I'll be joining in the  International Initiative to bring authors and resources to homes now that most children worldwide are not at school.

My contribution will be recording and downloading a daily reading of Thirteenth Wish. Taking a chapter a day, I will be telling the story of Jayden, Pip, Sally and Fuzzles in my exciting adventure mystery story. 

I will post the links to each reading on my blog, which will be uploaded to YouTube.

If you would like to see any previous recordings I have made, please go onto YouTube and search for my name (you'll have to ignore all the Camila Cabello references!)

If you'd like to know more about the story of Thirteenth Wish please take a look at my books page: Camilla's Books.

Stay safe everyone x

This is a quick blog post to say that there is a fabulous opportunity coming up on the evening of May 11th for Children's Authors who are yet to sign up to an agent. If that is YOU then please read on...

As part of my volunteer role at SCBWI I am now working with the fabulous Rashmi Sirdeshpande - we are the Industry Insider team. Usually, Industry Insiders host London based events, but in an effort to broaden beyond the capital and make events accessible, we have devised an Online Slush Pile Webinar with the fantastic star agent, Sallyanne Sweeney. 

Sallyanne of MMB Creatives, will be reading YOUR pitches and opening lines live and online. It is important to note that she is genuinely looking to sign new authors. This is an amazing chance for an unsigned picture book, middle grade and/or young adult author, to get their idea under the nose of a star agent. You'd be unwise to miss it, especially as it only costs £5 to members, £15 non-members.

If you would like to take part in this event please click on this link to find out more: SCBWI Slush Pile Webinar. 

The fantastic Catching Words work with Discover Children's Stories Centre is continuing, despite the crazy times we're going through at the moment.

I've just finished working with the amazing PP2s at Quainton Hall School in Harrow and have had my first session with the Y5s. I've been seriously impressed by their imagination, creativity and literacy skills. Can't wait to see how their books turn out. They've made me feel very welcome and I'm loving working with this school.

Wonderful visit to Waterside Academy School in WGC on Thursday.

I always think the best visits are the ones where the children have done a bit of investigation work about me and my books. It makes them excited to meet me and enthusiastic. They want to take part in activities and have lots of questions. Waterside was just like that.

I had one or two questions that I had never been asked before, such as - 'how old are you?', 'how do you pronounce Sade' and 'what was your last dream about?'. There was an outright winner for True and False game who was the same girl who presented me with a drawing she'd done of me - also a first.

This very nice bottle of champagne is coming off the ice and going back in its box as today my fourth book, Darna’s Sky, is being confined to the drawer. It has been rejected (mostly very kindly) or ignored by all the publishers it has been sent to. 

It feels like a toy that nobody wants to play with anymore. It's a sad feeling, but Darna's Sky has worked hard for me and I'm very proud of it. The story was born from a trip to Singapore and led me to meet some really interesting people. It was a finalist in the Mslexia Competition - which is a huge achievement. It also meant that I found the perfect agent in Laura West at DHA. Laura also assures me that I now have a few fans within some of the main publishing houses. That's a hardworking book! Let's hope it comes out of the drawer sometime not too far into the future. I so wanted readers to meet Skye and Darna and hear their story. 

Not meant for now, but maybe one day...