Happenings, March and April

Last things first, Grandpa versus Swing is right now at the printing stage! Thanks to the wonderful illustration, my little manuscript has become a riot of colour and energy, and I can’t wait to see it on paper.

While I wait, autumn continues its slow, shy appearance. There is a nip in the air morning and night, but the days are still warm and the garden is flourishing happily without my input. It’s mighty untidy, but I find there is something heartening about nature doing its own, thriving thing in the absence of human interference.

I did polish up a piece of writing for that open mic, but the evening was cancelled due to a short, local lockdown. There’s another event coming up in a few weeks, and I have a new piece to read then. The first one has kept growing in the meantime, and might become a picture book manuscript instead.

In March I attended a zoom workshop for writers who are planning school visits. It was written and presented by Melinda Szymanik, and it was terrifically useful and encouraging. I was well out of my comfort zone even attending (not to mention almost entirely unfamiliar with zoom!) but it was definitely worthwhile, and I will look out for other workshops in the future.

March also held the Storylines Margaret Mahy National Awards Day. The 2020 event was cancelled in its usual form, and instead comprised a series of presentations over zoom. I attended in person this year, and it was fantastic! I have never before attended any event devoted entirely to children’s literature. There was a tremendous energy and sense of celebration about it, and an encouraging feeling of words and pictures created for children being truly valued.

I missed the deadline for this year’s National Flash Fiction competition, but there are other opportunities to submit flash fiction throughout the year. Googling flash fiction NZ is useful for finding them. For now, I’ll take the pressure off myself, keep polishing short form prose, and hopefully chime in at a later date.