An Awfully Big Blog Adventure Online Lit Fest Day 2

I hope you all read my post yesterday about An Awfully Big Blog Adventure's first ever Online Literary Festival, taking place this weekend. The first day, yesterday, was absolutely amazing. There were some really great blog posts, or 'events', run by the authors, including a look at the issue of author blogging, the addictive nature of writing, and how helpful it can be to be part of a writers group or society such as the 'other' SAS - the Scattered Authors Society. There were a whole host of competitions to win book for all ages (I entered quite a few!) and it wasn't all about reading either; some authors chose to make videos for us. Oh yes!

So, today is day 2 of this awesome festival. Unfortunately I won't be able to stay for the whole thing... but that is the other awesome aspect of this amazing online literary festival. All the posts are still be available to see after the event has ended (yes, that does include the competitions!). The vibe isn't quite the same as a new event every 30 minutes (I was exhausted yesterday, it was lovely to comment and live tweet, and even from home it had a real buzz about it), but it does mean that no one has to miss out. So, if you didn't 'attend' yesterday, you can still check back on all of yesterday's events.

So, here's to another fun day. Hats off to An Awfully Big Blog Adventure for this awesome festival. I'll be attending the evening events, so I hope to see you all there! Get the kids and the family ready for a 10:30 am start, a day of literary fun awaits!

An Awfully Big Blog Adventure Hosts First Ever Online Lit Fest

It is an exciting weekend for children, parents, authors, bloggers and the publishing industry! That's because this weekend, the 9th and 10th July,  An Awfully Big Blog Adventure are hosting the first ever online literary festival.

To coincide with the blog's third birthday, they have created this incredible idea.  The online festival has been organised by a range of wonderful children's authors, and will be the first of its kind. Every half an hour will see a contribution from an author, and the line-up includes a range of subjects, from blogging, to tips on writing, and insights into some of the inspiration and origins for their own incredible work.

In addition, there are some awesome competitions, including book giveaways and, for you aspiring writers, the chance to win a critique!

Wisher and the Runaway Piglet by Georgie Adams

Wisher and the Runaway Piglet is the first book in The Railway Rabbits series written by Georgie Adams and published by Orion Children's Books. It is a lovely tale and great for children and after reading it I would very much like to read the rest of the series. It will be released on 21st October 2010.

The series the tale of the Longears family, a family of Rabbits living near a Railway station in The River Ripple Valley. In this first book in the series we meet Barley Longears, his wife Mellow Longears and their new family of bucks and does, Bramble, Bracken, Berry, Fern and Wisher, who will become the main protagonist in the adventures that occur in this book. We also meet their neighbours, including Blinker Badger, Sylvia Squirrel, Parsley the Mole, Burdock the Buzzard and the dreaded Red Dragon!

The language is well-developed, colourful and descriptive and, accompanied with a few well-placed illustrations, makes the story very easy to visualise. The chapters are kept short, very much in the style of short stories, which means the plot moves along quickly, keeping the reader interested, which is of course especially important for children. It is an easy book to read from start to finish, and then want to read all over again, but the short chapters also mean that a parent using this as a bed-time story can easily find places to break off.