Star by Star Keeps Shining -- Sheena Wilkinson

It hasn't been the jolliest of years, publishing-wise. In 2025 I had two books out within three months -- True Friends at Fernside, and Miss McVey Takes Charge, so it's probably natural that this year should be a time of building things up again. I've always wanted to be a writer contracted to publish a book a year -- that would fit my natural book-producing rhythm very nicely, but so far that's eluded me, and my publishing career looks more like this: 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 (2); 2017 (2); 2020; 2023; 2024; 2025 (2). (I THINK that adds up to 12!) I suppose, written down, it looks regular enough, but every single one of those books represents a one-book deal, so I have always lived with uncertainty. 

From 10 to 57 ... 

This year has been devoted to editing a book I finished more than a year ago -- when I say finished, I don't mean rough first draft; I mean I THOUGHT it was great! My agent disagreed, I realised she was right, and for months I have been making it a very different and much better book. I love the story and the characters and, on a good day, I know it's as strong as anything I've written, and hopefully better. 

it's taking its time to get right ... 

But not all days are good days. And not all good books are published. And not all good published books sell enough to keep publishers happy. Sometimes we need a wee boost. 

Star by Star, 2017 

My boost came last month thanks to my very first publisher. Little Island have published seven of my books, which means over half my output, and this year they have reissued Star by Star (2017) in a gorgeous new cover, with a brand new foreword from me. I was delighted, of course, and imagined the book would just slip out quietly. After all, though it was always far and away my most successful book, it was first published nine years ago. And sometimes even brand new books come out with very little fanfare at all. 

Star by Star, 2026 

But Star by Star's new edition has had a blog tour and been featured in promotions and a radio interview: the attention has given me that little shot of adrenalin that writers -- or this writer at any rate -- need to keep our spirits up. And it reminded me that readers don't really care how old a book is; they want a good story. 

                                                      

I hope, readers and writers, that something happens this month to give YOU that wee boost -- whatever that might look like for you. May your star keep shining brightly too. 

Glad to be Hopeful by Anne Booth

 I think that being a children's writer is a great help for me as an adult, because the discipline of finding something to be hopeful about is essential for our job. We shouldn't be twee, or superficial, or bury our heads in the sand, but I do think we have to find something hopeful for our child readers. 

As soon as I write this I can think of arguments against it - what about funny books which have exaggeratedly negative endings, or the fact that some children find scary books thrilling and comforting, maybe because they remind them that real life isn't all that bad ? Maybe even the presence of humour is enough to give an escape from a difficult present and let hope in, and the thrilling scary books do have hope in that they have heroes and heroines who survive. Beautiful illustrations and typeface and design  can also provide something deeply uplifting and  positive apart from the narrative, but as a story teller, I do think the narrative itself is very important.

All  I know is that I am a bit biased about hope in children's books, because as a child I certainly had a life and a personality where I really needed comfort and hope (and humour and escapism )  in my stories, and I have spoken with teachers who work with looked after children, and they say that they look for stories which are hopeful and comforting, as the last thing the children they work with need is to be re immersed imaginatively  in traumatic situations with no happy ending. I would need to do more research, so please take this as a prompt for thought rather than an essay. I know that there is a way of looking at stories in books as mirrors or windows. Mirroring narratives help us see ourselves and our place in the world, and windows help us see others' lives and develop empathy. I still think that in both those models, for both adult and child readers, but especially for child readers, we still need to have Hope, especially in these days, and as a writer, I think it helps us to put Hope in our narratives.

I remember some years ago  reading  the present Children's Laureate, Frank Cottrell Boyce, saying that there was a need for more Utopian fiction, for imagining better futures, better societies, and as a writer I love that idea, for my own self, not only the children I write for. I have to live in the world and in the worlds I write, and personally, it helps me to  put Hope into my stories, so that after working on a story with Hope in it,  I can put down my pen or close my laptop and  look back into the world I live in, and recognise in 'real life'  the Hope which always existed but which rolling traumatic world news makes hard to find sometimes. These days there are just too many bad news stories about, but it helps me to remember (and I think it is essential for children and many adults to be taught)  that even the news is written - that we are getting narratives which serve the narrators - and hateful or hopeless narratives are no more true than relentlessly positive, head-in-the-sand ones.  There is a sweet spot where we recognise that the world is full of good and bad things, and that there definitely ARE bad things, (which as children's writers, if we need to present them, we must present in age appropriate ways) but fundamentally, love is stronger than the bad things, and endures. That's the happy ever after bit, the thing we hope for, because we know deep down that is true.

So I have to get on now - my own hopeful story is that I am on a part-time MA in Children's Book Illustration. I had to take a year off for various reasons, but I am back on the course now, and it really is giving me Hope to be studying alongside the other students, and to be immersed in such a wonderful world. I am also  illustrating a picture book at the moment, and I hope very much that anyone who reads it  feels more hopeful at the end.  I must go and do some work, as I only have two days before I present it again at our weekly tutorials, and I have to hope that it will be good enough by Wednesday! 

I hope everyone has a good day.

January Jottings by Sheena Wilkinson

Last month I wrote about St Lucy’s Day, and the importance of finding light in the darkness. Since then we have had the winter solstice, Christmas, that weird liminal  week of Sundays, and then, with a little sigh of relief or regret, the turn of the year.

last year's leaves protecting this year's snowdrops 

And now it is January, that dark everlasting month. A month of regrets about Christmas over-eating and over-spending; of having to do all the things you put off at the back end of last year because you were too busy being Christmassy; of resolutions made and broken; perhaps, eventually, of acceptance that winter (with a house full of wine and Quality Street and giant Toblerones) mightn’t be the best time to cut out booze/sugar/carbs. Maybe March – for centuries the first month in the calendar – would be kinder?  

that lovely January light 

You know, in January, that however bad the weather has been in December (in this case, ceaseless rain and flooding), it is only going to get worse. After all, ‘as the day lengthens, the cold strengthens.’ And when we turn our horrified eyes to world events, it would be disingenuous not to be concerned that, bad and all as 2023 was, 2024 isn’t showing any signs of improvement. 

Lissan Water in full flood 

In spite of all that, I rather like January. I like the snowdrops. I like knowing that even if (when) I break my resolutions (mostly regarding eating less), there are still eleven months ahead in which to start again. And I like wondering what new opportunities there might be professionally. At the moment I’m finishing the first draft of the sequel to last year’s Mrs Hart’s Marriage Bureau; waiting for the edits on my new children’s historical novel, which will be published this autumn, and looking forward to the UK paperback release (in a shiny new design) of Mrs Hart at the end of March. I’ll enter some short story and memoir competitions too, and work on some new book ideas. In January, everything feels possible. And in my diary I have two conferences booked – ‘Twentieth-Century Schoolgirls and their Books’ and the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference, both in August.  So it’s a time of hope, even though August feels ages away – ‘unimaginable/zero summer’ as Eliot puts it. 

spring colours for the new paperback of Mrs Hart

On my daily walks I’m noticing signs – not of spring, exactly, but perhaps of Eliot’s ‘midwinter spring’. I tend to walk ‘towards sundown’, when my day’s writing work is done, and I enjoy being able to stay out a little later each day, to say to the occasional person I meet, ‘Isn’t there a grand wee stretch in the evenings?’ The light in January always seems to have a particular quality, a promise of better days ahead. 

more of that lovely light 

 

It’s rather belated to wish readers a Happy New Year on the 13^th day of the month perhaps, but given that January does seem to last for about seven weeks, that not all cultures celebrate New Year at this time, and that March was the official first month for hundreds of years, maybe I can get away with it. 

 

You can get away with anything in January. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stories That May Never See the Light of Day By Tamsin Cooke

Becoming a writer means learning to deal with disappointment and heartache. Most of us, apart from the very lucky few, have had to deal with rejection right at the beginning of our careers. Trying to find an agent and then a publisher is a hard road full of twists and turns. But when you finally sign those contracts, it’s like rainbow fireworks bursting into the sky. Life is fabulous!!!

But what happens after your contracts with the publishers have run out? Maybe you had a 2 book, 4 book, 6 book deal - and then you write something new.  And you write a story that you absolutely love. Perhaps your agent loves it too and you work on it together, making it even better. Then the time comes for it to find a home with a publisher … but no publishing house wants it.

This happened to me recently and I was utterly heartbroken. I wrote a book for young teenagers and I was desperate to see it on a shelf in a library. (And yes, I had pictured it in my mind!) I wanted my characters to be let loose into the world and for readers to enjoy their adventures. But alas, none of this was meant to be.  

Since then, I have spoken to numerous authors and have realized that this happens far more often than people think. Authors who are incredibly successful have written books that may never see the light of day. Their agents loved them, but for whatever reasons, they were rejected. There is some solace in knowing that I’m not alone. 

My story did receive some wonderful feedback from editors and got very close to finding a home. This made it a little easier to deal with. Plus I paid great attention to why it was rejected and took their observations and advice on board. And as I write another story, I keep their feedback in the back of my mind. Because most authors don’t give up. We keep going, hoping our next story will be published. We are persistent and courageous! That’s what I tell myself anyway. 

Today I’d like to give a toast to all those books that haven’t quite made it. They might be languishing in a file on a computer, tucked away in a desk drawer or hidden in a box under a bed.  To all those stories, characters, and adventures - you aren’t forgotten. Your creators still believe in you! And who knows - maybe one day you will be self-published, or an editor might ring out of the blue, wanting to see you again ...

Tamsin Cooke

Author of The Scarlet Files Series and Stunt Double Series

Website: tamsincooke.co.uk
Twitter: @TamsinCooke1 

The Book of Hopes - Clémentine Beauvais

A quick one from me this week - but I thought we might as well mention it here, especially since I'm sure there's a few ABBA-bushkas or their friends in there (is that not what we're known as?):

You've probably - hopefully - seen it everywhere on Twitterbookstagram: The Book of Hopes is Katherine Rundell's carefully-curated, free, beautiful response to lockdown. It's available on the National Literacy Trust website, and it's composed of over 100 contributions by children's authors and illustrators.

 

It's not a space to reflect on The Virus, or to make fun of it, or to pretend that everything is as normal - it's just a myriad little windows through which to escape, wonder or daydream.

 

Happy reading !

Full list of contributors: A.F. Harrold, Abi Elphinstone, Aisha Bushby, Alex T. Smith, Alex Wheatle, Andy Shepherd, Anna James, Annabel Pitcher, Anthony Horowitz, Anthony McGowan, Axel Scheffler, Ben Bailey Smith, Carim Nahaboo, Catherine Doyle, Catherine Johnson, Catherine Rayner, Cerrie Burnell, Chris Haughton, Chris Riddell, Clémentine Beauvais, Danny Wallace, David Almond, David Roberts, David Solomons, Ed Clarke, Ed Vere, Emma Chichester Clark, Emily Gravett, Emily Sutton, Fleur Hitchcock, Francesca Simon, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Geraldine McCaughrean, Gillian Cross, Greg James and Chris Smith, Harriet Muncaster, Hilary McKay, Isabel Thomas, Jack Noel, Jackie Morris, Jacqueline Wilson, James Campbell, Jane Ray, Jasbinder Bilan, Jenny McLachlan, Jessica Townsend, Jessie Burton, Jim Smith, Jo Cotterill, Jonny Duddle, Joseph Elliott, Kate Pankhurst, Katherine Rundell, Katherine Woodfine, Katie and Kevin Tsang, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Kiran Millwood-Hargrave, L.D. Lapinski, Laura Ellen Anderson, Lauren Child, Lauren St John, Lissa Evans, Liz Pichon, Lorraine Gregory, Louie Stowell, M.G. Leonard, Marianne Levy, Mark Haddon, Maz Evans, Michael Morpurgo, Michelle Magorian, Michelle Paver, Nick Lake, Nicola Skinner, Nizrana Farook, Onjali Q. Raúf, Pamela Butchart, Patience Agbabi, Patrick Ness, Peter Bunzl, Piers Torday, Polly Ho-Yen, R. S. Mckay, Rob Biddulph, Robin Stevens, Ross MacKenzie, Ross Montgomery, Rutendo Tavengerwei, Sally Gardner, Sally Nicholls, Sam Copeland, Sam Usher, Sara Ogilvie, Sarah Crossan, Sarah McIntyre, SF Said, Sharna Jackson, Sibéal Pounder, Sita Bramachari, Sophie Anderson, Sophie Dahl, Stephanie Burgis, Steve Lenton, Susie Day, Swapna Haddow, Thomas Taylor, Tom Percival, Vashti Hardy, William Sutcliffe, Zana Fraillon.