Rebecca Lisle's Blog, page 2

Super School Visit

Today I visited Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School tucked away behind a church and surrounded by trees and greenery ... where was it do you think? Out in the countryside? In a picturesque village in far away Devon? No, deep in the heart of Lawrence Western, Bristol! 

I am frequently surprised and delighted by the schools I visit and this was no exception - lovely staff and great kids, oh and lovely cake at break time too.

The HEADMASTER, Mr Kloska made me a cup of coffee when I arrived. This is undoubtedly the  FIRST TIME a headmaster has made me a coffee! Thank you Mr Kloska. It was a great cuppa.

After a brief chat I went into the hall where Callum, helped with all things technical.   


I spoke to years 5 and 6 and showed them my books along with plenty of pictures on the  screen. The children came up with some fantastic ideas to make my stories whizz along and invented some great plots with imaginative twists and turns.

(Sorry the photo isn't very clear but that is me in the far distance only there wasn't much light and I'd turned off the flash on the camera. Whoops).

We did two workshops. One involved some acting - Jake mimed being scared really well and Leah was very convincing at showing anger. I hope you will all remember the power of the ACTION VERB and use them for ever after.

Thanks for all the book orders and I hope to have them with you soon.

Writing Tips

The best advice I can give to anyone is, if you want to write, then get on and do it.
I should give this advice to myself too because I've been procrastinating ever since my group workshopped my last piece.  It isn't that they were unkind or critical, simply that they gave me ideas and put thoughts of change into my head.  Things I was totally happy with have since become cracked and flawed. The comments have set me thinking and now I've got to go back and change things, names, places, times.
The plot of this book is very complicated and depends on me getting each tiny detail just right. Well, all plots do, so I shouldn't be complaining. I just feel inadequate and when I feel like that I don't write.
I blog.
Or tweet.
But I need to do those things too. So here are some pictures: the houses in Stollenback where my story is set.  

Magical aren't they? And they really do exist.



Secret doorways and latches and little windows . . .

They are almost too perfect.

I've made them grubbier and shabbier in my story.

Wait and see.

St Mary's C of E Primary School

I have just found a little primary school hiding in the hills beside the M5 called St Mary's.  Well, it wasn't really hiding, but it was well-hidden. It's beside a church and green fields and tall trees and if you didn't go down the back lanes looking for it you would not know it was there.

Today I visited Priory Class and I made them 'think sideways'.  The students played word games and had fun trying to think of different ways an elephant might walk down the road.

Before I visit them again next week they will have written a story - hopefully a spooky or scary story - definitely a page turner.  They were already brimming over with exciting words and ideas.  There will be many cats but will they be made of concrete or painted or even green moss cats?

My visit was part of the Threshold Prize, writers in schools programme.  This is a great way of inspiring children to write.

Happy
Writing
And
Wonderful Reading.

How To Write

This is how you write.
You begin with an idea, it can be quite vague and cloudy, something you've seen or heard or felt is enough for you to start.  You write one word on your pad of paper or blank page on the computer and then you follow it with another. Two words. Two words is already more writing that you had done before you started. Well done!
Then you write another word and another. One word follows another word.  Word after word after word. When you start to doubt you're making sense, go back and read the words and change boring words for more interesting words. You read it aloud and alter bits here and there until it flows and reads well. Then, inspired by your ability to write words that say the thing you want to say, you write some more.
That's all it is, one word after another.

Cadbury Heath Primary School 2

I spent another morning with the children at Cadbury Heath Primary School today.

First thing, I visited the reception class.  That was interesting. Those children had so much energy I was exhausted within minutes. They were lovely.  We found that most of the girls in that class were PRINCESSES! Extraordinary! They liked ball gowns and princes. And not frogs and toads.

We read a bit of PETRIFIED.  The story is about a little boy who is kept as a pet by some giants. The giants put the boy in a jam jar.  Reception made some lovely pictures of themselves in jam jars.

I spoke to years 1 and 2 and then did a workshop with years  5 and 6.  The children worked really hard.



Some of the students had bought my books and I signed them.  CJ said CURSE OF THE RAVENS was EPIC!!!! What a great response.  I hope he enjoys it.

We played around with words and then year 6 wrote a short story about a concrete cat... or was it a dull cat or a stationary cat?  Whatever sort of cat it was, the stories were very interesting and strangely scary . . . Well done!

Happy reading everyone.

Visit to Cadbury Heath Primary School

I wish I could be a pupil at Cadbury Heath Primary School - but I'm way too old for that.  Still, today I got the chance to visit the school and talk to some of the pupils which was the next best thing.  

This is me in the school hall, talking to the KS2 children about some of my books which feature my three boys, Joe, Laurie and Theo and our dog, Nike.

I read the children the beginning of The Dog in the Diamond Collar and they all guessed that Nike was not wearing a diamond collar when one day, he turned up in our garden. What a shame he wasn't.  We'd be rich!

After the talk, I visited years 3 and 4.  There was a budding author called Jasmine in year 3.  She brought in some of her books to show to me and I thought they were wonderful.  Great pictures too, Jasmine, so do keep writing and I'm sure you'll be a published writer when you're a little older.

The workshops went well.  Year 4 wrote some fantastic pieces about the zoo.  "In the zoo there were lonely white penguins."  "In the zoo the tiniest bug stumbled over the hippo." "We see cheeky monkeys in the zoo."   For those of you who haven't noticed, each sentence had to be written without using the letter A.  It was hard, but they came out tops. (Sorry if I haven't remembered absolutely correctly). Well done you!

Year three struggled with my very hard suggestion that they find some active verbs as we played STOP THE BUS!  Well done all those children who let their bus slide, slip, jog, rumble, steam, tumble and zig-zag down the road.

Hope you will all read lots of books this term and learn many new words.

See you all again on Thursday!  Happy writing.

War Letters

While my great grandfather was in the trenches in WW1, he wrote home to his wife and children every single day.  That's a lot of letters. He said he considered it his duty and a duty which he enjoyed and wanted to fulfil.  If all the soldiers - millions of them, were sending home a letter a day, where are they all?  Did other families keep them like ours did?

His name was Harry.

This is a photo of him.  In all the photos he is smiling with his eyes. Twinkling. I've always thought he looked like a very nice man. A kind man. He wasn't a soldier by profession, he was a woollen manufacturer, but during peace time he was a member of the Territorial Army. People made fun of the TA because they were 'Saturday Soldiers' or 'played' at fighting, but actually when war was declared in August 1914, the TA were amongst the first to go.  They fought alongside full time soldiers just as bravely and in the same conditions.  Again, this was down to the men's sense of duty.

I'm in the process of trying to make a book using Harry's letters because they give such a wonderful insight into a family separated by the war. Harry and his wife were a devoted couple and it was hard for them to be apart. But, as Harry frequently said, he trusted in God to keep him safe.

Bamboo forest

Have you ever been in a bamboo forest in Italy? I never expected to, but came across one in the hills near Vittorio Veneto.  No one knew who had planted it and now the tall green stems are spreading down the hillside and the forest is threatening to engulf the orchards and meadows below.



Right in the middle of the bamboo, in a shadowy green light, we found a derelict farmhouse which must have once been beautiful. The attic rooms looked out over the leafy canopy of the bamboo and down into the valley.


In Italy there are lots derelict houses and each has a history and a strange story to tell.  Sadly  many are the result of family break ups when the old uncle or mother dies and there is a dispute over the land and property.  The dispute goes on and on and in the end no one gets anything.

Dear children of mine, if you ever read this blog, please don't fight when we're gone.  All we can, we give to you now - then hopefully you won't be waiting desperately for us to cast off this mortal coil . . .

Dorset delight

Here is a perfect roof and wall and garden. Found - well, discovered - in Dorset this week end. Here is everything I need for a wonderful story, a path leading somewhere, an old tiled roof, a gable end, a thatch. It's going into my new book. I love the wonky rippled roof and the way two different shaped tiles have been used. One half of the roof is thatch and one is tiles.And of course the blue sky. What a novelty.I'm putting it into my chapter now, just as soon as I stop faffing about with blogs.

Good Intentions

My father always said the road to Hell was paved with good intentions. He was a methodist. I don't believe in Hell, but I do know what he meant.
I've just been on holiday to France for a week. I've been cycling and playing tennis and bemoaning quietly to myself that I couldn't get on with my  next project - another book for Hot Key.  While I couldn't work, I was thinking about my book and my characters and trying to work out how everything would fit together.  I kept having MARVELLOUS ideas and BRILLIANT thoughts and STUPENDOUS story lines. I couldn't wait to get home and get going again. How I wished my lovely laptop hadn't been stolen and then I could have seized the moment and captured the thoughts.
So now I'm back at my desk and d'you know, all that impetus and enthusiasm has sort of gone.
All I want to do is the crossword.
I've opened up my file and looked at my story and it looks flat and dull and nothing like the technicolour film I've been playing in my mind.
I should know better. I should have learnt. It's always like this. Hard work at the desk face.