On Saturday I attended my first British SCBWI (Society for Children's Books Writers and Illustrators) (north west branch) event.
It was held at the Friends Meeting House in Manchester which was good news for me as not only did it give me an opportunity to have my first Starbucks experience (it's next door) incredible I know, but I was also able to pick up some leaflets about Quakers which will be really useful for a story I'm working on.
I was a bit nervous about meeting the other SCBWI (they pronounce it like Scooby I also discovered) members but they were all really lovely. It was really nice to chat with so many like-minded people and I was stunned to find one the young woman sitting next to me was also from Skelmersdale - small world!
Special guest was author Livi Michael who grew up in Ashton-Under-Lyne. Livi was really friendly and got us all to introduce ourselves and talk about what kind of writing we do which was a great ice-breaker and ideal for me as a newcomer!
It was really interesting to hear what everyone was working on and how everyone is doing a lot of editing.
Livi then went on to exlain how she began her writing career with four adult books before she began to think about her son's pet hamster - Frank who had a habit of escaping.
She found herself intrigued by where he might go and why and began to research hamsters, discovering they once lived in the wild. Perhaps Frank was trying to get back to Syria.
In just a few weeks she had completed Frank and the Black Hamster of Narkiz which she sent to Puffin as her agent didn't represent childrens' books. Months passed and the book was picked up of the slush pile and published, three sequels followed.
She has since written more children's books including The Angel Stone - which I'm currently reading and The Whispering Road which are both influenced by local stories.
Her latest book Sky Wolves was inspired by another pet - a stray Jack Russell called Jenny!
Livi was an excellent, funny and encouraging speaker and insisted that people must never give up their dreams, best of all she's from the North West!
To find out more about Livi's books visit www.livimichael.com to find out more about SCBWI visit www.britishscbwi.org
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