10 things I learnt when I met Anne Fine. *wears nerd shades*

Okay, so this was really cool (nerdy to you) because I got to meet a children's author on the 18th of November, at the University of Leicester as part of the Literary Leicester Festival :)

Yay :) Writing is my passion and I thought why not go along to this talk?
'Anne Fine' to me reminds me of 'Design a Pram' which my Year 6 teacher read to me when she was pregnant, and we all had to literally Design a Pram for her baby.

It was a really weird experience to be back in the same Lecture Theatre 4 years ago. I expected there to be a really lengthy talk about the technicalities of authoring, and the publishing *yawn* before we got to the meaty bits. The bits I'd gone for. Writing tips. However, it was really refreshing.

Learning Points.

1. You can copy conversations you've overheard.
2. Be inspired by actual people, but beware not to make the similarities too striking :P
3. Children's books can deal with adult themes. Infer. Infer. And inferrrr.
4. Get the words written down. The audience won't know everything else you had planned.
5. Not everyone will like your work. That's fine. 
6. Write when the idea strikes you.
7. File away all your ideas.
8. The genuine writing is the stuff that hits you in the moment.
9. Your novel/book won't come to you in the correct order.
10. You will be inspired at the most random of times.

It was important for me to attend this event because it made me realise a shared experience.  As a blogger/creative/writer, sometimes you have a vision in your mind, a logical one, but sometimes it is hard for others to appreciate this. They cannot envisage the colourful mess in your head! And there's nothing wrong with that. But this also places a responsibility on your shoulders to be strong enough in your ideas, but to also have the know-how to make it happen.

And when that happens, an idea isn't just some scribbled notes on post-it notes, or the frantic doodlings in a book. It's reality :)