19 March at The Egg Theatre Bath. All welcome!
@bathspauni.bsky.social
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/bath/the-egg/everyone-is-an-artist-the-importance-of-imagination-creativity-and-the-arts-professor-penny-hay/e-yejyje

Arthur's Seat

Mood board for my WIP YA contemporary verse novel.
Nice job for a Friday. :)
@lynchkenny.bsky.social

8 New Agents Seeking Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Thrillers, Literary Fiction, YA, Memoir, Nonfiction and more Here are eight new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and w...

"Here are eight new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients."

publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2025/01/8-ne...

#Writers #Authors #WritingCommunity #Writing

For my YA contemporary verse novel.

Arthur's Seat

WIP mood board.

23 Fiction Writing Ideas That Will Revitalize Your Story | Writing Forward When your story isn't working, you can give up or you can try to revitalize it. Use a few of these fiction writing ideas to breathe new life into your fiction.

"Before giving up on a project, why not try to resurrect it? Some stories may not be salvageable, but many can be rescued with a little innovative thinking and a few fresh fiction writing ideas."

www.writingforward.com/storytelling...

#Writers #Authors #WritingCommunity #Writing

Began reading the sequel back in Nov. Have not been able to finish due to discomfiting prescience.

Crafting Otherworldly Realms: How to Blend Mythology, Dark Fantasy, and Psychological Depth in Fiction - BookViral Book Reviews Discover 'Crafting Otherworldly Realms: How to Blend Mythology, Dark Fantasy, and Psychological Depth in Fiction,' a comprehensive guide for authors. Learn to reimagine myths, build surreal settings, ...

"… writing dark fantasy is not for the faint-hearted. It’s about taking the cozy, light-dappled world of your imagination and dragging it through the underworld, kicking and screaming."

bookviralreviews.com/author-blogs...

#Writers #Authors #WritingCommunity #Writing

Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']:

Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.

🤢

🔊 Our 7th annual #ReflectingRealities report is out now! This year’s report shows a significant drop in the presence of racially minoritised characters in books published for children in 2023 in the UK.

6 Dialogue Openings: Stats, Thoughts & Tips The challenge for a novel’s first line is to begin orienting the reader to the story while also raising a question that inspires them to read the next line. Adding quotation marks around that…

"The challenge for a novel’s first line is to begin orienting the reader to the story while also raising a question that inspires them to read the next line. … That’s a lot of pressure to put on a sentence."

writerunboxed.com/2025/01/09/6...

#Writers #Authors #WritingCommunity #Writing

a man is sitting on a couch eating a slice of pizza with the word unforgotten on the bottom ALT: a man is sitting on a couch eating a slice of pizza with the word unforgotten on the bottom

He'd be bringing Nicola Walker. That would be unforgettable.

5 Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now Fiction University is a site dedicated to helping writers and authors improve their writing craft and their publishing careers.

"... there's nothing inherently wrong with a "weak word," they do tend to hang around trouble areas--just like those red flag words with show, don't tell. They're good places to start when something feels off ..."

blog.janicehardy.com/2013/02/five...

#Writers #Authors #WritingCommunity #Writing

I’ve written about so many Christmas books over the years that I somehow forgot I interviewed Emily Sutton about The Christmas Eve Tree. It’s the story of a fir that finds itself unsold at Christmas time and is rescued from a department store’s bin by a homeless boy. tygertale.com/2015/12/05/t...

Great reads here!

#UKKidLit #UKKidLitNews

Today Guardian and Observer journalists are on strike over plans to sell the Observer to a loss-making digital start up and put its journalism behind a paywall. 🧵

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Day 1, Non-Fiction: ‘Into the Volcano’ by Catherine Ard & illust. by Wenjia Tang @flyingeyebooks.bsky.social
This book explains the science of volcanoes, but its true beauty lies in its exploration of the myths, stories, & religious importance of these geological wonders.
#Spark12BooksOfChristmas

The #Spark12BooksOfChristmas are our longlists, 12 books in each category, specially curated by our panels of teachers and librarians. We will be announcing one book from each category for the next 12 weekdays. Without further ado, here are our first 5 books... 🥁

a close up of a cartoon character 's face with big teeth ALT: a close up of a cartoon character 's face with big teeth

We're here and in the BCNA submissions inbox until 23:59 GMT, so do get in touch if you need any last minute help!