When Life Gives You Lemons....

Have you heard of that saying?

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade..

What does it mean to you?

I interpret it as, when circumstances change or don’t work out as planned, look for the positive things in life that happen instead.

This is one of those times. This post isn’t quite the one I had planned. I had so much happening this month that I was looking forward to sharing with you, but then life sent a curve ball or is that a bunch of lemons fallen from the tree, and plunged us back into lockdown. All my exciting upcoming events were suddenly cancelled. I am keeping my fingers crossed that when we reach the other side of this, everything will be rescheduled, but it’s not looking good for school visits.

So what are the positives that have arisen this month?

I did manage one school visit before lockdown. It was a fabulous day, full of exuberance and enthusiasm from year 6 students first thing in the morning right down to Kinders at the end of the day and all year levels in between. The school had asked me to run writing workshops instead of an author talk and book reading. At first I was unsure how I would tackle this, given each group numbered 80 plus students sitting on the floor in the school hall. So I mixed things up with a bit of inspiration, a dash of motivation and a sprinkling of humour. I had kids moving and laughing with a fun activity and they all left with fabulous ideas, plans and strategies to start writing great stories. I even received this roarsome testimonial from one of the teachers.

We had great pleasure having Sandra Bennett in our classrooms. The students thoroughly enjoyed meeting a local award-winning author and her authentic approach led students to ask all sorts of questions about the writing process and her experience as a writer. We have school visits from sporting heroes so why not writing heroes? Sandra Bennett gave our students a dinosaur writing challenge in which they eagerly participated. It was affirming for us as teachers of writing to have an author validate our practices and who knows, she may have even inspired a future great author in our very own classrooms.

Libby Emerson – Chapman Primary School

Author visit and writing workshop.

Fun learning activities that engaged and inspired.

So what lemonade have I made during lockdown?

It gave me time to make my video of reading my story ‘Jack and the Seven Giants,’ for the launch of this year’s Anthology Angel’s Once Upon A Whoops! Fractured Fairy Tales and Ridiculous Rhymes. The anthology is released on 1st September. You can watch all the fabulous authors reading parts of their stories on Anthology Angels Youtube Story Time The link for mine is below. I find making a video terribly time consuming. I am way too self-conscious and make so many stuff-ups! I needed a good cup of tea to relax before I was finished. The anthology is now available through Amazon and all proceeds from the sale of the book go towards the incredible Life’s Little Treasures Foundation who support families in their time of need when their babies are born too early. Update: Thanks to the incredible support of so many wonderful people, the book has already become a number 1 Amazon Best Seller on it’s first day of release.

This month I was also accepted to have the honour of becoming an Ambassador for Australia Reads. Promoting a love of reading in children has always been a passion of mine, so to be able to be included as an ambassador is unbelievably special to me. We were asked to give a quote about reading which you can see below, and yes, make another dreaded video. This one was a little easier as it only lasted 60 seconds, still took me over an hour to get it right. Just as well I have plenty of time on my hands. You will be able to see the video on my author Facebook page once Australia Reads have posted it later in September.

By now you know the lemon that life gave me when my publisher of the Adamson Adventures closed before book 3 Fossil Frenzy could be published. You also know I stepped up and made my own lemonade by successfully publishing the book myself and it has seen the best results yet. What you probably don’t know, is that I had trouble finding a national distributor. Lockdown gave me the proverbial kick I needed to pursue this. I finally contacted the distributor who had the contract for the first two books. My emails had not been getting through but disappearing into the ether somewhere. A phone call made all the difference. They were most apologetic and have agreed to promote and distribute Fossil Frenzy. I am so grateful that this dino-mite adventure will now be able to reach so many more readers around Australia.

Fossil Frenzy the Adamson Adventures 3

The Adamson Adventures, books 1, 2 & 3.

I have so much more exciting things in the works, but for now, they will stay my little secret as I hope they still come to fruition. In the meantime, I am still writing and submitting, who knows, maybe one day I will have another elusive contract. The Adamson Adventures book 4 is in the works too. Life’s lemons dumped a full bag on me here. I spent a whole day looking for my notes I had made for this book, but came up empty handed. The lemonade - I started researching, plotting and planning all over again, maybe I will solve all the plot holes and come up with an even better story.

So what about you? Are you back in lockdown too?

What lemonade have you been making? Please let me know in the comments below.

Contemplation or Procrastination

Do you feel you are taking too long contemplating your next project? Or is it a case of procrastination?

Let’s consider the difference between the two. I believe it may be a fine line.

Contemplation - is the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time.

Procrastination - is the act of delaying or postponing something.

The trick is not taking too long on contemplation so that it doesn’t turn into procrastination. While you are spending all that time thinking about your next project, are you actually putting it off? Creativity takes time, it doesn’t answer to a clock, you can’t schedule when you get a good idea, but you can over plan. There comes a point where you need to do the work.

We all need time to contemplate, a chance to brainstorm sparkly new ideas and think about where they might lead. Plot developments and structure don’t happen overnight, they need to marinate in our brain for a while to see if they are worth pursuing. It’s when we start avoiding the writing/editing by doing everything else, housework, ironing, scrolling the socials, that this contemplation becomes procrastination.

I feel like I’ve been at a bit of a crossroads lately, struggling with where to turn next. I have always been proud of being able to multi-task and have several projects on the go at once, but is that contemplating the possibilities or simple procrastination, avoiding making decisions?

Since my last project was completed, I keep playing with lots of sparkly new ideas but not making any headway. I wonder if it’s because I am so comfortable with my Adamson characters that I am not ready to let them go and move onto something new? Zac, Clare and Luke have become like my own children. I know them so well, yet like any parent, I am pleasantly surprised when they do or say something unexpected. I’m not sure I am ready to let them fly out the door forever.

In recent weeks, Fossil Frenzy, has won Finalist in the International Book Awards 2021, Children’s Fiction Category. I feel honoured and proud to have received this amazing recognition for my third Adamson Adventure, so should I continue the series? Or call it the end and start a fresh new adventure? I have the basic plot rummaging in my head, but not put pen to paper as I can’t make that final decision. It could easily be book 4, or should I change things up, develop a set of new characters for a brand new adventure? This option would free me up to submit to publishers, continuing the Adamson Adventures would mean continuing on my own.

With the opportunity to do more online writing courses through Zoom since covid, I also think I am procrastinating through learning overload. There is an old saying, that the more you learn, the more you realise, the less you know. That may be my problem, I am beginning to doubt whether anything I write is good enough. My inner critic has raised her stubborn head.

I’ve also been working on a couple of picture book manuscripts. I gave draft 7 or 8 ( or is that 12?) of one of them to my critique group and sent it to a few writer friends for review. I still couldn’t reach a decision whether it was good enough, so paid for a manuscript assessment. One of my friends said I was ‘overthinking it.’ She was right, and the manuscript assessment was probably the best decision I have made in months, it gave me the kick up the pants I needed to move forward and begin to submit the picture book to two publishers, one more to go.

Then there is the picture book I have planned to self-publish for a few years. I have all the illustrations complete and promised the illustrator that I would publish it this year. So what is holding me back? I adore the illustrations, but that inner critic of mine isn’t so sure that the text is perfect and ready to go out into the world. Penelope the Playful Platypus is a beautiful story and I even have it listed as ‘coming soon’ on my Books page. Perhaps it’s time to stop the procrastination, move forward, do the work and see this project to completion.

Maybe it’s a case of too many sparkly ideas. Perhaps it’s time to concentrate on one project at a time. Change routines, stop social scrolling and enrolling in writing masterclasses. Stop agreeing to do things for fear of missing out. Set goals and forge ahead.

How about you? Are you stuck in procrastination? Do you have too many sparkly ideas rummaging in your head? How do you solve the problem?

In Celebration of Dinosaurs

June 1st was International Dinosaur Day! Woohoo!

So in honour of dinosaurs and lovers of dinosaurs, let’s talk about those roarsome curious creatures.

Kids of all ages love dinosaurs. We all have our favourites from our childhood. Which one was yours? Here are a few to jog your memory. Have I missed anyone?

1. Dorothy the Dinosaur from the Wiggles

2. Barney from Barney and Friends

3. Little-foot from The Land Before Time

4. Rex frim We’re Back a Dinosaur Story

5. Rex from Toy Story

6. Earl Sinclair from Dinosaurs series

From an early age kids are naturally drawn to dinosaurs . By the time they are learning to talk they can name all the different types. By three years old they can even pronounce some of the trickiest ones that as an adult we stumble over. My three year old grandson can name most dinosaurs. Although I admit I have taught him to say ‘longneckasaurus,’ instead of Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus or Apatosaurus. I figured there are so many different sauropods, it was easier to lump them all together in one group at this stage. He can learn each of the different names as he grows.

Brontosaurus

Brachiosaurus

Apatosaurus

Both my grandsons even have dinosaur pyjamas, and that gorgeous three year old mentioned above, even has a ‘dinosaur bed.’ His sheets and doona are covered in dinosaurs.

Many children continue to be intrigued by dinosaurs well into their childhood. Just this last month I did a book reading at the Clarke Earth Sciences Museum located in the University Western Australia, for kids from the Children’s University WA aged 7-10 years. One keen young reader said his favourite dinosaur was a Mosasaurus, an aquatic dinosaur. He was so excited when the curator of the museum, palaeontologist Dr Kailah Thorn subsequently produced a fossil fragment of a Mosasaurus for him to see and touch.

Reading and chatting about dinosaurs with Dr Kailah Thorn at the Clarke Earth Sciences Museum UWA

Having fun reading to the kids from the Children’s University at the Clarke Earth Sciences Museum UWA.

By now you probably know that I still have a fascination with dinosaurs, which is why I wrote Fossil Frenzy the Adamson Adventures 3. I not only wanted to write another fun adventure, I wanted to take kids on a journey back in time and help them learn about the dino-mite creatures that have been discovered here in Australia.

Fossils can tell us a lot about dinosaurs, but they don’t tell us everything. That is a writer’s dream, as it leaves many options open for interpretation and the development of our imagination.

One of my favourite dinosaurs is the Demon Duck of Doom, also known as the Thunderbird or Bullockornis Planei. It is a flightless bird like the emu or cassowary and belongs to the Dromornithids family, sharing its ancestry with ducks and geese. To find out more about this dino-rrific dinosaur see my previous post

https://sandrabennettauthor.com/blog/2020/9/30/a-couple-of-curious-creatures

Knowing the fabulous vibrant colours on the head and neck of a cassowary, I decided I wanted to make my Demon Duck of Doom in Fossil Frenzy covered in bright feathers too.

The Cassowary is a flightless bird found in northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. Imagine a Demon Duck of Doom with these coloured feathers all over his body.

Fossils usually can’t tell us the colouring of the feathers on a dinosaur, even if a few feather fossils are found, they usually lack any pigmentation. Here is how I imagined and describe the Demon Duck of Doom when Zac, Clare and Luke first encounter it. -

“There were mottled hues of green that camouflaged into the rainforest all over the back., yet the head and front feathers were red and orange. The underbelly and legs were a deep purple combined with shades of blue. The beak and feet were yellow. It was quite a rainbow of colours.“ - Extract from Fossil Frenzy the Adamson Adventures 3.

I have also added a short video clip of me reading an extract from Fossil Frenzy when Zac, Clare and Luke encounter the Demon Duck of Doom for the second time. Have a listen and tell me whether you think I made my Demon Duck of Doom a friend or foe?

Thanks for coming along on this journey back in time.

Now it’s your turn.

Don’t forget to let me know your favourite dinosaur in the comments below. It’s always fun to see.

A Couple of Curious Creatures

‘Did you know that the giant monotremes, the echidna and platypus, were the first of the mega-fauna to appear?’ I whispered.

‘What, even before the giant wombat, diprodowhatsit? Luke giggled.

‘Yes, even before the mighty diprotodon,’ I corrected.

- an exert from Fossil Frenzy, the Adamson Adventures 3.

The Children’s Book Council of Australia theme for Book Week this year is Curious Creatures, Wild Minds, so in this month’s post I am talking about a few of the curious creatures in Fossil Frenzy , The Adamson Adventures 3 (release date 31st October 2020,) that will inspire the imagination of wild minds.

I love wombats, so when I thought of the idea for Fossil Frenzy, the first animal that came to mind was the giant wombat, diprotodon. Like the wombat of today, it had a pouch that faced backwards but it was similar in size to rhino, (Pretty big huh!) although unlike the rhino it did not have a horn. I really wanted this amazing creature to have a starring role in my story, however as I dived deep into the research of the time-line I was looking to use, I soon discovered it was too early for this mighty wombat.

Replica of the Diprotodon, taken by me at the Daintree Discovery Centre, Far North Queensland.

The information board in front of the replica of Diprotodon at the Daintree Discovery Centre.

I did discover, much to my delight that the giant monotremes were the first of the mega-fauna to appear. What’s a monotreme? I hear you ask. It’s an egg laying mammal, and there are only two in the whole world. My story was not going to work with a giant platypus, I needed a land based animal, so I introduced ‘Spike’ the giant echidna. Echdnas are also cute little creatures, so to have a character that is a giant echidna in my story is awesome. The giant echidna is also know as Zaglossus hacketti. They had much longer legs compared to the echidna of today and stood almost as tall as a sheep. Their snout was longer and more curved too. As I said, Monotremes are egg-laying mammals, and Zaglossis hacketti was no exception. In Fossil Frenzy I have given Spike, many of the same characteristics as I have seen an echidna of today portray. Spike too, would roll into a ball and hide his head making all his spikes stand up straight and tall whenever he felt threatened. However, as the story develops, Spike becomes a hero in his own not so small, way.

Zaglossis hacketti, the giant echidna, photo taken by me at the Daintree Discovery Centre, Far North Queensland.

Sign in front of the giant echidna at the Daintree Discovery Centre

Another creature that has a major role in Fossil Frenzy is the not so well known Demon Duck of Doom. Also known as Thunderbird or Bullockornis Planei. This was a flightless bird similar to an emu, however it had an enormous, frightening looking beak. There is controversy over whether this bird was in fact a herbivore or carnivore, or whether it was a scavenger or a hunter. When comparing its beak to other typical carnivorous birds, the Demon Duck of Doom did not have a curved sharp point at the tip. What do you think he might have been? The fun thing about fossils and not being able to determine a creature’s habits is that as a fiction writer for children, I can play with the possibilities. I can use my imagination. If you want to know what I decided to make the Demon Duck of Doom, meat or plant eater, you’ll have to read the story, there’ll be no spoilers here.

Demon Duck of Doom, Bullockornis Planei, photo take by me at the Daintree Discovery Centre, Far North Queensland.

The information board in front of replica of Demon Duck of Doom, Daintree Discover Centre.

As for the colours of the feathers, what would you make them? Would the giant bird camouflage into his environment or would he be a multi-coloured stand-out? Below is the illustration I did to reach my decision.

My impression of a Demon Duck of Doom

There are a number of other Australian dinosaurs roaming within the pages of Fossil Frenzy, but you will need to read my next blog or the book, to discover exactly which creatures they are.

Zac, Clare and Luke have an amazing adventure with Spike, the Demon Duck of Doom and a few other characters along the way. If you could have a creature as a pet from long ago, which would you choose? Why

Fossil Frenzy, the Adamson Adventures 3, is open for pre-orders now. https://sandrabennettauthor.com/product/fossil-frenzy

Release date 31st October 2020.

Fossil Frenzy the Adamson Adventures 3 available for pre-order now.

How To Do A Cover Reveal With Impact.

Last week I revealed the cover for the next book in my children’s chapter book series, the Adamson Adventures. I knew this cover would excite future readers, but how was I going to share it with a wide audience?

The Adamson Adventures, books 1,2,3. Suitable for children aged 7 -12 years.

I did my research first. Googled how to do a cover reveal? I couldn’t find anything much that was helpful. The key words took me to cover reveals of other books, but didn’t show if they had been successful or gained much interest.

So I put on my thinking cap, and this is what I discovered worked.

I chose three quotes from my book and added photos on Canva. To this I also added the date on which I would reveal the cover.

Fossil Frenzy, The Adamson Adventures 3. Chapter book for children aged 7 -12 years.

I pre-scheduled each image to post at the same time each morning. Adding a comment to count down the days.

Fossil Frenzy, The Adamson Adventures 3. Chapter book for children aged 7 -12 years.

I shared these three images, three consecutive days and shared them as widely on social media as I could.

Fossil Frenzy, the Adamson Adventures 3. Chapter book for children aged 7 - 12 years.

This built interest and intrigue for my story and the book’s cover. I had plenty of engagement and curiosity.

Finally I produced a video to reveal the cover using the Publishing Tools on my Facebook Author page. For those not sure how to do this, it’s really quite simple. Go to your Manage Page and click on Publishing tools. Scroll down and click Creator Studio. Then click Create Post. Select Multimedia , Create Slideshow. It’s easy to follow the prompts from there. You can choose the time frame for each slide and music to go along with it. Once complete, you can schedule the date and time you wish your video to go live.

Once my video was live on my author page, I also shared it to my personal page and as many groups as i felt were suitable.

The result was the cover reveal reached nearly 2,000 people and had 114 engagements on my author page alone. Add to this all the comments and likes within the various groups and I had the most engagement with a post than I have ever had before. A huge range of people have now seen my cover and know that Fossil Frenzy is coming soon.

I did a follow-up post the next day to thank everyone for all the amazing support and wonderful comments. I am so grateful to my brilliant cover designer Nikki Matthews, https://www.facebook.com/nikkijanedesign/. Nikki has produced the covers for all three books in the series. I adore her work.

Fossil Frenzy, the Adamson Adventures 3

Fossil Frenzy, The Adamson Adventures 3. Chapter book for children aged 7 - 12 years.

A Lighthouse in Time, the Adamson Adventures 2

A Lighthouse in Time, The Adamson Adventures 2. Chapter book for children aged 7 - 12 years.

Secrets Hidden Below, the Adamson Adventures 1

Secrets Hidden Below, The Adamson Adventures 1. Chapter book for children aged 7 - 12 years.

Whether this translates into readers, only time will tell, but I can say that it did produce a lot of excitement and therefore had a huge impact. It is the best cover reveal I have ever done, and would certainly do it again.

I don’t have a release date yet, but Fossil Frenzy, The Adamson Adventures 3, will be available in time for Christmas 2020. Follow my Facebook page for updates.

Have you ever done a cover reveal?

How did you go about it?

Was it successful?

I am curious to learn your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.

Did you find this post helpful? If so, you might also like to read a few of my previous posts.

https://sandrabennettauthor.com/blog/2020/5/4/tips-on-preparing-a-perfect-pitch

https://sandrabennettauthor.com/blog/2020/6/1/how-will-you-choose-to-be-published

https://sandrabennettauthor.com/blog/2020/6/29/selfindie-or-traditional-publishing-the-pros-and-cons

Characters in a Book are like Friends

Have you ever read a book and fell in love with the story and the characters so much you didn’t want the book to end? Have you ever felt like they became familiar friends? Harry, Hermonie and Ron are the first wonderful characters that come to my mind. Need I even say what series they are from? I think we all know the answer to that one. My boys were the perfect age for those books when they were first released and we spent countless hours reading them together. Harry Potter brought reading back to boys and girls of a certain age and we all thank JK Rowling for the love of books she brought to so many readers.

What characters in your favourite book are your best friends?

Great memorable characters from pictures books, middle grade, YA and adult fiction are all around us. We carry their memories with us as we go through life.

I remember when I first received the box set of the Chronicles of Narnia. I was ten years old and immediately sat in my curved plastic green and white striped chair in the corner of my bedroom and devoured The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It took me to a world of wonder I never knew existed. I was already an avid reader, but this series hooked me for life.

The Chronicled of Narnia form part of my favourite childhood memories.

Then along came the Trixie Beldon mysteries. I lost count how many of those I had on my bookshelf. Nancy Drew, the Famous Five, they have all influenced me over the years. My love for mystery and adventure has come out in my own writing. I would not have written The Adamson Adventures without growing up reading about these other fabulous characters.

Another book that had a major influence over my writing the first book in my Adamson Adventure series, Secrets Hidden Below, was The Indian in Cupboard. I had three sons by the time we read this story together. We sat in bed each night while on holiday in Bali to read this intriguing story. I enjoyed it so much, that after the kids fell asleep, I couldn’t stop reading, I had to read ahead to see what happened next. The book had me hooked on reading out loud to our boys as it was not only a fabulous story with great characters, it also meant we had a special bonding time with all three kids. By the time we were finished I had the idea to write an adventure story that followed my own great characters on an adventure mystery of their own. My idea took my family on a journey around Bali. An adventure with pirate treasure around this exotic setting was something that no one had done before. From there, I took them on a mysterious ghost hunt a little closer to home in A Lighthouse in Time. Their third adventure takes them to the vast dry drought-stricken outback and the land of Australian dinosaurs.

I loved reading Indian in the Cupboard out loud with my boys.

My characters, like any great characters in a series have grown and changed throughout the telling of their story. Zac is still a science nerd who thinks he knows everything, but he has learnt to listen to his sister, sometimes. Luke is still mischievous but is slowly learning to be more cautious, although I think learning to listen to advice from his siblings may need to wait for him to grow up a bit more. While Clare is moving forward from strength to strength. No longer the quiet, shy, frightened sister, Clare is learning to stand-up for herself and grow in strength and confidence. Someone once asked me which of my characters was my favourite? I had to think long and hard about that, they are like your own children, impossible to have a favourite, but I think Clare’s determination and ability to take control in a dangerous situation, makes her my stand out.

Fossil Frenzy, the Adamson Adventures 3, is coming soon. My graphic designer and I are working on the front cover now. Hopefully I will be able to reveal the cover shortly.

A hint of what is to come in Fossil Frenzy, The Adamson Adventures 3.

In the meantime, it is Book Lovers day this Sunday, 9th August 2020. Which book is first to come to your mind that you love? Is it a treasured memory? Which characters have you read about and felt they became more like good friends you couldn’t wait to read more about?

For more inspiration on Book Lovers Day, check out these awesome blogs :-

Julie Schooler Paradoxical takeaways

Carmela Dutra A Day for Bookworms

Cat Michaels A Bibliophile RAP Really Awful Poem

Auden Johnson Best Horror Trope in Books and Movies

Rosie Russell Fun Facts for Book Lovers Day

Rebecca Lyndsay Most JAWsome Time of the Year

Book Lovers Day 2020, a world of memorable characters to treasure.