(And, No, it's not one of mine.)

Crystal Bowman is a lovely US Christian children's book authors I would love to one day meet. She is a prolific writer for kids and writes for most (if not all) of the large US Christian publishing houses. She writes everything from devotionals to magazine articles, and has a particular interest in picture books.

I first 'bumped into' Crystal when we were both contributing to the Christian Children's Authors blog (a great resource for those involved in discipling children). I then heard her teach on writing for kids and when I reached out with a question, she generously replied. All that to say, when I saw she had a new book coming out this year - co-written with Michelle S Lazurek and illustrated by Sandra Eide - I pre-ordered it as soon as I could! 

And I was not disappointed: Who God Wants Me to Be is a beautiful book! 

It's the story of four little girls dreaming of what they might like to do when they are grown up. From artists to vets, dentists to fire-fighters, this is a book about big ideas, imagination and creativity celebrated. It's about being who you are, and trusting God to fill in the details between now and then. I LOVE this book. 

The text is simple and clear, with a good amount of repetition keeping the focus on God's priorities as the reason and source of our confidence. I love the repeated line: 'I'll keep trusting God, and then I will see exactly who he wants me to be.' 
​The illustrations are fabulous, showing the girl child as well as their ideas of what the future might hold. They are inclusive and kind, courageous and gentle and delightfully affirming. 

So yeah, this is my favourite Christian children's book of the year. 

(And in case you are wondering, when I showed this to my daughter - who is now 22 - her comment was 'Where was this book when I was in year twelve!' Maybe all high-schools should purchase this one for their careers teacher. Hey, why not?)

Next year, 2022, I'm embarking on something new. But it's still writing related. I've been offered a PhD candidature with Deakin University to research spirituality in young adult (YA) fiction. I've also been offered a Fellowship with Anglican Deaconess Ministries to work on a series of short fictions for YA readers exploring themes of spiritual questioning. I'm feeling rather daunted by these amazing opportunities but am also giving thanks to God for them. 

I'm still not entirely sure what next year will look like. We'll have to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the Find the Animal books for sure! But it will be interesting to see how the Fellowship and research impacts my writing life. If you would like me to come an speak to your school or church group, please get in touch. I will be available for visits, especially as they pertain to my YA work, but my time will be more limited than in previous years so best to get in early.

I'm also going to step back next year from some of the services I offer fellow writers. I've updated my Resources For Writers page with some links for alternative editors and opportunities for support. 

If you or your children have been impacted by my books over the last 20 years, I'd love to hear about it! Please drop me an email and let me know. I'm looking forward to continuing to write for children and YA in 2022 and beyond. 

I don't normally post reviews of things that aren't books. But, today I am. So feel free to scroll past if this isn't what you normally like to read. This post is for the writers and others who might be interested in the reMarkable tablet. 

As you can probably tell by my desk, I'm not really a gadgets person. But I was keen to try a reMarkable tablet as a tool to help with my creativity and thinking, especially as I do quite a bit of work in notebooks and on pieces of paper. As a writer I frequently print manuscripts off and work from them in the rewrite/edit process. I was hoping to cut down on my paper use while maintaining the paper-thinking experience. I also rely heavily on paper and pencil when working on picture books because these types of stories involve a lot of close work, and generally flow better when I'm not sitting at the computer. And I was interested in the ability to convert hand written notes, paragraphs or chapters into text I could email to myself and incorporate in an existing document. The reMarkable, at least in the reviews I'd read and their own website, seemed to appeal to all of these needs while also allowing me to stay as far away from traditional tablets (and their ever accumulating apps) as I could. 
​So I did my research. And some more research. I balked at the price for a long while, and then - when reMarkable recently changed the way it offers its services (it now uses a subscription method) - I balked again. But in the end I decided to take the plunge and order. 

When you order a reMarkable you have a few options. I went for the simple grey Book Folio cover (the super thin tablet clicks in place very securely) and the basic pen. I opted for the full Connect subscription to begin with, but if I find I'm not using everything I may drop down. I ordered on a Friday, the tablet arrived the following Monday! (I admit, I was VERY impressed by the delivery time.)

So, what do I think? Having only had my reMarkable tablet for just over a week, I probably don't know everything about it yet. I'm still learning. But... I'm loving it so far!
It feels great to write with. (Like, really great.) It has a legit paper-like experience: no glow, soft on the eyes, smooth writing experience etc. The ability to load PDFs from my computer/phone and then write all over them has been incredibly helpful as I plan for and attend meetings. I've also enjoyed it as a great journaling space and it's been excellent for keeping track of thoughts, my ever growing rewrite/edit task-lists and then free-writing when attempting to focus on a manuscript. I'm experimenting with the variety of templates and 'pens' and getting more familiar with what I like to use. There's even a few storyboard templates that will be great for picture book drafting.
Sure, it may not have all the whizz-bang features of a new ipad or something similar, but for me and what I was looking for, I'm really happy.

So what about any criticisms so far? Well, I do get worried I'll lose the marker pen. It snaps onto the side with a magnet but isn't enclosed in the Book Folio, so I feel like it might fall off! 
Some of the movements between PDFs and pages feel a little clunky and there is a lag as you 'turn the page', but if you are using the tablet to slow down - which I am as that's a critical part of my creative practice - it's not a problem. 
So far, the handwriting conversion isn't brilliant. I haven't played around this with aspect too much yet, but it does require my neater handwriting or quite a bit of manual editing (which I can do either on the tablet or on the computer once the content is there). I will have to wait and see whether this feature will be something I rely on heavily or not.

I read an article this morning as I was scanning the news. It was about the 3am issue. That unsettling time of night when we wake, all alone with the darkness and our thoughts, and face the hard truths of who we 'know' ourselves to be. 
It's at this time of night that our thoughts often spiral into negativity. We worry, we stress, we reimagine conversations and mistakes, and all the positive self talk we bolster ourselves up with during the day feels suddenly shallow and fake. 
3am isn't fun. 
But although I appreciated the author's helpful explanation of the reasons why we wake at this time, and why our thoughts so often turn negative, there was a line in his argument that I couldn't rest with. It was about the way our thoughts at 3am often turn in on ourselves and circle around the notion of ourselves. He said 'Buddhism has a strong position on this type of mental activity: the self is a fiction, and that fiction is the source of all distress.' Drawing on this idea he suggested mindful meditation as a way to deal with 3am stress. 
But here's my problem with this quick fix solution: those things that stir up at 3am? They are not based on fiction.
No matter how badly we may want to imagine our lives as being untrue, we live them day in and night out. We feel it, we breathe it, we ache, we break, we stuff up, we forgive and then realise we have to forgive all over again. The hurt circles, the blame lingers, the mess we've made of our lives rises up at 3am with stark ugly confidence and telling ourselves we aren't real? Nah. That takes far too much mindfulness for me to muster at that time of night. 
What I need is a God who will step into my darkness and hold those things I can't quite explain. I need a Saviour who sees my failing and still says I'm worth it. I need a deep, mystery of restoration that doesn't expect me to simply get through my heartbreaking 3ams, but joins me in them. Gently re-aligning my perspectives, giving me courage to try again and offering hope that something beautiful might come out of the garbage heap I've made of life. 
The only real answer to my 3am issue is Christ. Because even in the darkest parts of my night, he is light. 
And at 3am, when it's just me and my thoughts, that's the only thing worth ruminating on. 

(You can read Greg Murray's article here.)

Here's a book I'm currently recommending and looking forward to its release. It's called Destination Hope: A Travel Companion When Life Falls Apart and is by author team Marilyn Nutter and April White.
​I read this book as a pre-release because I put my hand up to be part of a book launch team. I'll admit, I was quite hesitant at first because I didn't know either author. But there was something about the book - Maybe it was the title? Maybe the cover illustration and the familiar pot-holed road? Maybe it was lockdown desperation? - Whatever it was I said yes. I downloaded the book to my phone and read it bit by bit over a couple of weeks. And I really enjoyed it.

The book is written in a gentle style. Short chapters interspersed with additional stories from a variety of women all facing grief of one kind or another. From the death of a spouse, to the loss of a child. Chronic health issues, the loss of friendship. Grief is tackled with honesty, encouragement and hope. There are also questions along the way to support reflection and helpful quotes and Bible verses. Tools to help and kind words to comfort are paired together. 
This isn't a heavy read. It's more like balm to the soul and would be useful for anyone, really. Because we all experience grief at some point and in some way in our lives, and we are all the friends that support others too.

Destination Hope: A Travel Companion When Life Falls Apart will be available for purchase from Koorong, ChristianBook.Com and Amazon from 28th September 2021. Well worth a read and a share.​ I've ordered myself a hard copy so I can do just that.