I’m back in the querying trenches with my new chapter book series ( a new take on some classic fairy tales), while (slowly) writing books two and three in this series.

I’m also editing a new standalone middle-grade story I wrote last year during NaNoWriMo. A humorous adventure story with a science and sustainability twist. I’m onto the 3rd draft and am now sharing this with my writer’s critique group. I’ll be looking for some beta readers soon in the 8 – 12 age bracket so if you’re interested, drop me a message.

Happy Reading! x x

365 blank days to write the next chapter in your life.

A new year usually means making plans and setting goals for the upcoming year.

Make your plans, set your goals, and create your task lists to help you keep a sense of order, but allow yourself to edit the page if needed or rewrite your story.

This year, I will be working on subsequent books in my new chapter book series (a new take on some classic fairy tale characters) that I have started querying, along with a new Middle-Grade story I wrote during NaNoWriMo in November 2023. 

I have a few other writing goals and plan to launch a couple of items during the year all going well. You can sign up for my newsletter to learn more and/or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy Reading! x x

My favourite time of the year! Everything seems fresh and new as the days start to lengthen. Buds start sprouting, and gorgeous shades of green appear. Add in the daffodils and freesias, the lambs and birds, warmer temperatures and hopefully sunshine; it’s like a new lease on life where anything seems possible! It’s a fabulous time of year for inspiring creative ideas. 

I’ve just sent my latest manuscript off to be formally assessed after feedback from a few Beta Readers and some further rewriting.

This is the first book in a children’s chapter book series – a real twist on some classic tales.

Formal assessments are a great way to help you work out the plot holes and weaknesses in your characters/story and provide a totally different perspective on your writing. It’s like your own personal masterclass on your manuscript!

While this is being assessed, I’m already a couple of thousand words into book 2 and developing story ideas for books 3 -5!

I’m also querying Book 1 of another children’s chapter book series. Rejection is tough. But it does get easier and is part and parcel of being a writer. At least I now seem to be getting ‘positive rejections’, and I’m learning about the publishing process!

Keep up-to-date on my progress by signing up for my newsletter or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy Reading!

To help get over this slump, I am participating in NaNoWriMo for my third year. The challenge of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.  It’s a great way to prioritise and commit to regular writing.

I’m currently querying the first book in my children’s chapter book series about animals, pirates, and crazy fun, so I am choosing to spend NaNoWriMo working on two projects, so I can switch between them if I get writer’s block or need a break.

Project one is the next draft of my middle-grade fantasy adventure novel. This story starts in the highlands of Scotland, allowing me to utilise the scenery and beauty of places I visited on my last trip just before the covid outbreak. And maybe a fantastic opportunity to start planning another visit – for research purposes, of course .

Project two is an idea for an adult crime/thriller – something outside my normal writing genres  – and is stretching me as a writer as I learn a lot from the process.

I should hit the 50,000-word target between the two projects and hope this will continue long into the next few months.

So, if you’d like to keep up-to-date, you can sign up for my newsletter or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy Reading!

Kids have gone back to school, and people are moving back to working from the office as we get used to living in the new norm with covid.

Moving into the autumn months in New Zealand, I’m focussed on submitting my first book in a chapter book series that contains animals, pirates, and some crazy fun. I’m also completing the drafts of the second and third books in this series while plot outlines for books four and five are currently dancing around in my brain along with a whole lot of ideas for an activity book.

So, if you like animals, pirates, and fun, you can sign up for my newsletter to learn more and/or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy Reading! x x

Mid August saw an outbreak of Covid in NZ and Auckland has now been in lockdown since then. Homeschooling and working from home are the new norm, with lots of walks and staying local. The highlight of the week is visiting the supermarket as you are still allowed in those stores (masked, social distancing). We have moved to a level where you can ‘click and collect’, so those retail stores and cafe’s that have this setup can operate to an extent. At least I can now get coffee!

Being in the right headspace to write has been difficult, so I have put my middle-grade novel to the side and have been concentrating on writing short stories and focussing on completing the first book in my chapter book series that contains animals, pirates, and some crazy fun.

It’s an involved process – This first chapter book has been through 16 steps already in its journey.

Idea
Character prep/ world building
Plotting
Draft 1
Draft 2
Draft 3
Beta readers 1
Draft 4
Beta readers 2
Draft 5
Assessor
Draft 6
Editor 1
Draft 7
Editor 2
Final manuscript

I’m now on the final step of this stage – Time to submit!

The first draft of the second book has been completed and I am currently plotting out the third.

So, if you like animals, pirates, and some crazy fun, you can sign up for my newsletter to learn more and/or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy Reading! x x

My plans for this year have been somewhat side-tracked but I have managed to accomplish the additional research for the first children’s novel (in a series) that I am writing. I’ve started on the 2^nd draft of this with the help of my writer’s critique group who have provided some great feedback and direction.  I have a second project on the go, and this is a fun kid’s chapter book I wrote last year for 7–9-year-olds. My fourth draft of this is now out with Beta Readers for feedback and I’m starting to plot out a sequel. So, if you like animals, pirates, and some crazy fun, you can sign up to my newsletter to learn more and/or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy Reading! x x

The challenge of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November. I’ve been doing my own version of it this November as I knew I didn’t have the time to commit to the full 50,000 words at this time of year. Too much going on at work, with family life and I even had to do my civic duty and undertake Jury Duty for a week this month.

However, NaNoWriMo is a great way to prioritise and commit to regular writing. I decided to take the opportunity and start work on a story idea for a series I’ve had for a while which is aimed at the middle grade/YA level. I had already plotted the first book out, undertaken some research and have fleshed out the general overall story for the series.  I set myself the target of writing 500 words every day, so my target was only 15,000 for the month.

To carve out the writing time I made a commitment to get up 1 ½ hours earlier each weekday morning. I’m pleased to say I exceeded my set levels and have written over 20,000 words for the month and am well into the first book in the series and things seem to be coming together so far. I have even quite enjoyed getting up at 4.30am each morning! I’m planning to continue this for December, or at least up until Christmas and see how far I get.

 Hope you’re all looking forward to summer!

Happy Reading x x

In writing stories, especially children’s, there are some basic rules you are supposed to follow, be a control freak about length, the main character should always win and many more.

With this story I seem to have broken a few of them.

It’s a bit too long (I will try to cull it a bit further during editing) and my main character (protagonist) is actually the villain of the story! Everything he does seems to go wrong, and nothing works out for him. The so-called hero (antagonist) of the story does nothing in particular to earn the title, he just always seems to be in the right place at the wrong time.

I may be breaking the rules, but I love this character! He’s a bit horrible, selfish, and rude, and frankly quite hopeless but lots of fun.

If you like animals and pirates I’m on the lookout for a couple of further Beta Readers. If you have/know a child in the 7 – 10 year old range who would like to be a Beta Reader (read the story and provide feedback), then send me a message through the contact me page or you can PM me via my Facebook or Instagram page.

Happy Reading! x x

My original writing plan for 2020 was thrown out the window when the first lockdown occurred, with having to juggle work, home schooling and writing.  But a spring clean of my office and computer shows the following progress I have made in the past 6 months which I am pleased with:

1 x story for 8-12 years 25,000 words (draft)
1 x story for 7-9 years 10,000 words (draft) + plans for a further 2 in this series
1 x picture book story 3-5 years (draft)
4 x children’s short stories (drafts)
5 x children’s poems
1 x Adult short story (draft)
1 x re-editing 7-9 years story/looking at artwork/beta readers
2 x book submissions to publisher(s)
2 x short story submissions to competitions
4 x rejections (par for the course unfortunately)
2 x writer’s courses (online)
1 x website (wrote content, built, and launched www.kellyannewriter.com)
Research – Parks, birds, ships, pirates, plays, craft activities
Social media platforms programme: @kellyannewriter #kellyannewriter
? x books read (lost count and I still have this ginormous pile to get through

Not my original plan but not too bad considering the conditions we have all been operating under.

The 7-9 years story that I have been re-editing had previously been submitted to publishers with no luck, even though it had received good feedback from a variety of people (Kids and professionals). In the past 6 months I have learnt a lot about the writing process and especially about editing. After two weeks re-editing, the story is cleaner and now ‘shows more than tells’, so the action flows better. I also realised that I use the word ‘just’ a lot in my writing.

I’m on the lookout for a couple of further Beta Readers. If you have/know a child in the 7 – 10 year old range who like to be a Beta Reader (read the story and provide feedback), then send me a message through the contact me page or you can PM me via my Facebook or Instagram page.

I hope you have all achieved something this year whether it be a new skill or new facts you’ve learnt.

Don’t forget to check out www.kellyannewriter.com as I’m adding new content all the time. Sign up to the newsletter and you’ll receive access to the Members Only section where you can download a FREE Scruffy McTuffy Tale and access other kids’ activities and information.

Happy Reading! x x