I was wrong about the software...

My members will be able to do more things online when Steve's finished.  It's not software that he's doing, like I'd thought, but an online thing.

Now would be a good time to become a member 'cos it's only my members who will have access to things like this and you will get better prices for crits and stuff too.

I love having every single visitor to my site, but I've already forked out £3400 for the software and online stuff, without even thinking about the yearly cost of the domain name and hosting.

There will always be things for the visitors to the site, but my members will always be my top priority and they will get access to things that the visitors don't, so it's well worth shelling out your money to join the site, considering it's under a tenner for even the most expensive fee!

Keep Out! was rejected this afternoon

Just had a rejection for my MG novel, Keep Out!

Took 7 weeks this time as opposed to 7 days that used to be the average, so I'm getting there slowly!

Not going to sub to anyone else for the time being 'cos I'm gonna sub to SCBWI's UV2020 and I'm gonna re-edit all the MSs again to see if I can make them even better.  Already got 3 subs out there too that I haven't heard back from yet, so don't wanna have too many out there in case I'm taken on by one of them!

It still stings, but at least they let me know, instead of leaving me hanging!

Wanna help an author without costing you a penny?

Just seen this on Facebook and it's true for *all* authors, not just children's authors:

A year ago today on Facebook

Please come back to this later if you've either just eaten or are about to eat, 'cos this is a gross question.

I posted this on Facebook exactly a year ago and I'm pretty sure a totally gross picture book came out of it:

Feeling sick yet?

I've just asked this on Facebook for the parents/carers/educators of children, but I'm after advice from my fellow writers and authors on this too:

So come on then... make up a name (to protect your privacy and because I always struggle with names in my manuscripts so want to be able to steal yours) and let me know, in the comments of this post, if you think I should write it as an early reader for 5 year olds or as an easy reader for 6-8 year olds.

Thank you so so much!

Are you a children's author? In the UK? Looking for a publisher?

If you answered all three questions in the title with "yes" then keep reading!

March Hamilton have got a few open submission windows between July and September this year so you've got a few months to put finish those edits and get your query polished up... don't forget where you heard it when you're rich and famous though, OK?  😉

Write for MG readers and ready to sub right away?

If you've got a MG novel ready and raring to go but you want a couple of sentences of feedback on your query and first 10 pages of your manuscript then take a look at this page - it's only open until 5.30pm ET tomorrow (5th April 2019) and it won't be a lot of feedback, only a couple of sentences, but that's more than you've got right now and it's free, so what are you waiting for??

Now would be a good time to...

...become a member of the site.

Why?

Because you have unlimited access to me, the members area, exclusive software available only to my members and my in-house geek is coding an exclusive member's only page of one of the pieces of software that can be used without having to install anything.

There's also another piece of software that's going to be available to my member's only too and you get discounts on things in the members shop and having access to me whenever you need me!

If you've got any ideas of software that you want/need for your writing or illustrating, whether you're a member or not, just let me know in as much detail as possible and I'll see what I can persuade the in-house geek to come up with for you.

If you want a basic website but can't afford to pay anything for it, just let me know what you want and I'll see what I can come up with for you for free.  If you want something more professional that you're willing to pay for, just email Steve (my hubby) or go to his site so that you can see what he's done so far and contact him from there.