‘Waiting for Callback, the first in a series…’ – that’s what it said in our publicity material. Exciting? Yes. Terrifying? Yes! Not least because when we first read those words we hadn’t even finished our first draft of the second book. At that point it just looked optimistic. How could we be sure we … Continue reading
What a week it’s been. So much tension over the EU Referendum, then the embarrassing football debacle and a whole week of Maths mocks for my daughter. At the moment it seems like everyone in my house is stomping, stropping or shouting about something! At times like this being a writer is the best jobs in … Continue reading
Research is one of the things I love the most when I’m about to write a new book. I’ve got the initial ideas, but now I need to delve into them, make sure I have my facts straight. My stories are fantasy adventure, but they’re based in the real world. In order to make my fantasy … Continue reading
“Can you come up with some writing tips?” asked the nice people at the Scottish Book Trust. “Uh, yeah, OK!” I said nicely. And so I came up with some writing tips, only they came out a bit… shouty. Sorry about that! bit.ly/5shoutytips #writingtips #earplugs Karen McCombie :c) Continue reading
Recently, I have been working on a wonderful fairy tale project for an environmental education charity. Schools were invited to write stories which I am illustrating with felted figures. The figures are being used to make a stop start animation. There are many characters from ogres and Hags… …to grandmothers… …a brave woodcutter… …and … Continue reading
It may be raining where you are, but on my bookshelf it’s sunny. I’m pleased to announce that my latest Joss Stirling book, last in the series that started with Finding Sky, is about to come out. It’s called Summer Shadows and has what I think might be my favourite cover to date. This series … Continue reading
To celebrate the launch of ‘Unicorn in New York II: Louie Takes the Stage’ (the second book in my ‘Unicorn in New York’ series) I ran a competition across Girls Heart Books, Facebook and a local book seller, offering readers the opportunity to name a character in the third book in the series, ‘Unicorn in New York III: Louie in … Continue reading
I’m a big fan of Oliver Jeffers who is a Northern Irish designer, artist, writer and illustrator who is best known for his picture books. My favourite is an early book called Lost and Found about a boy and a lost penguin who become friends. His new book is called A Child of Books and it’s … Continue reading
When I was 21, my parents bought a house in Shepton Mallet in Somerset. They’d lived all over the world and still had a stint in Norway to do, but finally they had a permanent family home. It’s still there. And I know that right now the garden will be full of roses, midsummer birdsong … Continue reading
A first draft is exciting, but it can also be daunting. You have an idea and characters ready to burst onto the page, but at the same time, you have an intimidating blank screen glaring at you, daring you to fill it. So, how do you dive in and start getting those ideas down? How … Continue reading
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