‘I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.’ Sharon Hale (American author)
I’ve spent much of October raging against the clock, thanks to the deadlines I’ve set myself.
Here’s the thing. Having celebrated another journey around the sun, I leave the UK for South Africa any minute now, and there are some loose writing ends that require firm tying up and typing up before then.
Every month I write two blogs for this site, which you lovely people read and occasionally leave a comment for me to read (much appreciated; please carry on).
I also write one blog for The Association of Christian Writers (ACW), published on 16th of each month, and have done for almost three years. The is called called More Than Writers and you can read those here
Then there’s Writers’ Narrative eMagazine which comes out online, via Substack, on alternate days and is themed each month (appropriately it’s Gothic this month, in case you’re wondering). My pieces are published on 17th every month. I work alongside a wonderful team of writers who produce these articles any or all of which, you can find here.
I write material for a publishing group called Brf who produce their devotional every quarter. I’ve written for their past four editions as well as for the three issues to come (they plan a l—o—n—g way in advance), and the material for the edition after that is awaiting my attention. You can order those here without any requirement to do them in date order.
I pitch ideas to two other online faith-based magazines: Woman Alive and Premier NexGen (a parenting publication). You can find those here, and here: respectively. Sometimes my pitch is accepted and other times, not, in which case it’s back to the drawing board and try again. Deadlines vary.
Last year I was asked to be judge for a genre of fiction, which was fascinating. That’s repeating this year although I’m currently taking a breath between entries. The main reason for that is that I have a new book coming out in Spring 2027 thanks to Broad Place Publishing
Us Girls Together is Megan Westaway’s diary, in which she begins to process the trauma of a tragic house fire. Together with her mum, she must navigate the grief journey while facing the challenges of a new house, a new school and, she hopes, a new friend or two. But nothing is that straightforward. Megan has big questions about what’s happened to them both, and makes a friend who helps her see she’s not quite as alone as she thought.
There are lots of exciting things about this book, not least of which is the opportunity to connect with an age group that is close to my heart. I have fond memories of being at Megan’s stage of life myself and, although I didn’t face the same challenges as the ones that present themselves to this generation, nor the tragedy that Megan has endured, it’s a precious and informative stage of childhood.
And, there’s more excitement because Broad Place Publishing have asked me to write a sequel, which is what’s consuming most of my waking hours currently. Whether I can complete the entire manuscript before heading across the equator again remains to be seen, but I’ll give it my best shot while juggling other commitments, including the next editing stage of the first one.
Us Girls Together is aimed particularly at girls in the Key Stage 2 age range (7–11) who are starting to ask questions about life. It avoids easy answers or trite solutions while reflecting some of the realities faced by our primary school children. You can read an extract here.
So, if you have children, grandchildren, godchildren, nieces, are a primary school teacher looking for material for your PSHE or RE lessons, a brownie or guide leader, or have interactions with similar groups in a church or social setting, this book could be a resource for you .
You can read more about how the book came into being here.
From this week you can pre-order Us Girls Together here.
Please note that the cover design is not complete so the current illustration on this web page is just that: an illustration or place-holder. We’re looking forward to revealing that in the weeks ahead.
You can also sponsor copies of Us Girls Together here.
A single pre-ordered book costs £11.99 (will be £12.99 on publication) but you can buy three copies for £30 and solve your gifting problems for next year.
I’d love to join me as the ‘shovelled sand’ is built into a book-shaped castle. Why wait?
[images: Pixabay & Broad Place Publishing]
