A visit to a Oakdale Infants School

At the end of November I was invited to go into Oakdale infants school to talk about my book.  I went into two classes in the morning and one class and then the nursery in the afternoon.  I took costumes, Horace, a participation poem and some of my other work.

I started off by telling the children how I became a writer and took in my 1993 diary featured in my You Tube video   http://youtu.be/rpurx3fRGO8  We read the participation poem which encourages them to take a look inside my book.

I then read some of the poems and the children dressed up as the characters.  This always goes down well.  I tried to vary the content and showed them some examples of new ideas to inspire them to write poems.  It helped having a background in Nursery Nursing.  The children all seemed interested in the book and I hope to go back and help them write poetry on another occasion.

The highlight for me was seeing my Nephew who attends the Nursery.  He seemed amazed to see me and was delighted to be given Horace to cuddle.  'Your Aunty is here' one of the staff told him.
'No' he replied  'Not Aunty, just Fifi' he told her.    I then read toddler tales and he informed his friends he was the monster.  I just hope when he is bigger he will forgive me as the monster is a snotty one.

I really enjoyed going into the school and hope to return in the spring.

Halloween Competition Winners

I had great fun on Halloween, I dressed up as a witch and called myself Hagatha or Hag for short.  My friends daughter came dressed as Lola a character out of my book.  The weather was really bad and every time I tried to do a reading the rain hammered down, maybe our magic spells went a bit wrong.  

In the morning the children were younger and I read the extract from the book and we acted out some of the poems.  In the afternoon there was an older crowd and we wrote a poem together.  There was a bit of apprehension at first but we soon got into the swing of it and I think most were pleased with the result.  

By 3pm I was started to get very tired but a young lad came and asked me when the next reading was and I told him it had finished.  He was so disappointed that I offered to write a poem with him.  We sat together and completed one, which I signed for him.  


The winners of the competition were announced at 3pm Eloise won the under 12 section and Roddy won the under 7, they both were there at the time and I presented them with their prizes.  They were both well deserved winners and seemed delighted with their prizes.  Great to boast to their teachers anyway.

The staff at The Value Stores,www.valuehousestores.co.uk in Weymouth were so helpful and I cannot thank them enough for having me there, to help create a Halloween Spooktactular for the children and parents.  We even mad the local press.  http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/localnews/10024738.Ghostly_goings_on_for_Weymouth_youngsters/

Half Term Spooktacular

On Wed 31st October I will be at the Value House Stores in Weymouth.  I will be reading and signing copies of my book 'Down The Plughole' from 11am to 3pm.  There is a prize for every child in fancy dress and there will be pumpkin carving all day.  

The Value House store have been very supportive in my suggestion of a Poetry Competition on the subject of Halloween.  There are two age group's under 7's and under 12's.  The closing date is Oct 26th and it will be judged by Sue Simms who owns Poetry Space who published my book. www.poetryspace.co.uk

There are two prizes for the under 7's a copy of my book and for the under 12's a copy of Moira Andrew's Wish a Wish www.moiraandrew.com  I have some entry forms at home or they are available from The Value House, in Weymouth. http://www.valuehousestores.co.uk

I hope to see as many children and parent/gran's and grandadad's, aunt's and uncle's as possible and show them that poetry is not boring and it can be great fun and help with learning.  

Aunty Don't Touch

Aunty Betty had white hair, big teeth and odd strange large glasses that sat on the end of her pointy nose.  She was my Grandad's sister and she also lived in Blackpool.  When my sister and I were dragged to her house for a visit, she greeted us both with a horrible wet slimy kiss.  'Come in, come in' she enthused, her eyes widening with the joy of visitors.

Her house was in a terrace 
near the lovely Stanley park, two up and two down, with a small garden at the back which had many plants in pots.

We both entered nervously as she was a bit of an odd ball to us.  She made my Grandad a cup of tea and my sister and I two glasses of orange squash, which she brought to us on a silver tray with a doily on.  'Drink up' she urged rubbing her hands together with glee.  We did as we were told and drank it one, replacing the glass back on the tray.  She never took her eyes off us, watching our movements like a hawk.

My sister who is younger than me and easily distracted, spotted an unusual ornament on a sideboard nearby.  Her tiny hand moved slowly towards it, but before she could reach it Auny Betty bellowed 'DON'T TOUCH.'  My sisters hand shot back into her lap and she gave me a look, rolling her eyes in fear.

'Victoria' she said, your Grandfather tells me you have a lovely voice and can sing like an angel.  'Please sing for me' she demanded.  My Grandad patted her arm in encouragement and she stood up promptly.

'Fiona' she croaked. ' You can go outside and water my plants, whilst your sister sings.'  'Don't touch anything you are not supposed to.'  'The watering can is in the sink ready for you.'

So off I went as commanded by Aunty Betty.    As I was watering away, I could hear my sister singing in the background.  I didn't mind though, it was peaceful in the garden and no more commands from Betty.  

From that day onwards my sister and I call Betty Aunty Don't touch.  A strange odd lady, but she always pressed a shiny 50p in our hands, when we were leaving, so we did as we were told to get our reward.

Poetry is not all about big words, it can be fun too!

I read an article in the Sun Newspaper that was written by one of my favourite poets Roger Mcgough.  He is going to be working with the Disney Junior channel for an animated online poetry guide for parents to go alongside the TV Channel's A Poem is ........http://www.disneychannelmedianet.com/web/showpage/showpage.aspx?program_id=3136956&type=lead

It is a series of short poems read by celebrities, including my nephew's favourite Matt Smith.  Roger Mcgough is the president of the Poetry Society and was keen to get involved.  Animation is a big part of childhood and it can help to introduce poetry to children.  Poetry is ideal for some children who are intimidated by books.  This includes my son who struggled to read until the age of 7.  He hated the books at school and we used to write our own books.  I have kept them for sentimental reasons.

Poetry is included in the literacy KS1 in schools and I was invited into  Holy Trinity Infants, to read my book.  I took the costumes and my homemade cardboard rocket from the poem 'Rocket's Rule.'  They loved the interaction and engaged fantastically where a visual stimulus was provided.  I did take some other work and read this but I  soon realised 5 and 6 year old's need the fun element to keep their attention.

You can download the poetry guide at www.DisneyJunior.co.uk or find out about the Poetry society at www.poetrysociety.org.uk 

I hope to post more regularly and some work out of my bursting notepad, it seems a shame to just read to just my writing group.  Health permitting of course.  

Video from the Book Signing at Imagine Bookshop, Weymouth.

Peter Lythgoe, came down to my book signing and did an interview with me.  Amazingly all done on His Ipad.  I hate looking at myself as I always look so tired, but that is due to my M.E. and pushing myself a bit too hard sometimes.  He does these videos for free so I am extremely grateful for him spending his time with little old me.

Take a look and let me know what you think.http://youtu.be/9aHHDNUZniU

I am also extremely privileged to be asked to feature in a video for the Dorset M.E. Support group.  My son Declan of DCLN Media is making it, so  at least I can get him to photoshop my wrinkles out.

Coping With Rejection.

Rejection is such a hard thing to take when you have worked hard on a story you think is at it's best.  I was lucky to win some tickets to go to the London Book Fair and got to have a 5 min pitch with a publisher.  I was so nervous and I am not sure how I came over, but next time I will be more prepared and professional.  I got some good advice from the Writers advice centre for children and I handed over my work to the publisher with great anticipation.  He promised to get back to me in a couple of weeks.

He kept to his word and had some great feedback and advice, this gave me confidence that he had actually read my work.  Unfortunately he did not take up any of my stories and only was interested in one.  I cheekily thanked him for the feedback and asked to be given another chance with a re-write. 

It still got rejected, but I learnt so much from this process and has given me the confidence to continue and use the points he made in my future work.

No one said the road to become a sucessful writer is a smooth one.

I am currently putting together a story for the Greenhouse Funny Prize.  Fingers crossed. http://greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/blog/article/announcing_the_greenhouse_funny_prize_open_to_uk_irish_writers/