Tilda's Going Underground!

Now here's something a bit different! In this time of lockdown, I've created a little video to get you thinking about Tilda and the Mines of Pergatt. 

I was in my garden room at the time, so you might hear a blackbird in the background (he sits in the nearby pear tree to sing to me!) or distant neighbours' children in their gardens.

If you like it, who knows, I might be tempted to read you the first chapter of the new book before it's published! 

Tilda and the Mines of Pergatt

Introducing...the cover for Tilda 2!

Coming soon...

How to Launch a Book - Digitally

I've started to think about how I mark the publication of Tilda and the Mines of Pergatt.

An actual launch is, most likely, going to be out of the question. Heck, I don't even know if the physical book is going to be available initially, or if it will start off as an ebook only. So Tilda 2 isn't going to be getting the kind of launch party I threw for Granny Rainbow...

But it's always good to celebrate publication, and some people are doing it virtually in this time of social distancing and restrictions.

My dilemma is related to my target audience. My novels are aimed at middle grade readers - 9+ years - and for certainly the lower end of that scale, you wouldn't expect the kids to have access to some forms of social media. An interactive chatroom kind of launch is therefore pretty much out of the question. Of course, I realise that a lot of my readers are a bit older and potentially could do chat rooms etc, but I want to be as inclusive as possible to ALL readers.

So what could I do instead? Here are a few thoughts

1. Ask for questions in advance, and answer them as part of a recorded Q&A that goes up on youtube.

2. Record myself reading the first chapter of the book.

3. A competition - perhaps I could do some illustrations in a print copy (assuming they are available) and you win that if you send me a pic of you, with the book (digital versions would be allowed!) as your entry? I did it for Tilda of Merjan. (read about it here.)

4. I can't remember the name for it, but a campaign to share across social media something about Tilda 2 - photo, snippet of text, a link to wherever the book is being sold - on a specific date and time.

5. Some kind of homemade book trailer...

Would you even bother tuning in to a virtual launch, or simply buy the book to read?

Hmmm... It would be good to know what you think, as I'm relying on you, Reader of the Scribbles, for support!

Coming out the other side of covid-19

So after almost 8 weeks of lockdown, the UK is beginning to open up.

There are very different views on this, as you might imagine. Some want things to happen quicker, to get the economy going again. Others are saying it's happening too fast, considering how many people have already died and combined with the fact that the all-important R rate is so close to 1, it will take very little to allow the virus to take hold again.

My own personal view is that as a country, we should have acted firmer, quicker. We should have continued testing and tracing in the early stages. We should have taken notice of predictions years ago that a pandemic was bound to happen sooner or later, and we should have been better prepared for it when it came.

However, hindsight's a wonderful thing.

Suffice to say that Family Squidge are very much still staying at home at the moment to see what happens in three weeks time... We have been bereaved once because of Covid-19, and we don't wish to experience any more losses.

So how are we coping?

We've settled into a routine of slow starts and late nights. As the Squidgelings continue to complete uni assignments and revise for exams, we tend to do our own separate things during the day and come together every evening for dinner. The highlight of the week is pizza night - often on a Friday - when Mr Squidge makes the dough and we all choose our own toppings. It's better than any takeaway!

I'm still posting daily positives on facebook so that even on the toughest of days - when I have no motivation or feel I've not achieved anything - I can look on the day and find something good. There's only been one day when I really couldn't find anything positive, and in posting that very fact I found it; the kindness and care of friends.

I'm still struggling to write. This is partly due to increased interruptions from the family, but mainly because I can't seem to concentrate. My brain seems to want to flit from one thing to another, which means that I have knitting, colouring, writing, quilting, and embroidery projects on the go at the moment. I'm plugging away a little at a time when I do have the brainpower and focus. I've been doing some critique for a couple of friends though - somehow finding things to improve is a lot easier in someone else's work than in my own at the moment!

Church is problematic. I've had times in my life when I've felt far from God - the advice is usually 'pray harder!' At the minute I feel as though I'm relying on others to pray for me, as I can't find the words. It's not as though there isn't any church at all - I've been astounded and moved by the way the church has mobilised itself to continue to meet the spiritual needs of Christians and the practical needs of people in communities at a time when the physical buildings are closed. My own church has a weekly online service, which is great, but it's not the same. Might never be the same again...

And I think that sums up this point of the pandemic in a nutshell for me. It's a very different life we're living at the moment, and we're nowhere near 'out the other side'. We've perhaps jumped over the first hurdle, and are beginning to adapt, but life will be lived on the edge for some time to come yet.

Photo: New Scientist

Tilda 2...coming soon!

I've seen the proposed cover for Tilda and the Mines of Pergatt, and I love it.

The team at Dragonfeather Books, Bedazzled Ink's children's imprint, have come up with a corker of a concept which will give the entire series a unified look whilst allowing each book to be distinct from each other in terms of detail.

Here's a sneaky peek prior to it being finalised;

Can't wait to share the real thing with you soon. Keep watching this space!

Grief

A lot of you will have already seen the post on facebook which said that my father-in-law died last Friday. Thank you to everyone who has sent love and condolences - it's very much appreciated.

As you can imagine, trying to deal with a death in the current crisis under the restrictions is a little harder then it would normally be. Even without the fact that we are 200 miles away from where Mr H died. It's very, very sad. And very, very strange.

If I'm not here very much over the next week or so, that's why.

Be back soon. x

Squidge's Writing Prompt #4

As well as writing, I also quilt... The picture is of a quilt top I made entirely by hand a few years ago using 'hexies'.

Your prompt this time is... 

Imagine a scrap quilt, made from clothing. The clothing can be real (ie you or someone you knew wore it, once upon a time) or imaginary (belonged to a fictional character). 

Describe the quilt using memories associated with the clothing. 

Squidge's Writing Prompt #3

One thing I struggled to use at first for writing inspiration was Story Cubes.

There are lots of different ways to use them - pick three, use all of them, take one cube and use all the pictures on it, use one at a time and add to the story as each new dice is thrown... You can interpret any single picture however you'd like. For example, take the key; it could be a physical key, something locked, the key to a code...

Anyway, for this third prompt I've thrown all nine, and will leave it up to YOU to decide how you're going to use them. Happy writing!