On Monday my youngest grandchild,
who is all of 5 years old, decided he needed to consult with his me, his
Grandma. The message read we would talk
in 5-10 minutes. When he hadn’t rung me within the allotted time, I was
informed he would do so later as he was taking a ‘break time.’ I had to chuckle
as his mother appreciates that as a mentor a lot of my time, especially these
days, is taken up with online calls across various parts of the world. As such
my time is usually pre-set.
Regardless he did decide to call
me back to ask me a thought-provoking question – ‘did I like Bananas, Oranges
or Strawberries the best?’ Obviously a very important question. Which has left
me wondering what his home-schooling consists off? Still, he certainly lightened
the mood of the day.
As it turned out my grandson
wasn’t the only person I consulted with this week as the day before I finally
managed to face-time with one of the younger writers I have recently been
mentoring. At thirteen she has started a series of short story books aimed at
the seven-plus age group. Her awareness of how the human race is treating our
world has led her desire to educate other youngsters through her writing. She
wants them to be more aware of what is happening to the wild animals of our
world. And while it is just an adventure book, it clearly shows what many
youngsters are thinking. Good on her I say.
Unfortunately, our discussion was
not the happiest has I had to inform her that, at this moment in time,
everything is on hold regarding the publication of her story. We won’t be able to
progress any further with the publisher until this virus situation is clear and
things return to normal. The upside is that she is on the publishers waiting
list so, pleasingly, she was fully acceptable and understanding in her attitude
of the situation. Mind you she did take the opportunity to bounce quite a
number of questions of me relating to sales, promotion and marketing. Methinks this young lady has her head switched on and will develop into a bright
young adult.
I must admit that being in
lockdown hasn’t overly affected me too much. And even though my office is only
a five-minute walk away I have been adhering to the rules of staying indoors
and social distancing. I’m not sure my hubby is pleased and/or disappointed by
this turn of events. Only time will tell haha!
In the meantime, I have worked
hard. I’ve reviewed a short story and a poem for two competitions; reviewed and
edited a novel as well as added to a novel of my own which I have been working
on for some time. Hopefully, I will get this finished soon. Add to that the
creation of forty podcast manuscripts and you could say lockdown is working
well for me. Next job is to set up a recording studio in the spare bedroom to
start recording my podcasts. Should be fun!
If you are bored and fancy a
challenge then why not have a go at the Mentoring Writers Writing Challenge.
Entry is free and is open to anyone, writers or not, of all ages as long as you
follow the rules. Check out this link for full details: www.mentoringwriters.co.uk/challengerules.html
Deadline is 30th June.
Go on… give it a go. Winners will
be included in a Children’s Short Story Book to be published later in the year.
