My first event!

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it... You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do"

Eleanor Roosevelt

When Keith (Strident Publishing) informed me at the beginning of this year that he would like me to present "Bree McCready and the Half-Heart Locket" to one hundred Primary 6/7 children and their teachers as part of the Craigmillar Book Festival I could barely control my nerves. I had never done anything like it before and I started to doubt my capabilities. By the time I got to the Gaff theatre in Craigmillar yesterday morning I was on the verge of jumping back in my car and driving away like something out of Starsky and Hutch! But I didn't.. I looked fear in the face, took a deep breath and threw myself into the experience. I can only equate it with sitting on the edge of an open aeroplane waiting to jump out. Keith was there for moral support and boy, was I glad!

As the children from the four cluster schools in Craigmillar (Niddrie Mill, St Francis, Newcraighall and Castleview Primaries) started to pour into the theatre I was in a dreamlike state thinking "Is this actually happening, or am I going to wake up any second?!"

The first words to escape my mouth are now a blur - I genuinely cannot remember what I said - but after a few minutes the nerves melted away and I actually started to enjoy myself. How amazing is that! The best bit was reading an excerpt from the book - I read an exciting part from Chapter 10. No-one other than me and the Strident team have ever heard or read the story before so this was another goosebump moment for me...

The children were amazing. They sat perfectly and listened intently for a whole hour and really made me feel relaxed. Thanks guys (your teachers should be really proud of you all). When it came time for questions and answers I was really impressed by some of the original and interesting questions that were asked. At the end, Philip Hughes asked me to pose for some photos and I had to climb up the centre steps to the top of the theatre. It felt like I was on "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway"! Come on down!!

I am really looking forward to reading the 'Magic Door Competition' entries when they arrive. I hope you children took on board the top tips I shared with you but most of all I hope you felt inspired to put pen to paper when you got back to school! I really want to thank you all again for being the first ever people to hear about my book. That makes you really special in my eyes and I will never forget you. I can't wait to see you all again when "Bree McCready and the Half-Heart Locket" comes out in August. Watch this space!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered"

Nelson Mandela

I visited Niddrie Mill Primary School today for the first time in 10 years. Alot has changed since I worked there all those years ago. In fact it's not even the same building - the place is unrecognisable. Niddrie Mill and St Francis Primary schools have merged and now share this incredible building which opened last year. It's absolutely huge and I started to wonder whether it might be a good idea to drop some crumbs along the way to help me find my way out! The reception area is like an airport! It's a beautiful school - all fresh and new and airy. But I kind of felt sad not to be visiting the old building down the road which is where I worked as a Nursery Nurse for many years. There were a few familiar faces there today to remind me of this time - Rosemary, Fay, Madeleine, Linda, Elaine, Heather and Sandra. It felt like I had just spoken to them yesterday. Good to see you again girls and thanks for making me feel so welcome!

I also recognised some of the children in P7 who were in buggies the last time I saw them. It was good to hear what their big brothers and sisters are up to now. How old did I feel when I heard that some of my first Primary One class now have babies of their own!?

The building might have changed but the 'feel' of the school remains. It was lunchtime when I was leaving and there was the usual throng of lively kids to bring back some happy memories. I almost felt like rolling my sleeves up and mucking in!

I never quite got closure on leaving Niddrie Mill. In the Summer of 1999 an unexpected job opportunity arose and this meant I officially resigned from Niddrie Mill during the summer holidays that year. I was absolutely devastated to have to leave my job but at the time it felt like I had very little choice. I needed security. At least I was spared having to go through the heartbreaking goodbyes that come with leaving a much loved job. I know that if circumstances had been different and I had been offered a secure and permanent contract at Niddrie Mill I would never have left. I had never felt so at home anywhere and during my time there I made so many good friends who taught me so much. But looking back with the luxury of hindsight I know it was the right time to leave - I just needed that shove to force me out of my comfort zone. Even though my path led me to a job I hated ( that's another story..) everything turned out for the best in the end.

I have achieved so much in the last ten years. It has not always been easy (in fact it's never been easy) but I know that working at Niddrie Mill Primary will always be one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have ever done. I felt quite emotional today. I still really miss it. I'll always look back at my time there with fond thoughts and I will never forget the brilliant staff and children who I met along the way - not only for preparing me for just about anything but also for paving the way into the career I have now chosen to follow.

A Forgotten Masterpiece

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him”(sic)

Maya Angelou (American Poet, b.1928)

This is one of the very first novels I remember reading. In fact I read the entire book in one day when I was off school ill. Couldn't put it down. And I also remember how it inspired me to write my own story about a family of Hedgehogs who had to find a new home after the Combine Harvester destroys their house. I was eight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hundred_and_One_Dalmatians

Sadly, there are many parents who have replaced books with TV. But just think - if children are so entertained by two letters, just how amazed are they going to be with twenty six!? Kids need time to read, to explore all the delights of the written word - old, new, fiction, non-fiction. Let them discover the joys of forgotten masterpieces - you never know, it might just inspire them...

My manuscript

My friend Caroline is using the story of my journey into writing as part of a college project. We have had a lot of fun taking photos - I can't remember ever laughing so much! I really like this one of my printed manuscript with my heart locket draped over it. It looks just like the half heart locket in the story (except my one is silver and Bree's is gold).

Seeing the pages of my story coming out of the printer really hit home how much hard work has gone into this. It's a bulky piece of work - and this is the edited version! It was so fantastic to see it all down in print - a real goosebump moment. I can't imagine how I am going to feel when I see the completed version with a front cover!

Silver locket by Julie Hyslop - http://www.juliehyslop.com/

Remembering Dunblane

A Dedication: To A Snow Drop

"Easy, the stream flows off the ben

A down the dyke-run, tae the glen.

The fallen grass is solemn, bare:

Alang the head-rig strolls the hare -

Unnoticed, thru the misty morn

Past the oak an' hardy thorn;

At the water, she sniffs the air -

She knows the scent and lingers there.

Returning foliage, comes in sight

Like children bathed in crystal light.

The snowdrops stand, firm an' brave

While Summer lays in Autumn's grave.

Are milk-white petals Winter's dress?

Is innocence a shield tae press?

What wind, what snaw, what wildest gale

Does blast your limpid cheeks sae pale?

Wee snowdrop - ye gentle flow'r

In a' great Nature's glory bower,

Ye stand apart, when nought else charms:

Like babes ripped from their mother's arms,

Ye fold and fall at Winter's close

Withstanding a' that Winter throws:

Spring's harbinger, wi' dewy tear

Ye mind me o' our children dear"

Patrick Scott Hogg

To My Sleeping Boy

"Young Night-Thought"

by Robert Louis Stevenson

"All night long and every night,

When my mama puts out the light,

I see the people marching by,

As plain as day before my eye.

Armies and emperor and kings,

All carrying different kinds of things,

And marching in so grand a way,

You never saw the like by day.

So fine a show was never seen

At the great circus on the green;

For every kind of beast and man

Is marching in that caravan.

As first they move a little slow,

But still the faster on they go,

And still beside me close I keep

Until we reach the town of Sleep"

Find out more about Robert Louis Stevenson at:

http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/

http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/stevensonbio.html

A Spring Plea

Dear parents at the school gate,

Please don't allow your children to stamp deliberately on the beautiful crocuses poking through the earth. They are just minding their own business, struggling against the elements - the last thing they need is a giant trainer landing on them. Thankyou.

First Crocus
by Christine Klocek-Lim

This morning, flowers cracked open the earth’s brown shell.

Spring leaves spilled everywhere

though winter’s stern hand could come down again at any moment

to break the delicate yolk of a new bloom.

The crocus don’t see this as they chatter beneath a cheerful petal of spring sky.

They ignore the air’s brisk arm as they peer at their fresh stems,

step on the leftover fragments of old leaves.

When the night wind twists them to pieces,they will die like this:

laughing, tossing their brilliant heads in the bitter air.