The Best Things About Being a Writer Part 2

Hi everyone,

This is a blog I did for Girls Heart Books - http://girlsheartbooks.com
Hope you like it!

So far in the best things about being a writer list we’ve had:

1/ You can write in your pjs.

2/ The research – writers get to travel and meet fascinating people and elephants (along with their glittery poo!).

Number 3/ is:

Ta, da! The readers. One of the best things about being a writer is definitely having readers. Especially readers who send lovely cards, emails and letters. The other day I got my first email from an Italian reader. Unfortunately I don’t read Italian so I had to get my friend, Tanya to translate it, but it was still thrilling.

I also get to meet lots of readers at festivals (like the one I was just at in Listowel) and school events which is also brilliant. More than anything else, us writers want readers, lots and lots of them! We’re quite a needy little bunch really.

4/ You can stare into space and daydream and imagine strange and wonderful things and scribble away in a notebook and ask really odd questions and be incredibly nosey and curious and no one will think you’re mad.

5/ Best of all you get to invent characters and give them friends and families and complicated lives. You get to create a whole world for them – like your own personal soap opera or drama. And there’s nothing as much fun in the whole entire world. Especially if you love your characters (and I do love my own characters, Amy and Clover very, very muchly – I’d want to, the amount of time I spend with them!).

So if like me you’re a huge and passionate reader, there is no better or more exciting job in the world.

On the flip side – The Worst Things About Being a Writer

1/ Numb bumb – from sitting at your desk all day.

2/ It can be lonely if you are a sociable soul like me.

3/ It gives you less time to read and watch Glee and Grey’s Anatomy.

Please do add to the list if you can think of any, Girls Heart Books blogging team!

For me, that’s pretty much it – nope, can’t think of any more negatives. So in short, be a writer, it diamond rocks!

Stay tuned for the next blog – about my writing uniform – including incriminating photographs!

Yours in books,

Sarah XXX

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

Paris Trip - Ooh la la!

Paris

I was in Paris last weekend doing research for Amy Green book 3 and also celebrating my birthday!

The pics show me looking at the Mona Lisa with all the crowds of tourists; and then me at the top of the steps in front of the Sacre Coeur church.

It's such a beautiful and romantic city - I had a ball!

Amy and Clover visit Paris in book 3 - look out for it next year!

SarahX