NaNoWriMo Deferred by Savita Kalhan

I wrote in my last blog about the pressures of being a children’s writer today, all the hats we have to wear, the endless publicity we have to do, and the social media platforms we should engage with. All of that remains true. I ended with the point that the main focus of being a writer must always be the next story that needs to be written. It’s November, which means it is NaNoWriMo at the moment. Sadly, I know that, because of all of the non-writing activities I've mentioned and editing the current book, I won’t be able to spend the time I would like on writing the next book.

So I am deferring NaNoWriMo until January. Taking a hiatus from social media will feel strange to begin with, I am sure, and I will inevitably have to scratch that itch occasionally, but I intend to limit it to a few minutes now and then, hopeful optimist that I am.

 

In the meantime, there are lots of wonderful things going on with my book, and it is beginning to reach readers far and wide, which is an amazing feeling. My book is on an international blog tour at the moment, which means that it is being reviewed by YA bloggers from India, Canada, the US, UK, Romania and the Philippines.

The reviews from the past couple of days have reminded me why I write, and I actually got quite emotional reading them - Reading through Infinity, The Cursed Books blog

I have also been immensely lucky to have been paired up with some great schools and librarians as part of the #BookPenPals scheme on Twitter, the brainchild of @KateScottwiter and @Saramoohead. One of the school librarians in the scheme has just been awarded The School Librarian of 2018 award, so huge congratulations to Emma Suffield for winning it, and to all the inspiring librarians around the world for caring about reading and sharing their passion for books with children!

Emma asked me what libraries meant to me. When I was growing up, my parents  couldn’t afford to buy me books, so I practically lived in the library. But how to put into a few words how much they have meant to me, and why they are so important for every child.

Here’s what I wrote for her school –

Go cosmic and take a space ship to the moon,

Fly a hot-air balloon around the world,

Sail to the islands at the end of everything,

Board a train to Hogwarts,

Whoosh through universes on the Great Network,

Walk through a wardrobe to a world of snow,

Dive down a rabbit hole, play Noughts and Crosses,

Learn to fly a dragon, but never laugh at a live one,

Wherever you go, whatever portal you use, the keys are in your library.

The library is where all your adventures begin...

...It’s where all mine began.

And if anyone is up for NaNoWriMo in January, let me know!

Happy writing and stay safe if you’re venturing out to the fireworks tonight!

PS The Carnegie Medal nominations have just been announced and I am so chuffed that The Girl in the Broken Mirror has been nominated! Congratulations to all my fellow nominees! Happy Monday!
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Savita on Twitter @savitakalhan