Pleased to spot a bit of coverage for my recent reading and craft session at Bembridge Library in this week’s Isle of Wight County Press.
And here are a couple of photos from the day…
Library visit makes the news!
Leave a reply
New review on Amazon!
Just spotted a lovely new review for Isabella, Rotten Speller on Amazon.
I’m so grateful to anyone who takes the time to post a review. Not only does it make my day, it raises the profile of my books and may, eventually, lead to more sales. So thank you!
Fun with the WI!
I enjoyed speaking to the Bembridge branch of the WI last night. The subject of the talk was ‘Peta Rainford’s Books: the story so far!’
Having done several school and library visits over recent months, this was my first talk to a group where the average age was (ever so slightly) over nine!
I found the whole process a very positive one. Preparing the talk forced me to break from working on my next book and made me consider a number of very basic questions like:
- where do I get my ideas from?
- how has my illustration style developed? and (the big one)
- what next?
I suspect some of my answers were more coherent than others, but it is always good to take a step back from what you are doing and get a little perspective.
Thank you, Bembridge WI, for inviting me to talk and being an engaged and inquiring audience and good luck to those of you considering, or already engaged in, this book-writing lark for yourselves.
Good to hear from Allan Ahlberg!
Good to hear Allan Ahlberg (he of Funny Bones and The Jolly Postman, among others) on Radio 4’s Open Book, a few minutes ago. Encouraging to hear that that this hero’s approach to writing is similar to mine: I absolutely get the idea of the story growing organically out of a few choice words that catch the imagination. I liked his knitting analogy too. But I have to protest at the idea that children’s books are not as important as grown-ups’! I’m with Mariella on that one!
How to produce a children’s picture book
The latest edition of my newsletter, Dogpigeon Post, is out today and in it I talk about the process of producing a children’s picture book (or, at least, the process I have followed for each of the four-and-a-half books I have written so far.)
To subscribe (it’s free!) and find out more, please put your email address in the comments box at the end of this page (don’t worry, it won’t appear on this website!), or email me direct at petarainford@gmail.com. Many thanks.
Hitting the headlines
I was away at the end of last week, so have only just spotted that my April Fool’s Day event at Bembridge Library was covered by the Isle of Wight County Press. They even ran the April Fool’s Day poem wot I wrote for the occasion…
I like my job!
It’s not a bad life when you can spend the morning drawing a dodo in a running shirt and call it work.
I do like to receive a letter!
I so appreciated the lovely thank you letter I received from Bembridge Library this morning.
It may be my age, but I think there’s something very special about receiving a proper thank you letter, on actual paper, through the post. Thank yous by text, email etc are very nice and always appreciated, but they are not the same.
Or is it just my age?
April Fools’ Fun
I had great fun at Bembridge Library this morning, reading Jamie and the Joke Factory (among other things) and doing some April Fools-related crafts. Thank you to everyone who came along.
Wanna read a poem about a crow?
Of course you do!
As you may or may not know, I like to write a monthly poem for my newsletter readers. Last month, I wrote one about the plight of a much-maligned bird, a crow called Colin. One of my newsletter readers has asked if she could share it with her friends on Facebook, so here it is. (yes, I know it’s tiny and a bit fuzzy, but click on it and it won’t be):
If you like it and would like to see more of the same (as well as getting the latest hot news from Peta Rainford Books), please sign up for my newsletter by sending your email address to: petarainford@gmail.com. Many thanks.