I am VERY excited to be taking part in the Wychwood Festival this weekend 🙂 No, no, not as a musician – ha! – but as part of the Kids’ Literature Festival. I’ve got two events to do: one informal session on Saturday (tomorrow, eek!) in which I shall be teaching people how to make … More Wychwood Festival, here I come!
A few months before the publication of my book Looking at the Stars, I was asked one of those ‘which book is it similar to?’ questions. They’re always hard to answer, partly because you cling to the hope that your book is original – that no one has ever written anything quite like it before … More My Name Is Parvana – review
I used to write a lot of music. I have half a shelf of manuscript books and loose sheets, all covered with my scrawls. I wrote songs for school, arranged music of all kinds for orchestra, flute band and choirs. I wrote an entire score for my school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream when … More I’ve written a song
I’m rubbish at plots, I really am. I simply cannot think of things to happen to people. I don’t know why this is my weak area, because I have plenty of imagination, but I just don’t have that stream of ‘then this happens, then this, then THAT could happen…’ Characters, yes. Atmosphere, pacing, rhythm – … More Miracles inside my mind…
Camden is the perfect location for this trilogy of stories by Hilary Freeman about three best friends. The Celeb Next Door (the other two are Stuck On Me and The Boy From France) is the story of Rosie , who is obsessed with her favourite band, Fieldstar. When she discovers that the band’s drummer, Rufus, has bought … More Camden Town Tales: The Celeb Next Door – review
Last time I wrote, I was in the dumps. And to be honest, the days and week or so that followed were HARD WORK. A not-very-enjoyable part of being a writer. I started the manuscript again, the one that wasn’t working. And it was SLUDGY. Very, very hard going, and kind of BORING. I BORED … More On the Up again…!
Jo Cotterill 