by Allison Tait | Aug 3, 2023 | Advice for Writers, Reading, Writing, Your Kid's Next Read
My new book, The First Summer of Callie McGee, is out now in bookshops everywhere – and I’m at home in that strange netherworld that is post-launch day.
Pre-publication day, the anticipation builds and builds, like those epic summer thunderstorms that press the very air down on you for hours before they finally burst into a light- and sound-show followed by furious drenching rain.
Unfortunately, publication day brings less of the light and sound and fury, and more the sound of boxes of books being opened in bookshops across the country and the slight rusting of pages as the books are placed upon the shelves.
The day after is just… business as usual. Except that I’m typing with my fingers crossed, hoping that readers will love Callie as much as I do.
The inside story of Callie McGee
In the headline, I’ve promised you the inside story on the book, but I think the best way to get that is to listen to me talk about it.
I’m the special guest on a veritable bonanza of podcasts this week, and each of them will bring you a slightly different perspective on this story and how it came about.
So You Want To Be A Writer
For a deep dive into the process of writing the book, from that first glimmer of inspiration to working through the complexity of creating the procedure of the mystery element, don’t miss my conversation with Valerie Khoo on So You Want To Be A Writer.
It was so nice to be back chatting to Val about all things writing and publishing. I spent seven years as co-host of this podcast, so sliding back into this space is like coming home.
But it’s a home where your Mum does not hold back on asking the hard questions, and I can always count on Val to keep asking ‘why?’ until I manage to articulate some part of my writing process that seems impossible to explain.
So we talk about the writing, we talk about wading into uncertainty and the memories of being 12, and we talk about re-drafting manuscript themes downwards. But we also talk about the very real challenges of establishing and maintaining a longterm author career.
You know you can count on us to be honest and get to the very crux of this stuff, so it’s worth a listen.
Find it here, or where you get your podcasts.
Words and Nerds
The thing I love about chatting with author and podcaster Dani Vee on the Words and Nerds podcast is knowing that the conversation will ramble its way into unexpected places and interesting revelations. And so it proved yet again.
We talked about The First Summer of Callie McGee, solving the puzzle of who we are and writing books outside our comfort zones.
But we also talk about publicity for authors from a journalist’s perspective, and how to find different ways to draw attention to your book – by thinking outside the box of your book, guest posting on blogs, making connections, getting your byline in the article, understanding the importance of booksellers and hand selling and the awesomeness of librarians.
If you’re a children’s author or would like to be one day, don’t miss this one!
Find it here, or where you get your podcasts.
KidLit Classics
If you haven’t discovered this podcast gem, you’re in for a treat! Hosted by author Samantha-Ellen Bound, KidLit Classics podcast invites contemporary children’s authors to discuss one book from their own childhood that made them a writer today.
I had the most wonderful time chatting to Samantha-Ellen about Callie’s Castle by Ruth Park. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while or listening to my various podcasts over the years, you’ll have heard this book come up before, but here we take a long, hard look at the beginning of my turret fixation.
To discuss the book, I had to read the book again and remain in awe of Park’s ability to create broad brushstrokes of a world, emotions and characters with a few fine details.
And yes, our characters share a name, but I swear this revealed itself to me only when Samantha-Ellen asked me to choose a book for this podcast episode. Until that moment, I hadn’t thought about Callie and her castle for years – but deep down in the part of the brain where fond memory lives, there she was.
I hope she’d like Callie McGee.
Find the episode here, or where you get your podcasts.
And an opportunity to ask your own questions
Writer’s Bookclub Podcast
Author Michelle Barraclough’s Writers’ Bookclub Podcast has its own special twist on the author interview format – you get to ask the questions!
Michelle has chosen The First Summer of Callie McGee as her first middle-grade book to explore and dissect, and you can play along by reading the book and then posting any questions you might have for me about any aspect of writing the book to the group Facebook page before 15th August. (See How It Works here)
Michelle and I have a date later this month to interview an episode for the podcast where she asks me all your questions.
All the details on how to join in here.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of middle-grade series, The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries, and my latest novel ‘The First Summer of Callie McGee’. You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
If you’re looking for book recommendations for young readers, join the Your Kid’s Next Read Facebook community, and tune in to the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast!
by Allison Tait | Jun 20, 2023 | Blog, Books, Reading, Your Kid's Next Read
My new middle-grade novel, THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE, is officially six weeks away today, so I thought it was a good time for an official introduction.
I’m sitting here today, working on a plan to get the word out about this new book and, of course, the very first place I begin is right here, on my blog, my home on the internet.
When I scroll back through my blog posts, I can see the evolution of my writing and publishing career stretching back more than a decade. It’s one reason I’ll never give up blogging, even if I’m not writing every day like I once did.
But today is all about Callie, the plucky main character from my first-ever contemporary mystery story.
WHO IS CALLIE McGEE?
When I see her in my mind (and I do see and hear her, it’s true), I see a solemn, thoughtful little face under curly brown hair. She’s one of those kids who sees and hears a lot more than other people ever recognise, and she carries on a constant and lengthy internal dialogue with herself.
She’s also nearly thirteen and on the cusp of high school and all it entails – and she’d love nothing more than to reinvent herself, shaking off her nerdy primary school self and emerging as a cooler, more popular version of herself.
There’s a lot going on in Callie’s head.
The cover, designed and crafted by Grace Felstead from the Scholastic Australia team, perfectly captures the summer holiday feel of the book – and I’ll share more about the inspiration for the setting of the story and some other insider details and secrets on the writing of the book in subsequent posts.
THE OFFICIAL BLURB
“The water in a rip current is always calmer than the waves on either side. Once you’re in it, you’re best to just go with the flow.”
It’s the last summer before Callie starts high school and she’s been dragged along to yet another ‘family friends’ holiday.
Determined to change her nerdy reputation, Callie sets out to make waves but nothing is quite as she expects. Her usual ally, Sasha, has outgrown Callie; her nemesis, Mitch, has brought his cousin Owen along; and the boring south coast town of Sawyer’s Point has been rocked by a series of burglaries.
Callie, Owen and Mitch decide to investigate the robberies, bringing them face to face with a local gang … and a possible ghost.
But when Sasha goes missing, Callie must draw on all her smarts to find her friend, and discovers that being Callie McGee has its benefits.
A mystery about growing up, figuring things out and solving the puzzle of who you are.
THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE will be available in all good bookshops and online on 1 August 2023.
You can pre-order a copy here or at your favourite bookseller.
So there you go. All official.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of middle-grade series, The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries.
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
by Allison Tait | Jun 23, 2022 | News
Here’s some news I’ve been sitting on for what feels like forever!
The Maven & Reeve Mysteries are out now in the USA through Kane Miller Books.
In equally exciting news, both books have Kirkus reviews!
The Fire Star (book #1) is described as:
“Smart, lively fun…
“Tait lets an appealing chemistry develop between her dual narrators (who change person and even tense in the alternating chapters) as she pitches them into an investigation that is positively hung about with side challenges…” Full review.
While The Wolf’s Howl (book #2) contains:
“More feudal finagling, with feminist strains running through a round of clever clue gathering…” Full review.
Find more details and buy the books here!
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, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries, an ‘almost history’ detective series (for more information and buy links for Australian readers click here).
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
by Allison Tait | Nov 13, 2021 | My books, Reading, Your Kid's Next Read
Looking for an extra-special Christmas gift for a young reader?
A personally signed novel could be just the thing!
In case you missed it, I’m offering signed copies of all A. L. Tait novels – The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries – until 30 November (or while stocks last).
Books are $25 each, including shipping across Australia, or buy multiple books to save!
All the details are here and stocks are limited so don’t delay!
But I’m not the only one!
Below you’ll find a little round-up of Australian (and one New Zealand) author offering you the chance to order signed copies of their books for Christmas!
Jo Sandhu
Jo Sandhu‘s Tarin Of The Mammoths series is an epic adventure story set in a Stone Age world.
Find out more about the series and buy your signed copies here.
Kate Gordon
Kate Gordon is offering signed copies of CBCA Book of the Year winner, Aster’s Good, Right Things, and each of the first four books in the Juno Jones series.
Aster’s Good, Right Things is $14.99 and the Juno Jones books can be bought individually for $12.99 each, or as a pack for $40.
Kate also has limited quantities of The Heartsong of Wonder Quinn and The Ballad of Melodie Rose, for $14.99 each, as well as the picture book, Amira’s Magpie, for $20.
Find out more about the books here and contact Kate here for more details and shipping costs.
Cristy Burne
Cristy Burne has teamed up with Paper Bird Books to offer personalised signed copies of her books for Christmas (see what’s on offer, left).
Cristy has a terrific range of books that draw on her STEM knowledge and her new series, Wednesday Weeks, co-authored with Denis Knight, blends science and magic! Perfect for middle-grade readers.
Due to postage jams, you’ll need to get in by 19 November if you are based outside WA – so don’t delay!
More details on the offer here.
Tim Harris
From junior fiction series Exploding Endings and Toffle Towers, to middle-grade mayhem in the Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables series, Tim Harris books offer humour with heart and are perennially popular with primary school readers.
You can buy personalised signed copies of all Tim’s books here.
Zanni Louise
Zanni Louise has teamed up with The Bookroom Collective to offer personalised, signed copies for Christmas. Her picture book Florence & Fox is particularly lovely for the festive season.
Buy your copy here and let the store know to whom you’d like the book signed.
Stef Gemmill
Stef Gemmill is offering personalised signed copies of her picture books – A Home For Luna, In My Dreams, and the brand-new Toy Mountain – as single books or in bundles.
Find out more about the books and details here.
R. A. Spratt
R. A. Spratt, bestselling author of the Nanny Piggins, Friday Barnes and The Peski Kids series, has teamed up with The Bookshop Bowral to offer personalised signed copies of her books.
Contact the bookshop directly here to order.
Karah Sutton
New Zealand author Karah Sutton has teamed up with Good Bookshop to offer personalised signed copies of A Wolf For A Spell, a rollicking middle-grade adventure, with postage anywhere in New Zealand.
Order here and specify in Notes at checkout who the book should be signed for and whether you’d like gift wrapping!
Happy shopping!
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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, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
by Allison Tait | Sep 20, 2021 | My books, Reading, Writing, Writing for kids, Your Kid's Next Read
I’ve done a lot of talking about inspiration since The Wolf’s Howl (Maven & Reeve #2) launched in August.
“Where did the inspiration from?” is one of the most common questions asked in any interview, radio, podcast or print (tip for aspiring and new authors: have an answer ready… more tips here).
But I also talk a lot about inspiration and where ideas come from every single time I do an author talk or school workshop. Endlessly discussing the fact that ideas for stories are everywhere (they are) and that writers are people who’ve trained themselves to see them (they are).
They are in the things we see, the things we feel, the things we hear, the things we say, the things we read… and so on.
Everywhere.
Today I realised that, despite all that talking, I haven’t written about the various things that specifically inspired The Wolf’s Howl here on my blog.
So here they are.
Three things that inspired The Wolf’s Howl
The ‘August Winds’
I wrote this novel, about Maven & Reeve’s visit to the bleak, isolated, windswept fief of Glawn in August last year. Where I live, on the south coast of NSW, August is a windy month. Really windy. It blows up in the west, whips through town and makes everyone really, really irritated.
Every time you step outside, you have to confront it.
I started to wonder what it would be like to live in a place where the wind howled like that all the time. What would it do to the people who lived there? How would it affect their manner, their fashion, their hairstyles?
And so Glawn was born.
Lockdown 2020
It didn’t really occur to me until I began talking about The Wolf’s Howl in interviews just how much the 2020 lockdowns had imposed themselves upon the book. Not in any obvious ‘plague-story’ way, but in the sense of isolation that permeates Glawn Castle.
The subconscious is a powerful kingdom.
A visit to the Netherlands in 2019
Glawn is a sodden, soggy place, dotted with windmills. In 2019, I was lucky enough to visit Kinderdijk in the Netherlands, a small village near Rotterdam featuring a series of 19 historic mills, all of which remain operational and three of which are set up as working ‘museum mills’.
The experience of being inside one of those mills, with the sails thundering around outside, informed several scenes in The Wolf’s Howl.
Learning to spot ideas
Of course, there are a whole lot of other things that come into play when you’re creating a world and building a story. Sometimes you can only ‘see’ the inspiration behind a novel once that novel is complete.
But writers are naturally observant people. They take notice – and they take note.
I keep a file on my computer where I dump links to articles and blog posts that interest me. It’s also where I keep snippets about the things I see, hear, think, and feel.
Once an idea crystallises into a character or a setting, I open a new document and write down everything I know about that character or setting. I give it a label. And file it in my Works In Process folder.
There are bits and pieces of stories in that folder that date back years.
If an irritating wind can be useful, then you simply never know what will be useful.
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, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
For a deep dive into the process of writing the book, from that first glimmer of inspiration to working through the complexity of creating the procedure of the mystery element, don’t miss my conversation with Valerie Khoo on So You Want To Be A Writer.
The thing I love about chatting with author and podcaster Dani Vee on the Words and Nerds podcast is knowing that the conversation will ramble its way into unexpected places and interesting revelations. And so it proved yet again.
If you haven’t discovered this podcast gem, you’re in for a treat! Hosted by author Samantha-Ellen Bound, KidLit Classics podcast invites contemporary children’s authors to discuss one book from their own childhood that made them a writer today.
Author Michelle Barraclough’s Writers’ Bookclub Podcast has its own special twist on the author interview format – you get to ask the questions!
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of middle-grade series, The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries, and my latest novel ‘The First Summer of Callie McGee’. You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
