Thursday, April 28, 2011

X is for Mem Fox

Born:  March 1946
 
Excellent BooksPossum Magic, and over 30 others.  

From Her Life:  Mem Fox grew up in Africa and now lives in Australia.  Two of her passions in life are teaching and writing, and she has traveled the world sharing her knowledge with others.

Advice for Aspiring Writers:   Mem Fox has lots of advice for writers (and teachers and parents!) on her website.  I love this little gem:  "While you’re writing, your best friends will be the ‘cut’ and ‘delete’ keys on your computer. At any one time you can probably cut most of what you have written. The biggest fault of wannabe picture book writers is to write too much."

Website:    http://www.memfox.com/welcome.html

14 comments:

Laura S. said...

She's lived all over the globe! And you're right, that is terrific advice. When I edit I'm always cutting a lot of unnecessary material!

Rek Sesh said...

Interesting advice and quite true...lovely idea of yours for AtoZ.

Carmela Martino said...

I LOVE Mem Fox's picture books, and her website is a treasure trove.
Thanks so much for stopping by our blog and helping to spread the word about our giveaway.
Carmela
TeachingAuthors

Unknown said...

Picture book or novel, a writer has to be careful not to write too much.

Great post for the X day. I guess no one ever said the words had to begin with the letter. Creative, going from the other end. I like it.

Lucy

Luana Krause said...

Enjoyed your post. Your blog is great resource for writers. Glad I found you.

Carla said...

Laura, It's amazing how much "extra" material I cut from an article a few weeks ago...and the article was only 650 words to start with!

Thanks, Rekha! It really is true!

Carmela, her website really is amazing! And I think your giveaway is awesome...there will be two very lucky winners!

Lucy, I was looking at all sorts of options, but I decided I really couldn't go wrong with Mem Fox!

Thanks, Luana! I'm so glad you came by!

Carla

Robyn Campbell said...

I married the delete key. Had to. It said I love you and you'll need me. It was right. So I married it.

I cut entire chapters from my novel. Had to. Delete wanted to. And well, yanno. I love delete.

Following you back. Thanks for the follow and comment over at my place, Putting Pen To Paper. Great post. *smiling*

Kimberly said...

I have cut so much from my current WIP it's crazy. And I'm not the over-writer type. It was because I had to redo about a hundred pages and change the story line a bit, okay, a lot! :(

Christa Desir said...

This was the first author that anyone ever gave me for my unborn daughter. It was "Time for Bed" and we still read it to my little guys!

Anonymous said...

Haha, Robyn, I love your relationship with Delete!

Nice work, Kimberly! Sometimes I have to save a copy of the "old" manuscript just because I feel like I can't "break up" with a "friend!"

Christa, Time For Bed is awesome! But, then, so is Mem Fox!

Carla

D. U. Okonkwo said...

Totally agree with her advice about the cut and delete key. How did people with typewriters do it? I depend so heavily on the cut and paste function!

Bob Scotney said...

I remember bottles of white erasing fluid (Tippex); if that failed then it was a case of target practice with a screwed up ball of paper. Computers have spoilt all the fun.
Cut means you can't make up your mind and paste means you've changed it. Delete is much more final especially if you use it by mistake.

Carla said...

Lol, DU, I didn't even think of that. I remember learning how to use a typewriter in junior high, and then a computer in high school!

Bob, you totally made me laugh! Even delete can be undone if you push Ctrl-Z soon enough!

Carla

Betsy said...

Just read Time for Bed to my son again tonight. :)

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