A different kind of review: ABBA lit fest

I've never been to a literary festival before, although I suppose they're rather like teaching conferences where you go to meet people, charge your batteries and get re-inspired. I imagine that there are those at festivals who take copious notes, and those who doodle a lot in the margin, giggle and make comments to the person sitting next to them and write key words down, which leaves them scratching their heads when they get home. ABBA lit fest wasn't like that. For a start it was online (and still is if any of you somehow managed to miss it or have ignored its existence).

After going through the programme, I dutifully went to my google calendar and created alerts based on writers that I have connected with in some way through Twitter, blogs or Litopia, but in the end I read/watched ALL the posts. And despite not getting to meet other people or doodle (yep folks that's me I was describing) I do feel re-inspired and there was so much to learn.

So without further ado these are my highlights, purely subjective and whatnot.

1. Leila Rasheed's 300 words post takes us on a step by step journey through what makes a good opening. Fantastic.
2. All but one of the competitions is open until 20th July, you have nine days, so go for it. 
3. Anne Rooney and Mary Hoffman. They do spend half the video looking for a multi-millionaire, but watch it because it's really funny. 
4. Wendy Meddour's tale of how she did not become an actress is hysterical and there is a cute little drawing to go with it. 
5. John Dougherty - it may seem just like a competition but scroll down to the video.
6. Linda Strachan and Cathy MacPhail's reflection on Arvon - I would love to go to one.
7. I've learnt my lesson about research (maybe), but Jane Eagland's post will help you along the way if you are still battling. 
8. Then there's the little boy who interviews Emma Barnes, he, his curls, his pile of books and his questions are priceless. 
9. Katherine Langrish's post on Magical Rooms gives you plenty to think about and I'm definitely looking at my MC's room differently. 

This is my SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE moment. You know how all but one of those competitions are open to the 20th July. Well, if you've peeked at the posts that I really wanted to read, Michelle Lovric's was one that I was particularly interested in. If I tell you that in my 'to be read' pile is Helen Dunmore's Ingo maybe you'll understand where I'm coming from with this one. Anyway, this competition was for the first three people who answered. And *hee hee* I was one of the first three, SQUEE.

Finally, I'd just like to say THANK YOU to all those people at ABBA who gave up their time and organised this for us aspiring/wannabe/gonnabe writers. I've had a great weekend (well it was a bit of a long weekend if we include this morning's more leisurely perusal) and I'm now going to go and have a good hard look at my first three hundred words. 

July British Book Challenge 2011: The Blackhope Enigma

Title: The Blackhope Enigma
Author: Teresa Flavin
Published: Templar publishing, 2010

Synopsis: When Sunni Forrest’s stepbrother accidentally transports himself into a Renaissance painting, she and her friend Blaise set out to bring him back. They find themselves in a strange world of labyrinths, monsters and pirates.

Can they evade their greedy pursuers? And will they ever find their way home?
 
Star parts:  So after saying that I wasn't really into YA, here's another. Someone once made a flippant comment about illustrators 'having no idea how to write'. From what I've read of Flavin's blog I would say that she considers herself an artist and the words on the page paint such vivid pictures. From the Tower to the inside of the painting and the different layers of it, everything was so vivid. I was constantly amazed by Flavin's imagination. She has created a world full of intrigue and wonder and it kept me turning the pages again and again. The characters are put through the mill again and again and again. Each of the characters change in some ways along the way, and the ending forces Sunni to make some tough choices.

Black clouds: We were plunged straight into the action (which I like), but I think I'd liked to have known who Sunni and Blaise were before the life changing experience, but that's more a little wonder rather than anything significantly annoying.

Do I recommend it: Oh absolutely. I loved it. I loved all the characters, good and bad. The little hint of possible future 'lurve' action was intriguing, but didn't detract from the story. I just really, really loved it and The Crimson Shard is out in October, so I'm quite excited about that too.

This is the eighth book I've reviewed for the British Book Challenge.  Still got two more reviews to do before I'm all caught up, although I may have finished THE GOOD MAN JESUS AND THE SCOUNDREL CHRIST by then. I'm not sure what I'm thinking about that book at the moment, but I'll save my views for the review. 

Also, just in case you aren't paying attention to the Twitterverse or Blogosphere, we're in the middle of ABBA's first ever online literary festival. If you didn't get a chance to catch anything today, don't worry because it will always be there. I think my highlight of today was Mary Hoffman and Anne Rooney's conversation. I hope they don't mind me saying this, but I loved the fact that the camera was off centre and that it was so 'not' professional and yet they really put across their passion.

A Memory: The seagull is landing

And this is just a quick reminder that tomorrow is An Awfully Big Blog Adventure's 3rd Birthday. As well as that it's their first EVER on line literary Festival. Click on the badge to see what you have to look forward to . 

ABBA lit Fest

Over the weekend I started noting some strange activity on Twitter #ABBAlitfest. Mmm, I thought to myself what's this all about then? And no sooner did I ask, that Lucy Coats explained all.

So firstly I'll give a little shout out to An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (ABBA, see?) It's made up of authors from the Scattered Authors Society. Every day someone posts their little pearls of wisdom and so far I have discovered Litopia through ABBA and garnered much good advice. Now in July ABBA is planning a first: an online literary festival. Instead of having to wait a whole day for little nuggets every half hour a new writer will post something life changing and wonderful for us would be writers. And here's the really cool thing. Although this event takes place on the 9th and 10th July (that's a Saturday and Sunday by the way), the posts will be left up for your delectation for whenever suits you best.

While it would be lovely to stay glued to my computer screen all day long and participate I realise that my wee family may expect a little human interaction over the weekend. So I've had a wee shufty at the programme and these are my highlights:  

Saturday 9th July

11.30am Elen Caldecott Competition: Win 'Operation Eiffel Tower' - She's super nice on Litopia.

12.30pm Gillian Phillip Competition: Win 'Bloodstone' and 'Firebrand' - Well I've already read Firebrand, but Bloodstone ain't even out yet.

1.00pm Liz Kessler Competition: Win 'A Year Without Autumn' - has quite possibly written all the books I want to write.

4.00pm Lucy Coats Video and Competition: The Hero Dog Story - The lady who sent me the lovely badge on Monday and told me all about this.

5.30pm Miriam Halahmy & Savita Kalhan - They also blog at The Edge and I like what I read there.

Sunday 10th July

12 NOON Nicola Morgan Competition: Win 'Write to be Published' and a crabbit bag.- The lady who gave me a wonderful introduction to Twitter.

2.30pm Fiona Dunbar & Keren David Video: In Conversation - Keren also blogs at the Edge.

4.00pm Candy Gourlay Video: Creating a Legend  - Winner of the SCBWI Crystal Kite award for TALL STORY

6.00pm Michelle Lovric Competition: Win 'The Undrowned World' - I have reasons for checking this lady out.

Mmm... it does seem like everything I've chosen is a competition, but that's definitely not what I intended. So you go and look at the programme. And what are you looking forward to?