Friday, May 6, 2011

The Best Things About Being A Writer Pt 1



This is the blog I did for www.girlsheartbooks.com - a brand new blog for girl readers - check it out! Other authors involved include Cathy Cassidy, Judi Curtin and Cathy Hopkins.
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When I visit schools there are three questions I’m always asked:
1/ How much money do you make?
2/ Where do you get your ideas?
3/ What’s the best thing about being a writer?
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So I thought I’d start with the third question first – and if you stay tuned I’ll add to it and answer the other questions in my next blog.
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So here you go – The Best Things About Being A Writer Part 1 – Ta, Da! . . .
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1/ You can work in your pyjamas, or ancient tracky bottoms or a giant pink bunny suit – whatever takes your fancy. The postman may get a shock if you answer the door a bunny suit however!
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2/ Research
Writers get to travel to interesting places to do research. It’s a great excuse to explore the world. Recently I’ve been to Paris, New York, Miami and Budapest to research locations for the Ask Amy Green books. Summer Secrets is set partly in Miami, Bridesmaid Blitz in Paris, and Budapest and New York will feature in future books.
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You also get to meet really interesting people, like ballerinas, fashion designers, surgeons and even zoo keepers.
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Last year I spent a wonderful day with one of the elephant keepers in Dublin Zoo. She showed me the industrial looking kitchen where they prepare the elephants’ food, the large beds of sand and straw where they sleep, the hidey holes where the keepers put the elephants’ food to make eating more fun for them.
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But my favourite bit was the glittery poo discovery. Did you know that in order to track the elephants’ nutrition, they have to test their poo every morning? And to do this they have to mark each elephant’s poo in some way – so they put glitter into their food. Yep, glitter! So each great big dollop of elephant poo sparkles in a very individual way – red, silver, gold, green, blue. Strange but true.
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Plus their trunks feel like coral, all rough and bone-like – I was amazed, I expected them to feel warm and leathery.
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And that’s what I love about research – you discover the most weird and wonderful things that really can make your books come alive.
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Stay tuned for more in my next blog on 5th June.
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Yours in books,

Sarah XXX