Blog Hop

Hi everyone, the Christmas decorations are up on Orchard Road and that means the end of the year is fast approaching. Ok, so there's lots going before the year officially comes to a close. My book At the Night Safari is out and At the S.E.A Aquarium should be going to print within the next week or two. The Learning Connection is currently adapting my book There's Soup on My Fly! into a musical for preschools. I've also recently signed for representation with Jacaranda Literary and so hopefully my books will finally get an International Publisher. And yes, I'm working on contributing a blog post to my friend Vivian Kirkfield's blog.

David Almond, Emily Lim, John Dougherty and me at last year's
Singapore Writers Festival

My friend award winning author Emily Lim was kind enough to ask me to participate in a blog hop and she had to guide me through it step by step.  Thanks, Emily. I've added links to the Emily's, Catherine's, Sarah's and Emma's blogs at the end of this post so you can keep up with what my fellow authors are up to.

Anyway, here are the four questions I had to answer for the blog hop.

What are you working on right now? 

Right now I'm working on a couple of stories in the middle-grade range.

How does it differ from other works in the genre?

Writing middle grade fiction is very different from writing picture books. It's a completely different skill set, but it's interesting and I'm enjoying the process.

Why do you write what you do?

I write for kids because I still think like a kid and some of my all-time favourite books are children's books.

What is the hardest part about writing?

Editing...but that's easy compared to promoting your books and getting them to sell!

Emily Lim

Emily Lim and Caleb

Emily Lim is an award-winning author of several children’s picture books. She is the 1st outside North America to win 3 medals for children’s books at the IPPY Awards (the world’s largest book awards) and also the 1st in Southeast Asia to win the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Her books have been published in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and China, and crossed platforms into animation, Apps, e-books, and adapted for children's theatre. She has also written seven illustrated books which are used for social studies across all schools in Singapore.

Emily’s personal memoir, Finding My Voice (a true story of setbacks, new beginnings and toy characters), is based on her personal journey of losing her voice and discovering a new voice in writing and publishing. For more about Emily, hop to her blog http://mummumstheword.wordpress.com/

Catherine Carvell

Catherine Carvell

Catherine Carvell is the author of  'Darcy Moon and the Deep Fried Frogs' a chapter book due for release early 2014 by Fremantle Press. Catherine Carvell's Blog

Sarah Mounsey

Sarah Mounsey

I have always loved to write for children and have had fun writing and publishing the Paw Print books. Purple Paw Prints was released in 2012 and Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa in 2013. 

I am an Australian and I grew up in Brisbane, although it has not been my home for 12 years. After spending eight years  in London, I now live in Singapore with my husband and three sons. I have always loved to read and write and credit my Mum for this lifelong passion.

I remember getting into trouble as a child for sneakily reading books under the table at school and for staying up late at night writing diaries and stories by torchlight! Books are a place where I get lost in the pages and forget what is going on in the real world around me. The characters become my friends and their journeys become my own. That is what I hope to share with children as they enjoy my stories.

Sarah Mounsey's Blog

Emma Nicholson

Emma Nicholson

I'm a children's writer and I can't stop writing. To keep my fingers happy, I decided to start this blog. And it kicks off as I'm about to publish a chapter book for 7-10 year-olds. I live in both Singapore and Epsom, UK, and I travel as much as I can. Singapore is a small island in south east Asia, sometimes called the Little Red Dot. This inspired me to call my blog Little Red Jot. I'll use it to park stray thoughts and episodes from my life and work. I hope you enjoy reading!

Emma Nicholson's Blog