hi, fish 'n' chippers!

John Parker here, back from a great week in Southland, visiting schools and teachers and classes. Having lived in Riverton for a while, it was very satisfying to return to this wonderful part of the country.

That title? As I said when I was talking to you, fish 'n' chips go together very well - and so do reading 'n' writing. I've not yet met a good writer who's not also a good reader. So get stuck in and start reading! A reading habit will reward you so much in terms of teaching you about yourself and other people, about feelings and situations and cultures and just about everything on Planet Earth - and beyond. Plus, of course, you develop a sense of language: the sentence, the look and sound of a word, fullstops and commas and semi-colons and apostrophes, paragraphing, sequence, the relationship between illustrations and the text - and so on!

So how about doing your literary fish 'n' chips on a daily basis. And if you've not yet discovered an author you want to read, ask the librarians, or your friends, or just keep looking. I think everyone has an author/book dying to meet you and get acquainted.

I think it's really important, when you're writing to 'own' your topic. That means knowing about it or feeling quite strongly about it so that you can write with confidence, with plenty of things to say about the topic - and also with the confidence to write exactly about that topic with well-chosen words.

And it's very important, too, to list or note down the things you would like to write about. They'll probably be under your nose: the food you like best, the footy try you scored, the great way you beat goal defence to give your tean the victory, your cat's favourite sleeping-place. Or you might like to write to your local newspaper about something that's bothering you and that you want the council to fix. There are many ways of writing creatively.

Lastly, let your writing simmer. If you rush it your subconscious won't have a chance to bubble up with ways of improving your writing. So keep on drafting!

I look forward to hearing about your writing - and your reading.

All the best

John Parker