Author Visit to Broseley C of E School

                                                      Reading my story ( photo Julie Phillips)

I had the pleasure of being invited for another school visit recently. It was one of the best experiences I have had and yet again the children inspired me with their creativity.

I started by reading my book ' Every White Horse' then brought my props out again.  I had collected even more since my last school visit including unicorn food, pine cones and a very sparkly model unicorn that I had painted. As they were passed around, they seemed to love the fact that as they handled it, the glitter came off onto their hands causing much excitement. 

Following this session, I then showed them how I had prepared for writing my book with a storyboard and then set them a small task. It was to come up with their perfect pet and draw a picture of it.  I was so impressed with their written and artwork and we had so much fun coming up with names.  

We finished off with a question and answer session which was hilarious. I was asked so many funny questions from how many unicorns I would like to keep to what my favourite colour was. They were all really interested in what else I was writing and what I was reading myself.  It sparked off some great conversation.  

I left feeling so high from this wonderful experience and look forward to carrying out further workshops in the future. 

                                                     Storyboard for Every White Horse

                                           Some of the perfect pets they came up with

A few more fences to jump.

After nearly three years I am in the final stages of publishing my real life story 'The Painted Pony' about my beautiful horse Chad.

He wasn't a famous horse but he was loved by so many people locally and it's been difficult in so many ways as I suppose it's verging on being autobiographical.  I am not a famous person but some how me and Chad clocked up so many years, sharing good and bad times together that I felt were worth recording in written form.

He changed me from a painfully shy child to the person I am today, maybe a little crazy but I do have more confidence in my mature years and Chad was the beginning of that change.

Self publishing isn't easy but with a story like this which would not be commercial enough to sell, it was the only option.  I am glad I went down this route as I have been able to include all the photographs that I want, choose the front cover and it will only be read by people who want to read about Chad.

Proof reading is one of my weakest points and although I have read it over and over again on the computer, it's amazing how many little mistakes keep showing up or hiding from me after so many years.  

With this in mind I uploaded it onto a self publishing site in A4 size with extra spaces and pages to scribble notes and alterations on. It's working so well and things are jumping out at me straight away, yet when I read it on my computer, my eyes just scanned over them.

It's been great to see how the photographs work with the text too as there will probably be a lot of re-sizing, or re-positioning required before it looks right.

A few more fences to jump then hopefully 'The Painted Pony' will be getting to the finish!

My A4 version of 'The Painted Pony' 

(Plenty of room for scribbling notes)