It Is What It Is

Last year, we had a sofa bed put into our study.  'Just think,' Ian said, 'you'll be able to sit there and read manuscripts.' 'Yes!' I agreed. Since then, the sofa has become a dumping ground for balls of wool, computer wires, hairbrushes - yes, the odd manuscript. But sit there, I have not. Until today! I settled down with a copy of Undiscovered Voices 2010 to find out which authors I would be watching in the years to come.

Undiscovered Voices is a publishing innovation headed up by Sara O'Connor and Sara Grant under the umbrella of SCBWI-UK. It's nothing short of revolutionary. The first edition in 2008 arrived quietly and then exploded. It was a bit like watching a shy Susan Boyle walk out on stage and start to sing. I don't think anyone was prepared for Susan's stage talent or the extraordinary impact that two editors have had on the current children's publishing scene.

So they're back for an encore. With 12 new voices, all unagented, I know that publishers and agents are already scrambling to sign up talent on the back of this latest book. And there are many reasons to scramble. Some of the titles alone are intriguing: 'Fifteen Days Without A Head' and 'At Yellow Lake' are two of my favourites. The range of narrative characters was inspiring: a girl living in Iraq, a teenage actress, children of an alcoholic - and let's not forget the kid who goes to Alien School. I possibly related most to the girl who inhabits 'Not Just The Blues'. Angry, unreasonable, witty, occassionally sad... Did I mention angry? Cordelia's need to escape the humdrum of her life and chase after the glamour of the city seemed lifted from my own angry adolescence. That girl has personality in spades. 

I also adored the drawing of a booze-addled mother in 'Fifteen Days Without A Head'. No detail of her is supplied other than her dialogue and her drinking. We read all the rancid details of sick in the bath, bad breath, foul moods, missed days at work - but we are never given a single detail of what this woman looks like or actually is beyond her drinking. I thought this was a powerful reflection of the way that an alcoholic's personality is rubbed away at, edges blurring under the press of an eraser called 'Drink'. Powerful stuff.

And I was intrigued by the colour of 'Adele'. All those shades of white - fake blonde hair, the pale Mom, a face dusted white, and of course the incredibly powerful, 'The shape is white'. This story felt like a cross between Wuthering Heights and A Woman In White (though I confess I have never read the latter). An extremely sophisticated ghost story.

All in all, a wonderful reflection of the range available to all children's writers. These 12 people will soon be knocking loudly at publishers' doors. Open up!


And what of the rest of my writing life? Yesterday, I went on a walk around London's East End where we paused by this sign for Norton Folgate. A distinct district in what once was a poverty-riddled Spitalfields, this was a cherished sanctuary to London's creatives. Today, the street still feels thick with Victorian soot and dust and I could just imagine what a fertile subject matter it would be for a novel. Inspiration, inspiration, everywhere. All we need to do is write the damn thing - as recently detailed in an ABBA blog of mine!

And prior to that, I went for dinner with three writer friends in the rather gorgeous Artisan restaurant at the Westbury Mayfair hotel. Go, go, if you can! It was such a great venue with lovely food and great staff. We talked and talked and chinked glasses and talked and 'hurrah'-ed. It was a great evening and the waiters were very patient, as we talked so much we almost forgot to order.

Today I had hoped to write a first chapter of something new. I even managed to scribble some notes on the bus yesterday. But I have already been out for a long run this morning and other commitments are piling up. A blog to write. Someone else's writing to read. Manuscripts from the office to edit and a 'Storyline Extravaganza' to organise. So, no writing. Oh well. As Celebrity Big Brother's Ivana Trump gloriously declares with a philosophical shrug: 'It is what it is.' Oh, to have her money, ahem, I mean attitude.

Writing? It is what it is. It'll happen.