Awards Aftermath!

Well, I’ve just about come back down to earth following the YoungMinds Book Award and it has been an amazing week.

First Amazing Thing to Have Come Out of Winning a Book Award:

Literary agents contact you – and get back to you within days not months!

Second Amazing Thing

Your teenage son, who is usually far too cool to express any kind of excitement about his mum, is genuinely gob-smacked and utters the immortal words, “I’m well proud of you!”

Third Amazing Thing

You get a ton of requests to come and run workshops in schools – which I absolutely LOVE doing by the way so please email me if you’d like me to come to your school…

Fourth Amazing Thing

You feel vindicated for all of the times you felt like knocking the writing on the head but didn’t.

Fifth Amazing Thing

You know that no matter what happens in the future, one of your books was awarded first prize by a panel made up of your target readers and writers whom you hugely respect. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Sixth Amazing Thing

You sign up with an American literary agent who lives in Paris and eat your body weight in pain au chocolat in celebration….

Young Minds Book Award

Tonight I’m going to my very first book awards as a short-listed author. 

The fact that it is for the organisation Young Minds makes it even more special to me. One of the main reasons I started writing novels for young people was because I wanted to explore the issues and pressures that they face through my fiction in the hope that it might help.

The Young Minds Book Award is all about fiction that helps young readers deal with the pressures of growing up. For my first YA novel DEAR DYLAN to be short-listed is a real honour.

When I run writing workshops for young people I like to focus a lot on confidence building. When I was younger I really struggled with a lack of confidence when it came to my writing – to the point where I actually dropped out of university because I didn’t think I could compete against people from such wealthy and well-connected backgrounds.

It took me years to find the courage and drive needed to overcome my self doubt and pursue my dream. Now I am a published author and have a career in publishing as an editor I am proud of the fact that I grew up on a council estate and got where I am through hard work alone. And I love being able to go into schools and tell the least confident of kids, ‘if I can do it then so can you.’

I am up against some formidable writing talent tonight so I think it’s very unlikely that I will win. But in my mind I’ve won already just by being on the same shortlist as them. If I could time-travel back to tell my eighteen-year-old self I’m sure she’d never believe me!

And to any aspiring young writer reading this who might be having a crisis of confidence -NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM COS YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE IT MIGHT LEAD!

The Long and the Short of It

Dear Dylan, my first novel for young adults, has just made it from the long list to the short list of the Young Minds Book Awards.

I am beyond thrilled.

There was a time, when I had been messed about by a publisher over this book, that I considered scrapping the whole thing.

In the end I decided to self publish and give away the e-version for free. I guess it was my way of getting back to my initial reason for writing the book – to try and help young people who might be dealing with the same kind of issues as the main character.

The Young Minds organisation is all about supporting young people through what can often be a very challenging time of life. Their annual book award was set up to highlight the role fiction can play in helping teenagers deal with various emotional issues.

I’m therefore thrilled that Dear Dylan has made it through to the final six books in the competition, particularly as the shortlist was chosen solely by young readers.

And I’m also thrilled that my decision to self publish has paid off so spectacularly. I hope it can be an inspiration to other writers out there to never to give up hope if you really believe in a book.

For more information on Dear Dylan and to find out how to download it for FREE simply click here.

Young Reviewers Needed for Young Minds Book Award 2010

As regular readers of this blog will know, Dear Dylan, my new novel for teens was recently long-listed for the Young Minds Book Awards.

Having selected their long-list of 12 books, Young Minds, the UK’s leading children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing charity is now calling on young people across the country to choose the shortlist for its prestigious annual book award.

The YoungMinds Book Award 2010, which is sponsored by the national reading charity Booktrust, will be given to a book for readers of 12 + which helps young people to cope with the challenges of growing up.

As part of the selection process we are inviting teens to give their views on the plot, characters and unputdownability of the 12 longlisted books. Their six favourites will go on to form the award shortlist, from which a panel of expert judges including three young people will choose the winning book.

The web-based review process is open to all young people, either as individuals or groups. Already taking part are several teenage book groups and schools as well as YoungMinds’ own groups for young people, Healthy Heads and Very Important Kids.

Sarah Brennan, Chief Executive of YoungMinds said: “Books can play a vital role in promoting the mental and emotional well being of young people. They can help break the isolation experienced by young people and demonstrate that their feelings and problems are not unique.

Dear Dylan Long-listed for the Young Minds Book Award

Last Thursday I received some amazing news. My new novel, ‘Dear Dylan’ has been long-listed for the Young Minds Book Award.

It has taken me three days to get back down off the ceiling!

The long-list consists of 12 books – you can find out more about them by clicking here.

There are so many reasons why I am absolutely ecstatic right now. To be long-listed for an award for my first stab at writing for young people is such an honour. And to be long-listed for this particular award means such a lot to me personally.

The reason I wrote ‘Dear Dylan’ in the first place was as a result of the work I do with teenagers in writing and drama workshops. Through getting participants at the workshops to write about what they want and workshop plays about issues close to their hearts I am constantly reminded of the pressures unique to being a teenager.

I wanted to write a novel that dealt with some of these issues and offer advice indirectly through the characters and the choices they make.

The Young Minds Book Awards seeks to raise awareness and create understanding of the mental health needs of children and young people. It is a cause really close to my heart for personal as well as professional reasons. So to be included on the long-list is a dream come true.

For all of you aspiring novelists out there it is also a great example of how you should NEVER give up on your dream.

One year ago I turned down a two book deal for ‘Dear Dylan’ because I felt I was really being messed about by the publisher concerned. After making this decision I was absolutely gutted and thoroughly disillusioned. But then, at the beginning of this year I decided to publish the book myself. This is another reason I am so chuffed right now. Making it to the long-list surely is proof that self-published books no longer need to be the sneered upon, poor relation in the UK book world.

I really hope that this will inspire other writers to choose self-publishing as a positive and empowering option if they can’t find satisfaction via the traditional routes.