I confess the heading for this post may be misleading – this month, it’s mostly about the news!
News
Writers love writers’ festivals. We love them. They’re busy and tiring and a little bit crazy for someone like me, who spends most of her time alone with her computer and her dog.
But the joy of them for authors is that, for a few days, you’re part of a team of people who are doing exactly what you’re doing.
Which is why I’ve returned from the Whitsunday Voices Youth Literary Festival tired but with a huge smile on my face. With more than 5000 students taking part over two days, the festival, held in Mackay, is a huge event, but it is so incredibly well organised by the festival team that you feel as though nothing could possibly go wrong.
Sure, behind the scenes, there may have been hiccoughs, but we didn’t see them and I think the students who came to the many and various sessions would agree.
I’m sharing a few pics below so that you can get an idea of the flavour of the event.
Opening night panel with Jeann from Happy Indulgence book blog, Samantha Wheeler, Steven Herrick and me
A lovely drawing from a student.
One of six wonderful sessions.
In the green room. Pic: Michael Gerard Bauer
Shoalhaven Readers’ & Writers’ Festival
Next up for me on the writers’ festival front is the Shoalhaven Readers’ & Writers’ Festival this weekend. As director of the children’s program, I’ll have the pleasure of escorting Jacqueline Harvey to her school visits on Friday, while Jack Heath is looked after by another volunteer, and then introducing the festival on Saturday at Nowra Library (storytime from 10am) before conducting my all-but-soldout writing workshop later that day.
It’s all very exciting!
Other news
In the meantime, however, I have the absolute pleasure tomorrow of launching the MS Readathon in the Illawarra. I’m an author ambassador for the MS Readathon this year and I couldn’t be happier to be part of something that promotes reading in the widest sense of the word whilst also raising funds for a very worthy cause.
You can read more about the MS Readathon here, and I’ll report back on the launch later in the week.
Procrastipup and I are ready for the MS Readathon.
Reviews
So You Want To Be A Writer, my book with my fabulous podcast co-host Valerie Khoo, has been garnering some lovely reviews. Thanks so much to Dianne Bates from BuzzWords for this review:.
“...it should prove to be very popular, in fact (in the words of Pamela Hart, award-winning historical fiction author), ‘it is perfect for the person who wants to write but doesn’t have the confidence or the know-how to start.’”
And to Nicole Melanson from Word Mothers for this one:
“Whether you are merely curious about writing or already well established, I’d wager there are some useful tips for you sprinkled throughout So You Want to Be a Writer.”
Meanwhile, on Amazon, I was thrilled by this review, among others:
Thanks to everyone who’s left reviews! If you’ve read and enjoyed any of my books and you have a minute, please consider leaving a review on your platform of choice. It’s one of the very best gifts you can give any writer.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher.
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
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