Camilla Chester - Children's Author
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Welcome to my blog, a place where you can keep up to date with everything I'm up to!

What Am I Reading?

27/4/2018

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It's been a reading bonanza lately! 
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Some of these books I am still reading but...
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Remember you can always read my reviews on Goodreads. ​
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In addition to all this reading I have also had all my hair chopped off ready for the Book Launch. 
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There are a few tickets left if you'd like to come click here: Tickets for Thirteenth Wish Launch.
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Thirteenth Wish Available To Buy!

22/4/2018

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The books have arrived and Poochie - the unicorn is celebrating!
Until April 29th you will not be able to get a paperback from any other place other than my website:
Buy Thirteenth Wish
If you would prefer the eBook you will need to get that from Amazon:
Buy eBook 
If you want the Special Edition copy the only way to get one is to come to the launch:
Tickets for the launch
If you are a keen, early bird reader, please, please, please post a really quick review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, it really does make a huge difference to sales and all sorts of other things. I hope you all like it.
THANK YOU!
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Frances Hardinge

21/4/2018

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Thursday was an exciting day for me because not only did I collect the copies of Thirteenth Wish from the publisher (more news on this soon), I also went to a lecture at Homerton College in Cambridge. That's the kind of intellectual that I am:

"The prestigious Philippa Pearce Lecture is an annual event that celebrates excellence in literature for children. It provides a platform for the very best children’s authors, poets and illustrators to reflect on their art. Always thought-provoking, the lectures have tackled such topics as the significance of time, the place of fear, and what poetry is for.
The lectures were established in 2007 by the family, friends and colleagues of the highly distinguished children’s author, Philippa Pearce. They attract a regular and wide-ranging audience of academics, writers, publishers and lovers of children’s literature." The Philippa Pearce Lectures
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This year's speaker was Frances Hardinge and the lecture was all about dark themes in children's literature. It was absolutely fascinating and I drank in every word. Frances shared many books that scared her as a child and have stayed with her, helping her in her own creations. Books by writers that I love too including Philippa Pearce, Nicholas Fisk and Catherine Storr.
Really regret not getting a selfie, but I did get a signed copy of her new book A Sinful of Sorrows in beautiful hardback and gave her a signed copy of Jarred Dreams as a thank you present for such a great talk.

The lecture was followed by a meal with other SCBWI members and it was a nice round off to a great day. 

Hope you're all out reading books in the sunshine!
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Meet Squishy

17/4/2018

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This is Squishy. I sort of, all right, I totally, nicked the name from Finding Nemo which is one of my all time favourite films. Finding Dory was good too, so are all the Toy Story films and Frozen and Big Hero Six and Sing and Nativity ...and... and... (I love kids movies)

As you can see this Squishy is a polka-dot elephant and nothing like the Squishy in Finding Nemo (who has a bit part). Squishy scenes were really fun to write. I hope you like reading them. 

For those of you REALLY keen to get hold of the book, the eBook is now available from Amazon for £2.99.
Buy eBook of Thirteenth Wish

The paperbacks are coming back from the printers very soon so should go on sale next week. Remember that the cost of the book is £7.99 but I will be selling it from my website for £7 (plus £2 p&p)

If you'd like to get hold of a Limited Special Edition copy then you will need to come to the launch. Click on the link to find out more:
Launch of Thirteenth Wish

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Busy Writing

11/4/2018

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Felt like I should update you all as to what I am working on.

At the moment I'm about two thirds into a first draft of my fourth book. For those of you who have listened to one of my author talks, you will know that this is still the first quarter of the 'big cake' of writing a book.

Like most authors, I keep breaking my own rules and seem to be editing as I go. At first I tried just free writing the whole thing, but I found I was going off on a little scenic detour. It was quite pretty, but  way off the story and very waffly. Since then I have had some excellent support and advice from the wonderful and very experienced Nicky Matthews-Brown (check her out if you don't already know her books). Not only is Nicky a fantastic writer who mostly writes weird and wonderful sci-fi kind of stuff for teenagers, she also lectures Creative Writing at MA level and helps people, like me, in her role as The Book Doctor. She seriously knows her craft.

Nicky's wise words took me back to plotting. Using the clock technique I mapped out the entire book. This has led me nicely back to my comfort zone of writing to a plan. NB: If you're a budding writer, or even a successful author, you might, like me, find Nicky's advice on her website really useful. She has very generously posted it for free: Nicky's Writing Tips.

Book four is already on it's second title. The first was The Invisible Child and it is now called Jasmine's Sky. If you have a preference, let me know, but the chances are of it staying either of these is pretty slim.

The book is all a big secret at the moment - mainly because I don't even know what is happening in the story properly yet, but I can tell you that most of the story is set in Singapore. 

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I'm really enjoying writing it (well most of the time), but I'm also excited at Thirteenth Wish coming out.

What with unicorns and dragons and wishes and new worlds and boys dressed like knights and heroic girls and a little dog called Fuzzles there's lots to love. None of you have read it yet! I'm excited for it to come out and for you to tell me what you think. I hope you like it. Here is illustration 8 from the book: Cricket bat and Basket Ball.


If you want to come to the launch there are only 9 tickets left!.You can find out more by visiting here: Thirteenth Wish Launch
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Hope to see you there!
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Illustrations From Thirteenth Wish

6/4/2018

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As it has been quite a while since I have shown any of the illustrations from the new book, Thirteenth Wish, for this blog post I'm giving you a treat and sharing two with you.

​The first is illustration 6: Party Food. The nibbles provided for the launch on May 14, may not be quite as exciting as in this picture, but there will definitely be a party theme to keep in line with the book.

The second is illustration 7: Baby. It is hard to talk about the pictures without giving anything of the story away. I'm saying nothing!


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Remember that as part of the ticket to the launch party of Thirteenth Wish everyone will receive a raffle ticket to win A3 sized, signed by Annie Harris (the illustrator) prints of all the pictures from the book.

If you haven't been lucky enough to win a ticket to the launch and would like to come, there are a few tickets still available to buy. Don't wait too long though! 

​Tickets and information about Thirteenth Wish Launch.
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What Am I Reading?

5/4/2018

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This is the second book I have read by this author.

The first one (The Boy In The Tower) was ace, but I must admit I enjoyed this one more.

Seeing as I don't officially review books on my website, if you would like to see what I thought of this book then you need to see my review on Goodreads:

​My Review of Fly Me Home

What are you reading?

I'm going to be reading some adult books now but when I get back onto children's I promise I will blog about it.
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WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

3/4/2018

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Did you enter the competition to win tickets to the launch of Thirteenth Wish?

If so check out my competition page immediately as the winners have been announced: Competition Page.
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Competition Closes At Midnight

1/4/2018

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Today is your last chance to enter the competition to win tickets to the launch of my new book Thirteenth Wish. All you need to do is to answer the following question: If you had ONE wish what would it be and why.

Full details on my competition page.

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    Camilla's Blog

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  • Home
  • About Camilla
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  • Aspiring Authors