When it comes to writing picture books and approaching publishers, I’ve made many of the mistakes that there are to make. Trial and error is how I learn about writing specifically for the picture book genre. It’s how I learn about the industry, secured an agent and got more books published. I didn’t have any mentors or writerly connections when my first book was accepted. I just muddled my way through from there. It’s worked out okay.

Last year I ran a series of workshops in regional areas for aspiring picture book authors about developing a manuscript and finding a publisher. I focused on the questions that I would have loved to hear answered when I first began writing and when I hit bumps in the road along the way. I wanted to share some of my mistakes so that participants wouldn’t make the same ones. The workshops were great fun.

I love books picture. I love reading them and I love writing them so it follows that I love hanging out with writers who share my love.

Following last year’s workshops I received emails from writers asking about an online picture book writing workshop. I’ve been mulling the idea over since then, trying to think of a way I could deliver a course that was as engaging, as fun, and as motivating, as hopefully the face to face ones were. (I didn’t want to just send out an e-book.) And I think I’ve worked out a way! So come and visit me at the Writers Quilt Website. It’s a little net space for those of us who just want to talk about writing picture books all day.

See you over there.

Katrina x

What do you write?

Why do you write it?

(It’s harder that it looks.)

What I Write

I write all kinds of things. Sometimes I write about small dogs and sometimes I write about dads and babies. I also write about the weather, especially when it’s raining. I write stories that children seem to like. I write picture book stories, so adults must like them too, otherwise children will never get to hear them. At the moment I’m trying to write about a girl who wants to be a mermaid. It’s tricky because such a story has been told before and I want to create something that’s original but still feels natural. I have to watch out for clunks because there should be a comforting rhythm to a picture book text.  Some of my finished books include Littledog (it’s meant to be one word because that’s the dog’s name) My Dad Thinks He’s Funny and Big Rain Coming. Once I wrote a story about a seal but no one wanted to publish it, probably because it wasn’t really that good. The same thing happened with my story about singing frogs.  Plenty of times I write rubbish by mistake but every now and then I write something lovely. I write all kinds of things.

Why I Write It

I tried to give up writing once. It was during a busy time when I felt like I was drowning in the stress of an overcrowded life. I knew I needed to throw something overboard to stay afloat so I tossed writing over the side. (It wasn’t paying the bills after all.) But instead of feeling lighter, I felt like I was suffocating under an even greater heaviness. It pulled me deeper until I was forced to acknowledge what I’d always really known – writing was, and is, my life raft. When I write I feel free. Other writers understand what I mean. When we write we feel buoyant. We find peace through our writing. That sounds like nonsense to some people but not to other writers.

So I write for the nourishing weightless feelings of peace and freedom and then there’s the other reason; my ego. I write because I like being a published author. I like seeing my name on book covers. I like achieving success in a highly competitive field and I like the challenge of creating something from nothing. When it comes down to it, all reasons considered, I write for myself.

How would you answer?

*I stole the idea for these question from the Emerging Writer’s Festival site. They’re asking potential 2012 panelists to send in their answers.*

I have a plan.

I’m planning on planning.

I’m planning on planning a novel.

I’m not planning on drafting. I’m just planning on planning.

Why am I planing on planning, and not planning on writing, a novel?

Because… I have a character in my head who won’t squeeze into a picture book. I’ve told him to go away but he won’t. (I’ve also told him to turn into a girl because I’d rather write about a girl but he won’t do that either.)  I need to write him away.

Because… I’d like to challenge myself with something new but the idea of beginning a novel is completely overwhelming. I’m not sure where to start and this way it doesn’t all feel quite so scary. Nothing intimidating about a notebook, especially a pretty one.

Because… I don’t want to jump in with unfed ideas. I want to fatten my characters. I want to slow down. I want to be clear. I want to do my best.

So, among other writerly things, this year, I’m planning on planning. (I’ll worry about the drafting next year.) Wish me luck!

• The teacher who bought the books for the class reading corner herself because she didn’t like the stale reading program her school chose to rely on.
• The siren-less schools that play music whenever it’s time to go inside.
• The country principal who phoned me the night before my visit to introduce himself because he would be out of the school the next day.
• Another country principal who ran into to car park after school to apologise for having been too tied up during the day to join in a session.
• The teacher with sixty children filing into her class for the author session who still took the time to kneel and listen to an upset child and then gave the child a gentle squeeze around the shoulders and told  them how brave they were.
• The class of children who came in after lunch bursting to tell their teacher about what they’d been reading because she listened with such a genuine interest.
• The librarian who rearranged the school library on her own so that the picture books were facing out because little students need to be able to make their own selections freely.
• The teacher who crouched down next to the student who was finding it difficult to ask their question so that the child could whisper it into her ear.
• The teacher who was so excited by her students’ own writing that she asked if part of the visit could be dedicated to them reading their work to me in celebration.
• The teachers who smile fondly, rather than frown, when their five year old students ask very off the wall questions. (My favourite ‘question’ so far this year has been, “Um. I’m a little bit sweaty.”)

Thanks for having me everyone. I hope to be back soon.

Never Trust an Author

I’m an author with a confession to make. I lie. I cheat. And I steal. You should never trust an author. Let me explain.

1. I lie
Of course I lie. I make up stories all of the time. That’s what authors do. One of my books is titled My Dad Thinks He’s Funny but my own dad doesn’t even tell very many jokes. He prefers to share stories. To write that book I used jokes from my husband, his dad and my sister in law but I thought a book called My Husband, His Dad and My Sister in Law Think They’re Funny didn’t sound very catchy. So I lied. I pretended the book was about one dad.

2. I cheat.
All of the words in my books are spelled perfectly but in fact I’m terrible at spelling. Just ask any one of my school teachers or even my university lecturers. Spelling is something I’ve never found easy and so I cheat. I find ways to check my spelling before anyone even notices how many errors I‘ve made. I have a dictionary on my desk. I use the spell check on my computer. I have a spell checker on my phone and I ask my husband to check words for me. You don’t have to be a fabulous speller to be an author. You just need to know how to cheat.

3. I steal.
I’ve already told you that the jokes in my book My Dad Thinks He’s Funny are from my husband, his dad and my sister in law. I stole their jokes to write a book. Whenever I heard one of them say something funny I wrote it down until finally I had enough gags for a book. Authors do this all the time. They watch people and listen carefully to find writing ideas. We steal all our best story ideas from other people’s lives.

So now you know. Authors lie. Authors cheat and authors steal. Maybe you could be an author too?

1. Where do you like to write?

What’s with that?

When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

What makes you passionate about writing?

What was your road to publication like?

Tell us about your books.

Do you plan your picture books? If so, how?

How do you present to children during author visits?

What’s next?

In July of this year Katrina Germein packed up her house, dropped the dog at her dad’s and said goodbye to Adelaide for a trip around Australia with her husband and kids. Since then Katrina has been balancing beach going and bushwalking with delivering author presentations in primary schools and writing workshops in regional centres. Highlights for Katrina have included flying to the northernmost settlement in Western Australia to Kalumburu Community School in The Kimberley, spending Book Week visiting schools in Darwin and meeting students in country schools who have written stories, poems and songs based on her books.

Other happy moments for Katrina over the last few months have included visiting the remote Aboriginal Community of Minyerri, where her best selling book Big Rain Coming is set, spotting her book Baby Gets Dressed on a list of Mem Fox’s list of favourite books for 0-5 years olds and receiving a letter from The Hon. Simon Crean MP naming My Dad Thinks He’s Funny as a highly commended work in the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

Katrina is now looking forward to exploring Queensland, visiting more schools and maybe writing a travel inspired story.

On Wednesday I had a lovely time meeting students from two small schools in WA. With their teachers, the students had been working on some poetry and art inspired by Big Rain Coming using the theme of waiting. They chose one line from their poems to include with their art work. I was impressed by their creations and also moved.

Many thanks to everyone at Chapman Valley Primary School and Yuna Primary School.