Jellytastic and Strawblicious?

First-off, thank you to anyone reading this who has pre-ordered a copy of Blue Jelly and Strawberries. That’s what this blog post is about, really. That, and the weird limbo of pre-publishing, and the rollercoaster that is trying-to-get-published in the first place.

I am typing this as I wait for the printer to churn out another wodge of pages for Cornflakes and Gravy – my practice book baby, if you like. The Tiny Tears (gosh I’m old!) to my actual firstborn. I’ve got a school visit at the end of this week and need to take the usual clutch of copies to sell after school. I can’t wait until I can take (or even arrange to have sent!) some copies of Blue Jelly which have already been printed! The luxury! (I’m imagining this in a Yorkshire accent, don’t ask me why).

I got rather excited over the weekend as my book (still in its gestation period, due date 6/3/25) briefly got up as far as no.3 in the Amazon chart for Hot New Releases in Children’s Poetry. It’s a niche sector, and I suspect one doesn’t need to sell that many books to get into the top ten. But I was there with ACTUAL REAL AUTHORS whose names and book covers I recognised, and I got a proper thrill from it, so thank you to anyone who helped to get it there. (The no.50 spot in Hot New Releases: Children’s Books was even more short-lived, but who’s counting 😉.)

Important to mention at this point, that independent bookshops are always the best places to buy books, for SO many reasons. With any luck, libraries will choose to stock my book, too. I hope it finds its way into lots and lots of schools more than anything, but teachers who have read my article in the current issue of English 4-11 Magazine will know that I’d love it to be picked up for pleasure, rather for simile-spotting or general dissection, where possible.

The number of emails pinging between myself, the publisher, designer, publicist and so on, reassures me that Blue Jelly and Strawberries is Go! But, as I’ve written about before, I signed two small press poetry contracts early on which never materialised into books due to unfortunate closures. So, for now the strawberry bunting (yes!) and the strawberry-print shoes (oh yes!) remain in the back of the cupboard, but as the end of 2024 approaches, the excitement is beginning to rumble a little louder in my house.

Apologies if my excitement overwhelmed your social media feed over the weekend. It’s just a great feeling to have a big old ‘up’ on the publishing roller coaster and to know that this book is actually going to make it to shelves.

Happy reading, writing, and poeming,

Attie x

Blue Jelly and Strawberries Pre-order here:

Blue Jelly and Strawberries by Attie Lime, Kate Sheppard | Foyles

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Jelly-Strawberries-Tickle-Tastebuds

 https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/blue-jelly-and-strawberries-poems-to-tickle-your-tastebuds-attie-lime/7774671?ean=9781915659583

Cats, Balloons, and Bunyips

Probably what I get asked most often is "Where do you get your ideas from?" and it's not a straightforward answer. It could be a phrase I hear my 7yo say, or an everyday observation, or something creative is stirred by reading a poem by someone else, or by the rhythm/beat of something, or...or...

Occasionally, I can tell you precisely when and how the idea came about. My poem The Balloon, published in the Toys edition of The Toy Magazine, began with a real pink balloon spotted on the school run. I took a quick snap of it on my phone because it was such a striking image. The poem came quickly - one of those rare 'it wrote itself' kinds.

One of my first published poems, What the Cat Knows, published on The Dirigible Balloon website, and in their first charity anthology, Chasing Clouds, came about after locking eyes with my cat through the kitchen window. It got me thinking about what he might be thinking, and a story grew from there, becoming my poem about a broken vase and who might be to blame.

I've been talking in schools (and to the Women's Institute!) lately about writing for the Macmillan anthologies Heroes and Villains and Gods and Monsters. When the opportunity arose to write poems to submit to G&M, I had no poems already written on myths, and very little decent knowledge of anything mythological. That was a very different kind of poetry-writing altogether. I squirrelled myself away and studied: researching, discovering, learning, and only then actually writing. Two of the five poems I submitted were accepted, AND now I know more about myths than I did before. Win-win.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Happy reading, writing, and poeming,

Attie x

Pirate Poems Ahoy!

I spent last Saturday morning in a tent, dressed as a pirate, talking to children about treasure (and dinosaurs in pyjamas).

I've been lucky enough to work at several festivals now, and this was a special one - a free city-centre event with a swashbuckling pirate theme! Special also, because I was invited after a recommendation following a festival appearance elsewhere, earlier in the year.

I was one of the 'artists' in the story tent. My sessions involved sharing poems, then exploring the imaginative opportunities provided by a treasure chest stuffed full of curious delights. There were diamonds, emeralds, shells, gold coins, buttons, a colourful scarf, a wooden goblet, jewellery, a bone, a feather, a crab claw, and more...

The children at my first session were quite taken in by my joining-in poems, and giggled wonderfully as I read (I could have gone home right then and felt happy that I had spread some poetry love!). My son said how much he enjoyed hearing them tell me the poems were "really good!". After plenty of hands-on time with the treasure, they chose to write their own poems, using the word board to help them, plus chat with me and each other along the way. They were determined to fill up the paper, coming up with idea after idea. I asked questions to get them thinking, and they explored their thoughts verbally before writing them down. I wish I had taken photos of their brilliant poems.

There were more children for the second session, mostly very young. Unlike at a school visit, there's no knowing what age of children you'll get at something like this. They listened to some piratey poems, and joined in, but what they really wanted was to open the treasure chest they had spotted on the floor! So, I cut the performance element short and we dived in. What joy! Excited hands and faces and chatter.

A cowrie shell was passed around to hear the sea, and described as feeling "like a welly boot", with an underside "bumpier than a crocodile". We talked about birds and bones and crabs. We talked about sails and jewels and sea glass, and keys to pirate worlds! We talked about rum and poison, and pretended to pour pirate wine into a magical goblet. There was no real need to put any of this on paper, but they wanted to, and asked to write a poem each. And this is where the real joy of the morning happened for me: a girl with loads of bright, articulate speech, oozing ideas, but pre-writing. She carefully wrote three or four full lines of zigzag 'writing' (imagine those fine motor control sheets used for practice, with the zigzags to trace over), talking to herself as she did it, and telling me everything she had written, afterwards. Her dad poked his head into tent. "She's working so hard!" I said - she proudly held up her poem and he responded with a perfect "Will you read it to me when we get home?". Just magic.

And of course, there was Marjorie, who thoroughly enjoyed her role as Pirate's Parrot (and got plenty of tummy tickles from the children, as usual).

But the joy for me was those children - all of them - their sense of wonder and imagination. And all of that rich, wonderful, free-flowing TALK. What a privilege to be in a tent, dressed as a pirate, to experience that.