It was with great pleasure that I took a trip down memory lane with Valerie Khoo on her wonderful podcast ‘So You Want to be a Writer.’ Valerie was keen to explore what made me want to become a writer, how I ran my ‘writing business’ and how I was eventually fortunate enough to find a publishing home for my You’re Five! series with Allen & Unwin.
Valerie is the National Director of The Australian Writer’s Centre, which was where I embarked on my very first writing course: ‘Writing Picture Books’ and she was wonderfully generous in agreeing to launch my series when they first hit the market in June this year.
With Valerie Khoo, speaker extraordinaire, National Director of the Australian Writers Centre, Author, Journalist and the list goes on. Basically an incredible lady!
I feel very lucky to have Valerie’s support and it was an absolute delight to chat to her on her podcast. Listen here
One of the things I forgot to mention during the interview when Valerie asked how I had spent my time when I was working towards becoming an author, was building my author platform. This blog post – my Facebook page Facebook link, my Instagram Account Insta link and my Twitter Account, Twitter link have all taken time to establish and build. They’re all still a work in progress, but something that has definitely been valuable in finding a writing community.
Children's Author. Born in the UK in 1977 I grew up and was educated in the small country side town of Ashbourne in the Midlands, my childhood was spent surrounded by animals and children. I was one of three children but my wonderful parents also fostered 11 little children whilst I was young. Riding horses and reading books were my main two loves. Upon leaving high school I studied teaching and biology at university in Birmingham and left with a first class honors degree.
My teaching degree re-ignited my passion for beautifully written and illustrated children’s literature.
I moved to Australia in 2002 where I forged a career in sales. In 2006 I married my Australian husband in 2006 and we now have two young children. Given my teaching background I had always wanted to write children’s stories that truly engage the reader, and reading to my children has again brought children’s literature to the forefront of my life. Most of my stories are aimed at children between 0-6 yrs, but they will also appeal to the reader through their beautiful rhythm and ability to take your imagination on a wonderful journey.
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shelly unwin 