Fare Thee Well Young Writers

Hi gang.  Further to my last post, I am a bit sorry to see that nobody has responded, so I think I am going to have to close this blog now.  I do understand.  We all have to move on and your talented scribblers have school careers and other pusuits to keep them occupied.  No; maybe it is just the right time to draw a line under the phenomenon that was Addiscombe Young Writers.  However I thoroughly enjoyed the contact we had and the fact that the children, by all accounts, appeared to gain something from our time together and I am very proud of what we achieved, as a group, between 2012 and 2018.  All that remains to be said is thank you for everything and don't forget I am still contactible by email, twitter and mobile phone.  Good luck to you all and lots of love and luck for the future.
Love
Jilly

Are You There...?

Hi Young Writers and families. Hope you are all well.  Just thought I'd see if anyone had responded to any of the posts I have made since I moved, but alas, alack, it does not appear so.  I hope this means that you are all busy scribbling away in your journey to being great authors!  I have been very busy indeed. I have been sorting through my work and I rediscovered several stories and a lot of poems I had completely forgotten about!  I have written several new stories as well including an adventure story for my four year old grandson which his older brother is going to illustrate for me.  I have started a new book (this one for grown-ups) and have started looking for a publisher for a new non-fiction book I am putting together, so lots going on.  I regualrly write aricles for a number of websites, too, which is all good practice. 

Would anyone like to drop me a comment and tell me what they are doing with their writing as I would love to know.  Some of you belonged to the Young Writers for quite some time and I would hate for you to let your talents slip!

I will come back to this blog in a couple of months and if nobody has felt like responding by then, I will probably wrap this blog up.  Hopefully it won't come to that.  Whatever happens, I hope I helped you to find your voices and I wish you all the very best for the future. 

Love Jilly

All The Best For 2019

Can you believe we are two thirds of the way through January already?  Hello, hope you are all well and still writing.  How was your Christmas and New Year?  Our entire festive season was very hectic, especially after moving in November, but we are very settled now, love our house and I am getting some writing done myself , so everything is good. 

It is so nice living in Westcliff-on-Sea!  We are so close to the sea here and wake up most mornings to the sound of seagulls.  Yesterday, we took a long walk along the seafront, even though it was freezing cold, and it just felt lovely.  It almost feels as if we are on holiday every day! 

So what have the Young Writers been up to?  I hope you are still scribbling away and, of course, doing well at school.  Did any of you try the Chatterbooks group?  How did you find it?  You know you can still email me if you like, or leave a comment here on the blog.  Let me know if you still pop in and read my posts from time to time mums and dads as I would absolutely love to find out how your talented children are progressing.

As for me, well moving has certainly led to a good sort out.  I have rediscovered books, poems and short stories written years ago that I had completely forgotten about!  I have already contacted one publisher about one of the books because I am convinced it is the kind of book youngsters would love.  It is funny and tells a good story.  What more can I ask for!  I have written a number of articles and poems which have largely been published on-line and have a meeting with a very talented illustrator soon with a view to getting the third Yucketypoo book on the market, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I will still pop back from time to time so I hope someone still reads my posts.  Would love to know how you are!
Love Jilly

Settling Down in Westcliff-on-Sea

Dear Young Writers.  I hope you are all well.  I thought I would let you know how our move went.  It is hard to believe we have already been in our new home for three and a half weeks!  It feels like we have always lived here and we are getting settled in pretty quickly.  The house is as done as it can be before the arrival next week of our new storage shed.  We still have a lot of things we need to keep in storage and they are still in boxes so two of our rooms are out of commission at the moment.  Once we can put these excess boxes into the new shed I will be able to sort out my new office and put all my books out and organise all my files and sit at my desk in the evenings and write to my heart's content.  And Steve can sort his little home office out too so we will both be as happy as Larry - whoever Larry is!

I have already had a phone call from a local lady asking me if I plan to start an Essex Young Writer Group - can you believe it?  I shall have to think about it.  We are seeing so much more of our grandchildren now, which is lovely.  But it will probably make a future commitment like that abit more difficult to accommodate.  But I must admit I was very chuffed she asked.

Anyway that is it for now.  Things to do.  I will be back soon and send you all my love xxx

We Are On The Move!

Hello Young Writers.  Hope you are all okay and still  writing writing writing!  I am missing our Saturdays terribly and can only hope you decided to give Chatterbooks a try.  But of course you don't have to meet twice a month to carry on writing.  As I said to each and every one of you, anything is possible if you believe in yourselves.

Steve and I have finally found our new home in Essex and will be moving in a few weeks so we are very busy getting all packed up and ready to go.  There seems to be boxes everywhere; big boxes, medium boxes, small boxes.  Even though we only lived in Sutton for two years, and even considering the amount of stuff we have given to charity shops and scout groups, it is actually quite astonishing how much we have accumilated in that two years! 

Our new home is just a fifteen minute walk from the sea and we will be very close to five of our seven grandchildren - who are very excited about us moving into their neighbourhood.  With a bit of luck we will be all settled in by Christmas (we have already discussed where the Christmas Tree could go) and then I shall get back to my own writing - which has rather taken a back seat whilst we have been househunting etc.

It has been an exciting but quite tiring journey but it feels good to know we now have somewhere we like very much to move into.

I will try to do another update soon.  Don't forget to drop me a line if you want any help - or even just to say hello!  Take care.

Enjoying Summer!

Hello everyone.  Hope all is well.  Are you Young Writers still writing?  I sincerely hope so.  Don't forget to get in touch if you want any advice - or even just to catch up; it would be brilliant to hear from you.

I have had a busy summer.  After Italy, we went to Margate for a few days and spent a lot of time with our grandchildren Harry, Olivia, Jack, Isaac and Oscar.  We spent a whole afternoon on the lovely sandy beaches and almost a whole day in the Dreamland theme park.  And, just last week, we had our youngest granddaughter Sophie over for the week.  On the Sunday, we went to the top of The Shard which is the tallest building in Europe.  On Monday, we went the the Warner Brothers Studio in Watford to visit the "Making of Harry Potter" exhibition.  It was completely brilliant and we enjoyed it as much as she did!  On Tuesday, we went to London Zoo.  Now I am none too keen on zoos but I must say they do very well there.  The animals have plenty of space and are really well-cared for and there is an ongoing conservation programme to enhance their futures.  It is also very educational and a truly lovely place to have a picnic lunch like we did and an ice cream for good measure!  On Wednesday afternoon we went to Wimbledon Theatre to see Madagascar - the Musical.
It was packed solid with families, some with quite young children.  And on Thursday, we went to the London Sealife Centre on the South Bank, which is, quite possibly, the biggest aquairium we have ever visited!  On Friday we took Sophie home and met up with her mum and we we all had lunch together, so as you can no doubt tell, it has been a busy couple of months!

We still have a few things lined up; some day trips, a couple of weekends away and  a holiday in Cornwall.  And somewhere along the line, we will be moving house.  We are going to view some places in a couple of weeks so keep your fingers crossed for us.  I will let you know how it goes.

So now you know what I have been up to, how about the Young Writers telling me what they've been up to all summer! 

Best wishes everyone - and check back every so often for further updates.

HI GUYS!!!

Hello everyone.  As promised here is a little update for you.  Firstly, we had THE most amazing week in Italy.  The weather was brilliant and we enjoyed a speed boat ride, a trip on a gondola and a water taxi ride.  We saw lots of beautiful scenery - the view from our balcony was breathtaking with mountains, mountains and more mountains.  We loved every moment of it. 

When we got back, I sent out certificates to all those members who could not make it on 2nd June and, hopefully, they have all reached their destinations.  And, as far as my own writing is concerned, I am in the process of finding another company to bring the Yucketypoo books back into print, so keep your fingers crossed for me.  I am also looking at a couple of other projects so I am not being idle.

As far as the move is concerned, well, as I said, we are waiting until after our youngest granddaughter comes to stay in July before kicking the move into the next gear, but we are busy packing up and sorting out and have lots of stuff for local charity shops, so we are getting there, slowly.

I hope you are all keeping well.  Please let me know how you are all getting on.
All the best.