[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-sea-monkeys-invade-worth-abbey":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"This weekend the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fcbg.org.uk/\">Federation of Children's Book Group\u003C/a> conference had an infestation! Two Oxford University Press publicists, both named Charlotte, both have mothers who can knit and both mothers made wonderfully cheeky Sea Monkeys. Here's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CharlotteGArmst\">Charlotte Armstrong\u003C/a>, with the Sea Monkey who kept cracking jokes, asking how to get this lady off its bum.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/charlotte_armstrong_fcbg14_zps965dba06-97b1882141.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe had several people ask where they could get a Sea Monkey, and the answer is... \u003Cfont size=\"4\">you can knit one yourself!\u003C/font> Or find a friend who can! \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">Free pattern on my website\u003C/a>, developed by my studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whodunnknit.com/\">Deadly Knitshade\u003C/a>; do \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">click over\u003C/a> if you want your very own Sea Monkey.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/charlotte_armstrong2_fcbg14_zpsf8d779f4-9e35053f6a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWhen \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> and I first started doing \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> events, we focused more on how we met, and decided to start writing books together. But these days we're having more fun talking about the actual story. Here we are, enacting the scene when Mr and Mrs Crisp meet at the top of Mt Everest.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/storytelling_fcbg14_zps86c47550-5930a25296.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Photo tweeted by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/FCBGNews\">@FCBGNews\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nNow I saw this 'Going Down' advice in last Saturday's Guardian, and I'm setting out to prove them wrong. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tootsie_chic_zpsf6965c89-c61265b6eb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnyone can rock glasses and a frock if they can draw, they're wearing a squid on their head and playing a ukulele. True fact. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/seamonkey_song_fcbg14_zps6e6560f6-5fc1b0f9f1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the great things about the conference was getting to hear other authors give presentations. Here's a drawing I did in pen of illustrator and writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.cressidacowell.co.uk\">Cressida Cowell\u003C/a>, talking with \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/caroline_horn\">Caroline Horn\u003C/a> about her book series, \u003Ci>How to Train Your Dragon\u003C/i>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cressida_cowell_fcbg14_zpse9a74bfc-019024d5cd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCressida also talked about having big films made of her stories, and how she was offered the chance to write the screenplay, but turned it down so she could focus on her books. You might have seen the first film already, and here's the trailer for the second film, coming out this summer:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"2619\"/>\\r\n\\r\nAnother fascinating thing was listening to her talk about her childhood holidays on an uninhabited island in Scotland, where they were able to run completely wild and encounter weird and wonderful wildlife:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cressida_cowell_fcbg_zpsa9df90e4-9fce02d44b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe next day, after our event, Philip and I got to hear writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.megrosoff.co.uk/\">Meg Rosoff\u003C/a> talk about writing, about how our brains are a sort of colander; we experience lots of things, and most of the things we forget. But some of the things mash down inside and begin to form something as they liquify and ferment, and start to create something new. She said she took comfort, years back, in something Philip said about writing books and throwing many stories away before hitting on the one he's happy with; she'd struggled with periods where she just couldn't get a book to work. But looking back, she'd realise that this time was important, is was when the story she really wanted to tell was quietly arranging itself in the back of her head. I should add that Meg also has a recent film adaptation of her book, \u003Ci>How I Live Now\u003C/i>, which I definitely want to see:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"2620\"/>\\r\n\\r\nI didn't manage to get a photo of Meg, and the drawing didn't really turn out (I drew a colander on her head and it didn't look like her at all.) But I bought a copy of her latest book, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/children_sbookreviews/10393403/Picture-Me-Gone-by-Meg-Rosoff-review.html\">\u003Ci>Picture Me Gone\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, which I'm very much looking forward to reading. \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MarilynBrock\">Marilyn Brocklehurst\u003C/a> was running a great bookshop on site, so I also picked up a copy of \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Alexmilway\">Alex Milway\u003C/a>'s brand-new \u003Ca href=\"http://www.alexmilway.com/my-books/\">Pigsticks & Harold\u003C/a> illustrated book, which is a lovely cross between a chapter book, picture book and comic. And Letters to Klaus, which is going out of print and contains a lovely gallery of illustrated envelopes by Satoshi Kitamura, David McKee and others. (You can have a peek at it \u003Ca href=\"http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/children/blog/590\">over on Booktrust's website\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/book_loot_fcbg14_zpsb1e64f0b-b5ac6a2379.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to \u003Cb>FCBG\u003C/b> for inviting Philip and me, to \u003Cb>Louise Stothard\u003C/b> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.piccadillypress.co.uk/teen/damian-kelleher/index.html\">Damian Kelleher\u003C/a> for introducing us, to \u003Cb>Marilyn Brocklenhurst\u003C/b> for selling our books, to \u003Cb>Hattie Bayly\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Charlotte Armstrong\u003C/b> from OUP for looking after us, to the monastery for yummy food (\u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worth_Abbey\">Worth Abbey\u003C/a>'s a gorgeous place; I'd wish I'd had more time to explore), and to everyone who made our visit so much fun!","2014-04-13T11:01:00.000Z","sea-monkeys-invade-worth-abbey",[],"sea monkeys invade worth abbey",1776628726315]