Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and it’s so much fun. My contributions will naturally be heavily kidlit skewed!  I’ve gone with my own prompt today: books that have been sitting unread on my shelf the longest! I really want to read all of these, and I’ve already started some but, for some reason or other, didn’t manage to finish them and need to start again! I find it difficult to give up on a novel but over the years I’ve made peace with the fact that sometimes,…

When I started Writer and the Wolf, I set out my three core values: the things I believe in that drive me to do my very best work every day. They’re the reason I do this job and what sets me apart from other editors. I recently combined these three values into a mission statement: Young readers deserve… the best books authors who care about their readers and what’s important to them to see themselves reflected in the books they read to feel valued and important stories that help them…

If you’re anything like me, you’re forever signing up for awesome courses and masterclasses online – and then not actually completing them. I do this ALL THE TIME. Ugh, what a waste of money! That’s why I’m hosting my first Get It Done Week for Untangling Children’s Books: Middle Grade and YA Explained and I’m so excited. This is a free week-long challenge open to anybody who has registered for the Untangling Children’s Books course (you can still sign up now!). Fed up of spending money on courses but not…

If you’re anything like me, you’re forever signing up for awesome courses and masterclasses online – and then not actually completing them. I do this ALL THE TIME. Ugh, what a waste of money! That’s why I’m hosting my first Get It Done Week for Untangling Children’s Books: Middle Grade and YA Explained and I’m so excited. This is a free week-long challenge open to anybody who has registered for the Untangling Children’s Books course (you can still sign up now!). Fed up of spending money on courses but not…

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and it’s so much fun. My contributions will naturally be heavily kidlit skewed!  This week I’m looking at the ten most recent books I’ve added to my collection, either through buying them myself or being gifted them for Christmas or my birthday. 1. Ghostly, Ghastly Tales: Frights to Tell at Night by Anastasia Garcia | A middle grade collection of ghost stories with a glow-in-the-dark cover! This was a Christmas present to myself and I’ve only read one story so far but I…

Next up in my blog series exploring the values and beliefs that drive me and my business, I’m going to talk about being a readers’ champion and what that means to me. Although you, the writer, are my customer, there’s somebody else I always have to keep front of mind when working on your manuscript: the child who’s going to read it.  Helping you love your book is SUPER important to me. I want you to be so proud of your work that you skip around the house in your…

Last week I received a lovely message from a writer (we’ll call him Badger) in response to my freebie welcome email, asking for some advice. He said he had a great idea for a children’s book he really wanted to write, but every time he sat down to work on it, the words just didn’t come. As much time as he spent staring at a blank screen, nothing was flowing like he’d imagined it would in his head. I could so relate! I wrote back to him with some tips and I…

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and it’s so much fun. My contributions will naturally be heavily kidlit skewed!  This week is my top ten books I read in 2024 and this was super tricky! Luckily, I’d already put together a top five on Instagram last week so I only had five more to find. Here’s where I ended up, in no particular order: All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown – a YA dystopian queer romance Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of…

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and it’s so much fun. My contributions will naturally be heavily kidlit skewed!  This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is ten books I hope Santa brings me for Christmas! I had a long book wishlist this year and I’m not sure which ones Santa (or rather my husband) chose for me but here’s what I’m crossing my fingers for: 10. The White Guy Dies First edited by Terry J Benton-Walker I’m on a horror short story kick so I’m rounding up…

A round-up of the best advice, resources and links for middle grade and YA authors from all the (many, many) writing newsletters in my inbox each month. Find somebody’s tips or links useful or interesting? Sign up to their newsletter! StoryGodmother Newsletter by Amy Sparkes Read the StoryGodmother newsletter here. I love Amy’s thoughts on improving an ‘okay’ chapter that’s functional but not incredible. Sometimes we write a chapter or scene that needs to be there but it’s not gonna win any awards, simply acting as a bridge from one chapter to…

Doors don’t look that scary until you’re locked behind one, or there’s a zombie on the other side, or somebody’s chasing you and you can’t find your key, or there’s an axe murderer smashing through it and getting dangerously close to your face. I’ve always been fascinated by the use of doors in horror, particularly middle grade and YA horror. Doors are a threshold, a symbol of transition, taking you from one place to the next, and children’s lives are full of those, whether it’s moving up a school year,…