(I was asked by my publishers, Scholastic, to do a blog post about the making of There’s a Ghost in My PC, and this is a result of that.) There’s a Ghost in My PC had its genesis in a short story I wrote for a Puffin anthology of ghost stories. I’ve never met a […]
Writing
Week #25: Slightly Burnt, a work in progress
I’m staring at a contract on my desk right now. Which means, pending a couple of signatures, my new book will be on its way to be being primped and prepped for publication. Titled Slightly Burnt, it is a young adult novel and my first completely, fully non-fantasy work. There isn’t even a whiff of […]
Week #23: The relevance of fantasy
(This was written after my panel discussion on “The Future of the Fantastic” with Sally Gardner and Lara Morgan at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore. It got me thinking about the relevance of fantasy in our lives and why I think it’s important.) I’ve been asked—usually by well-meaning, non-reading adults and never […]
Week #22 Delayed: An AFCC report
Yep, I was too busy having fun (and working, of course) at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore to post Week #22 in time (there will be two posts this week to catch up). In short, the AFCC was a fantastic, fabulous experience. It was a confluence of numerous writers and illustrators, […]
Week #19: The AFCC Writers’ and Illustrators’ Conference
In the first week of June, I will be attending the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore as a speaker. Needless to say, I’m very excited about it as the AFCC is without doubt the biggest event of its kind in Asia. It brings together creators of children’s content from across the world, […]
Week #18: Teamwork!
Collaboration. Now, there’s a word I’d never expected to get excited about. But life has a funny way of dropping things into your lap that you least expected. This past year or so has been a lot about collaborating and the rest of 2014 is likely to continue that way. The surprising thing is, I’m […]
Week #17: Back from Camp NaNoWriMo
Yep, I was at Camp NaNoWriMo this April. My target was 25,000 words. I managed about 18,000. Not bad, eh? This year at Camp NaNo, I was attempting to juggle two writing projects. The first I won’t mention out of shame. The other was a novel I’ve had in mind since about the middle of […]
Week #16: A mini-crisis
This is going to be quick and dirty because I’m currently involved in some fire-fighting. I’m sure there’s a lesson in this for all of us, I’m just not sure what it is yet. This is what happened: I usually password-protect all my writing work. Even on my own computer. I don’t know why—it’s a […]
Week #13: A report from CCLF 2014
Last week I spent a day at the Chandigarh Children’s Literature Festival 2014, hanging out with readers and schoolchildren from the city as well as hobnobbing with fellow authors and storytellers. My session was titled “Unwelcome guests: Is a ghost in your PC ever good news?” It was an interactive one-hour session, where the audience […]
Week #12: The best writing advice I’ve got
They say that you either got it or you don’t. That you’re born with it and you cannot be taught it. How to write, that is. Be that as it may, there are a lot of things we can do to become better writers and one of those is listen to advice from those who […]