Hi All,
Here is a clip of my lastest Sort it Out, Sarah on RTE television - the link is below. Hope you like it!
Every month I appear on the show Elev8, sorting out problems. They range from advice on what girls like (boys with a sense of humour!), what to do if your mum is your teacher, to how to cope when friends turn mean, and or you get left out of things.
It's a really great experience, and fun too. I love getting my make up done - there's something very relaxing about lying back on the special chair (like a dentist's chair) and having someone do your face up.
One day I might even make Amy and Clover on screen agony aunts and use what I have found out - what do you think?!
Sarah XXX
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1093685
Monday, March 14, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Problems, problems . . . from the vaults of Sort It Out, Sarah!
Problems, problems . . .
Every second Thursday I’m Sort it Out, Sarah on RTE telly’s show, ELEV8.
Viewers send me their problems and I try to fix them.
Here are 2 problems from last week and the answers I gave:
Hi Sarah,
My friend always wears the same kinds of clothes as me and it’s really annoying. I get annoyed at her but I can’t say it because then we’ll end up having a fight. How do I tell her to dress differently without hurting her feelings?
Well, that’s a tough one. Your friend is copying your style because a/ she thinks you look cool and b/ she is unsure of her own style. So it’s a compliment to you that she’s copying your clothes. But saying that, she needs to find her own style.
So here’s what I’d suggest:
Be her stylist – all the movie stars and singers have stylists. Go through her wardrobe and pick out some outfits that suit her and show her how to put cool looks together.
Go shopping with her and help her to pick out some great new clothes. They don’t have to be expensive.
Good luck!
Hi Sarah,
When we’re in hockey and we’re picking teams, I find it hard to pick my friend for my team because she’s not as sporty as I am and I don’t want our team to lose but I also don’t like making her feel bad. What can I do?
That’s another difficult one. I’m quite competitive too, so I know what it’s like. You want to win but you don’t want to hurt your friend.
Here’s what I’d suggest:
Tell your friend you can only pick her every few weeks as otherwise it would look like favouritism.
After school or at the weekend practice with her and help her pick up a few tips.
Hope that helps!
Best, Sarah XXX
Every second Thursday I’m Sort it Out, Sarah on RTE telly’s show, ELEV8.
Viewers send me their problems and I try to fix them.
Here are 2 problems from last week and the answers I gave:
Hi Sarah,
My friend always wears the same kinds of clothes as me and it’s really annoying. I get annoyed at her but I can’t say it because then we’ll end up having a fight. How do I tell her to dress differently without hurting her feelings?
Well, that’s a tough one. Your friend is copying your style because a/ she thinks you look cool and b/ she is unsure of her own style. So it’s a compliment to you that she’s copying your clothes. But saying that, she needs to find her own style.
So here’s what I’d suggest:
Be her stylist – all the movie stars and singers have stylists. Go through her wardrobe and pick out some outfits that suit her and show her how to put cool looks together.
Go shopping with her and help her to pick out some great new clothes. They don’t have to be expensive.
Good luck!
Hi Sarah,
When we’re in hockey and we’re picking teams, I find it hard to pick my friend for my team because she’s not as sporty as I am and I don’t want our team to lose but I also don’t like making her feel bad. What can I do?
That’s another difficult one. I’m quite competitive too, so I know what it’s like. You want to win but you don’t want to hurt your friend.
Here’s what I’d suggest:
Tell your friend you can only pick her every few weeks as otherwise it would look like favouritism.
After school or at the weekend practice with her and help her pick up a few tips.
Hope that helps!
Best, Sarah XXX
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The New Blog is Here! Don't Miss Out - Read It Right This Second . . .
Before and after pics from the Irish Book Awards!
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and I’m feeling good . . .
I’ve been reading a couple of other writers’ blogs recently and I came to the conclusion that:
a/ some people put a whole heap more effort than others into blogging
b/ some blogs are boring
c/ no-one (me included) wants to hear about what writers had for breakfast – unless they ate something mad like ostrich eggs
and c/ my own blog is starting to get very *yawn and stretch* BORING indeed!
So I asked my teen son, Sam, is my blog boring. He said ‘Yes, Mum, snoozeville.’ (And he’d only read 3 lines)
So I asked one of my teen editors who was far more polite.
‘Well . . .’ she stalled. ‘I wouldn’t say boring exactly. I’d say informative.’
Informative – not good. School is informative. The Irish Times is informative. Emails from the bank are informative. But blogs should be fun, right? You’re tuning in to be entertained, not put to sleep.
Maybe you’ve had a rotten day in school, your mum’s nagging you about homework again, and you just want something funny to read.
So there’s going to be a change around her, my friends. Starting now, I’m going to say exactly what I like, when I like and no-one can do a thing about it.
Maw-ha-ha-ha! (Evil laugh)
You will learn the secret weird and wonderful workings of my very odd mind. I mean really, who spends hours thinking about school lock downs and how cool a story that would make?
Who spends hours discussing Wimpy Kid books with a gang of third classers just for the hell of it?
I tell you, I’m so far off normal sometimes, I scare myself.
Must be all the cool children’s books I’ve read – they’re seeping into my brain and turning it into a huge glowing ball of strange ideas and concepts.
Every day I wake up thinking something like – what if there was this surfing dog, now that’s interesting. No, no, surfing hamster. No, no, a boarding school for children of spies . . . and on it goes, all day, every day . . .
But that is how all books start . . . the big WHAT IF.
And I know a whole heap of you like writing too, so in this blog I’ll try to demystify (good word, huh!) the whole writing process – and tell you how a book is written from start to finish.
- OK, honest question to teen editor number one, is this blog boring?
- No way! But I hope you don’t mind me saying this – are you OK? You sound, well, different.
- Different in a good way, or in a bad way?
- In a good way I guess.
- Most excellent, my work here is done.
Till next week, Amy Greensters. Friday is blog day so check back every Friday from now on for your weekly blog fix.
Be warned, if you like this post and leave comments it will only encourage me! The more comments, the more blogs . . . it’s in your hands, folks!
Toodle pips as Clover would say.
Sarah XXX
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all the Amy Greensters out there.
I haven't blogged for a while - Christmas was kinda busy in chez Webb.
I'm currently working on Amy Green 4 - which is very nearly finished and will be out in May - exciting!
I'm also making notes for Amy Green 5 - and off to Budapest to do some research for the book in March.
And I have 2 Transition Year girls - Amy and Kate - coming in Feb to help me in my office. They both want to be writers, so they will be blogging about their experiences right here!!!
Stay tuned.
January is a funny old month, isn't it? Lots of things starting up. But for me September has always been the month things really begin - I think it's 'cos it was always back to school time.
Anyway, Happy January, and talk soon.
Sarah XXX
I haven't blogged for a while - Christmas was kinda busy in chez Webb.
I'm currently working on Amy Green 4 - which is very nearly finished and will be out in May - exciting!
I'm also making notes for Amy Green 5 - and off to Budapest to do some research for the book in March.
And I have 2 Transition Year girls - Amy and Kate - coming in Feb to help me in my office. They both want to be writers, so they will be blogging about their experiences right here!!!
Stay tuned.
January is a funny old month, isn't it? Lots of things starting up. But for me September has always been the month things really begin - I think it's 'cos it was always back to school time.
Anyway, Happy January, and talk soon.
Sarah XXX
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
How I Write a Book - Step 1 - Ideas
Hi Amy Greensters,
I was posting this blog to my other website - www.sarahwebb.ie and I thought I'd share snippets of it with you guys too!
It's about how I write a book from start to finish. So if you're interested in writing, or in how I write my books, read on.
I’ve just realised I haven’t really blogged about how I write a book from start to finish – from the very first idea to the actual final manuscript. So using the book I’ve just finished, Ask Amy Green: Party Drama-rama (Amy 4) I’ll try to explain how I do this. It might take a couple of weeks as I’m talking details people! ‘Cos I’m that kinda gal. Now first the disclaimer:
Every writer writes in a very, very different way. This is just the way I do it. And I’m certainly not suggesting it will work for everyone. It doesn’t even work for me sometimes! So take everything I say with a large sea rock of salt!
1/ The Initial Idea
This is the number one question I get asked at events and in schools – ‘Where do you get your ideas?’
And it’s a very hard one to answer. If I’m talking to younger readers and writers of say under 14 I tend to tell them about my crazy, mad thought-filled mind and how it never rests and is always spewing up ideas. Like today – I was stuck at home with the kids (snowed in) and thinking about how that might feel if it happened for more than a week – how would we cope. Then – being a writer – I thought, hey, that’s an interesting one for a book. It could be a/ a comedy about a family muddling through and being resourceful and learning to work together after practically killing each other or b/ a Hunger Games type dystopian teen novel where the family really do kill each other – I’d have to throw in some sort of reality tv show then maybe or c/ a romance where 2 neighbouring families are thrown together – maybe a widow and a single mum – and they bond over show shovels. See, my mind works in mysterious ways and there is always, always something cool to write about.
Where was I? Ah yes, ideas. And the idea for Amy 4 in particular.
For me, largely the characters come first. In the case of Amy 4 I already knew all the main characters – Amy, Clover, her crazy 17 year old aunt, Mills, Amy’s best friend, Sylvie, her mum, Art, her Dad, Dave, her step dad and so on.
Before I think about plot, I tend to do a lot of work on the characters. For Amy 4 I had a new character to concentrate on, Bailey Otis. He has a small walk on part in Amy 3 but I needed to flesh him out a lot more. So I grabbed my character note book and started writing pages and pages – what I knew about him – from where he was born, to his childhood, his parents, schools, music he likes, talents, hates, likes etc etc.
Once I’ve got the main characters firmly in my head I think about the plot and the setting.
Plot
Plot is an interesting one. Some writers – especially crime writers apparently – start with plot. But I do have an idea of the type of thing I’d like to write about before I put pen to paper. It tends to swirl around in my head, picking up momentum and speed, before forming into anything coherent.
I knew I wanted to make Amy Green a problem solver. I also knew I wanted to give her an older side kick who could drive and had a job and some money. Clover was originally going to be 21 until my very wise friend, Liz, said that that was way too grown up and younger was better. So I made her 17 instead which worked much better – thanks, Liz!
Once I decided to make Clover a journalist, and an agony aunt for teens, I found my ‘in’ to the problem solving. Basically Amy is brilliant at solving other people’s problems, but not so hot with her own problems.
So then I had my premise and my characters, and I just had to fill in the plot. Which has never been hard with the Amy books as my characters have a lot to say and live very eventful lives!
But basically – ideas come from everywhere – keep your eyes open and one will bite you on the nose. Now, I wonder if that family getting snowed in idea would actually work? Or a teen novel about a Lockdown in a school . . . my son’s school had a Lockdown drill recently, a new one on me, but common now in the US . . . now that’s an interesting one . . .
I was posting this blog to my other website - www.sarahwebb.ie and I thought I'd share snippets of it with you guys too!
It's about how I write a book from start to finish. So if you're interested in writing, or in how I write my books, read on.
I’ve just realised I haven’t really blogged about how I write a book from start to finish – from the very first idea to the actual final manuscript. So using the book I’ve just finished, Ask Amy Green: Party Drama-rama (Amy 4) I’ll try to explain how I do this. It might take a couple of weeks as I’m talking details people! ‘Cos I’m that kinda gal. Now first the disclaimer:
Every writer writes in a very, very different way. This is just the way I do it. And I’m certainly not suggesting it will work for everyone. It doesn’t even work for me sometimes! So take everything I say with a large sea rock of salt!
1/ The Initial Idea
This is the number one question I get asked at events and in schools – ‘Where do you get your ideas?’
And it’s a very hard one to answer. If I’m talking to younger readers and writers of say under 14 I tend to tell them about my crazy, mad thought-filled mind and how it never rests and is always spewing up ideas. Like today – I was stuck at home with the kids (snowed in) and thinking about how that might feel if it happened for more than a week – how would we cope. Then – being a writer – I thought, hey, that’s an interesting one for a book. It could be a/ a comedy about a family muddling through and being resourceful and learning to work together after practically killing each other or b/ a Hunger Games type dystopian teen novel where the family really do kill each other – I’d have to throw in some sort of reality tv show then maybe or c/ a romance where 2 neighbouring families are thrown together – maybe a widow and a single mum – and they bond over show shovels. See, my mind works in mysterious ways and there is always, always something cool to write about.
Where was I? Ah yes, ideas. And the idea for Amy 4 in particular.
For me, largely the characters come first. In the case of Amy 4 I already knew all the main characters – Amy, Clover, her crazy 17 year old aunt, Mills, Amy’s best friend, Sylvie, her mum, Art, her Dad, Dave, her step dad and so on.
Before I think about plot, I tend to do a lot of work on the characters. For Amy 4 I had a new character to concentrate on, Bailey Otis. He has a small walk on part in Amy 3 but I needed to flesh him out a lot more. So I grabbed my character note book and started writing pages and pages – what I knew about him – from where he was born, to his childhood, his parents, schools, music he likes, talents, hates, likes etc etc.
Once I’ve got the main characters firmly in my head I think about the plot and the setting.
Plot
Plot is an interesting one. Some writers – especially crime writers apparently – start with plot. But I do have an idea of the type of thing I’d like to write about before I put pen to paper. It tends to swirl around in my head, picking up momentum and speed, before forming into anything coherent.
I knew I wanted to make Amy Green a problem solver. I also knew I wanted to give her an older side kick who could drive and had a job and some money. Clover was originally going to be 21 until my very wise friend, Liz, said that that was way too grown up and younger was better. So I made her 17 instead which worked much better – thanks, Liz!
Once I decided to make Clover a journalist, and an agony aunt for teens, I found my ‘in’ to the problem solving. Basically Amy is brilliant at solving other people’s problems, but not so hot with her own problems.
So then I had my premise and my characters, and I just had to fill in the plot. Which has never been hard with the Amy books as my characters have a lot to say and live very eventful lives!
But basically – ideas come from everywhere – keep your eyes open and one will bite you on the nose. Now, I wonder if that family getting snowed in idea would actually work? Or a teen novel about a Lockdown in a school . . . my son’s school had a Lockdown drill recently, a new one on me, but common now in the US . . . now that’s an interesting one . . .
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Writing Competition Shortlist - Wildest Dreams Competition
Hi to everyone who entered the competition - your entries are up on the write a rama section of the website.
As they were all so brilliant I picked the three shortlisted ones out of a hat and they are:
Peace (9 to 11)
Sorcha (9 to 11)
and Tia (12 to 14)
Well done, girls! You will now be in the main draw to win a pack of lovely book and glittery goodies!
News on the overall winner next week right here. Stay tuned.
Sarah XXX
As they were all so brilliant I picked the three shortlisted ones out of a hat and they are:
Peace (9 to 11)
Sorcha (9 to 11)
and Tia (12 to 14)
Well done, girls! You will now be in the main draw to win a pack of lovely book and glittery goodies!
News on the overall winner next week right here. Stay tuned.
Sarah XXX
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Hi to All the Kildare Gang and Another Great Review from Anna
Hi to all the great girls and guys from Kildare I met today in the Riverbank Theatre. Fab questions, lads!
And here's another quick review from Anna in Cork . . .
If you'd like to submit a review for the website, do send it to me - sarah at askamygreen.com
Here is my review on Bridesmaid Blitz
Bridesmaid blitz is a fabulous book and I could not put it down it is one of her best books maybe the best. My favorite characters are Clover and Gracie. I was mad with my self for finishing it because it was so good. A thrilling book with a real Paris feel, I loved it. Full of emotion, comedy, a French feeling, and a whole lot of Sarah Webb. My favorite part is when Amy becomes godmother. Enjoy and remember "A good book shines light on your life"(I made that up)
xx10 outa 10
Anna O' C xx
And here's another quick review from Anna in Cork . . .
If you'd like to submit a review for the website, do send it to me - sarah at askamygreen.com
Here is my review on Bridesmaid Blitz
Bridesmaid blitz is a fabulous book and I could not put it down it is one of her best books maybe the best. My favorite characters are Clover and Gracie. I was mad with my self for finishing it because it was so good. A thrilling book with a real Paris feel, I loved it. Full of emotion, comedy, a French feeling, and a whole lot of Sarah Webb. My favorite part is when Amy becomes godmother. Enjoy and remember "A good book shines light on your life"(I made that up)
xx10 outa 10
Anna O' C xx
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