A Newsletter from Robyn Opie

Robyn Opie 是澳大利亞一位兒童文學作家，她出版過61本兒童書籍。我在她的網站注冊，下麵是我受到的她的第一封newsletter。


Hi FengPing,

Welcome to the first edition of Robyn Writes. Thank you for sharing the joys of writing with me. It's a privilege and an honour to be writing to you now.

You'll notice above that this newsletter is dedicated to Iqbal Masih. Recently I wrote a non-fiction children's book called Child Heroes. The original idea was to include three child heroes. The second story was about Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani boy sold into child slavery. After receiving my manuscript, the publisher (Era Publications) decided to change the book to be wholly Iqbal's story. That's how Iqbal affects people.

When Iqbal was five years old, he started work in a carpet factory to help his poor family. When his mother needed an operation, Iqbal became a debt slave. He had to work until the enormous debt was paid off.

Iqbal spent fourteen hours a day crouched over a carpet loom. He was often chained up and beaten. He usually went without food and rarely had a day off. At the age of ten, Iqbal ran away. He learned about his rights and spent the rest of his life freeing children from slavery. He spread his message around the world and was shot while riding his bike on Easter Sunday in 1995. His murder is a mystery, at least to the local authorities. The carpet factory owners may have silenced Iqbal - they threatened him regularly - but they couldn't stop his work. Other children have taken up his cause. Free the Children is one such organisation. You can learn more about them by visiting http://www.freethechildren.com.

My book Child Heroes is scheduled for release in Australia and the US in April 2007. I, also, want Iqbal's work to continue. He was a beautiful boy with a tragic life. He will be in my heart forever.

This first newsletter is largely an introduction. As you probably know, I'm the author of 61 children's books. I have 10 titles scheduled for release in 2007. I've also written 3 e-books on writing.

When I was fifteen, my English teacher told me that I should be a writer. It was a defining moment. It hadn't occurred to me until then. I went home and wrote my first novel.

After leaving school, I was distracted by the usual things - work, relationships, fun etc. Six years later, I got married and started writing again.

I'm embarrassed by my first submissions to publishers, mainly because I had no clue about writing children's books. I hadn't taken the time to learn about the genre. Honestly, I didn't know that there was anything to learn. I thought you just sat down and
wrote a story.

I sent publishers a picture book of 2,500 words. No wonder it was rejected. Picture books are always less than 1,000 words, preferably around 500 to 700. Oops!

I spent years reading every book on writing for children that I could lay my hands on. I did courses. I joined writers' groups. And I wrote as often as possible. I call this time my apprenticeship.

Five years on, after seriously working to be published, I got my first books accepted. They were released in 1999.

Back then, I was working full time. Then I went to part time work. And now I'm working full time on writing. It's a progression.

About half of my income comes from royalties. I supplement it with author visits to schools, writing courses and workshops and ELR (Educational Lending Rights). At this time, the Australian Government compensates authors for books in school libraries.

Through this newsletter, I hope to share information about how you can earn money from writing. And yes, we'll cover writing tips. I'm happy to feature a question and answer section. But we'll go beyond the mechanics of good writing, which are discussed in great detail in my e-books How to Write a Great Children's Book and How to Write a Great Picture Book. (See below for more info!)

As I mentioned above, it's vital to understand the genre of children's books. If you don't understand the industry, you're setting yourself up to fail. As I did when I first started writing for children.

I can write full time now because I have 61 published books. It adds up. But how did I get there? It's a journey. I believe this information is just as important as the skills and knowledge needed to be a writer of children's books.

Another thing I want to explain in this initial newsletter is that I've wanted to correspond with you for a long time. I'll admit, though, that I'm obsessed with writing and couldn't find enough hours in the day for newsletters and my websites. This is where Rob Parnell from the Easy Way to Write comes in. He offered to help me. He offered to be my editor and share the workload.

Rob is a generous spirit when it comes to helping writers - and in many other ways. So we've joined forces to bring you information on writing, writing children's books and generally living the life of a writer.

Thank you, Rob.

Please don't hesitate to contact Rob or myself. Our contact details appear at the end of this newsletter.