Category Archives: Reading
Undertow
Undertow began on a blistering August day on the cliffs above Loe Bar in Cornwall, notorious for its riptides and dangerous currents. But as summer turned to bleak midwinter, and I watched a friend dragged down by the weight of … Continue reading
Posted in Reading, Teen, Uncategorized
Tagged Cornwall, du Maurier, Eden, Joanna Nadin, Paradise, Undertow
3 Comments
Boys. And books. And boys in books.
Like my alter ego Rachel in My (not so) Simple Life, as a teenager I fell in love frequently, swiftly and with absolute conviction. Unlike Rachel, I never had to swear off boys and their complications and contradictions, or … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Reading, Teen, Uncategorized
Tagged Adele Parks, Cathy Kelly, Dyan Sheldon, first love, KM Peyton, Pennington, Rachel Riley, Sarah Webb, YA romance
2 Comments
Trapped wind (or is it a novel?)
I hate it. I can see it in their cheap-Chardonnay-dilated eyes when I’m introduced at parties or pubs or political drinks things. “A writer, really? I’ve always thought I had a novel in me.” “Gosh I say, smiling. Well you … Continue reading
Writer’s block (or not)
Amongst the questions I am most often asked by journalists and small children (along with “Do you like Eastenders, miss?” and “Can I be in a book, miss?” and once “Was you in Les Miserables, miss?”) is the million-dollar “What … Continue reading
Dedication’s what you need… (and a clicker, apparently)
So, got up, ate porridge, corralled angry small menace into school uniform (disappointment at having to go to school dressed as schoolgirl, not Katherine Parr, due to Ofsted swooping in and causing cancellation of World Book Day), set new world … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Reading, Teen
Tagged Bath, Combe Down, Guinness World Record, Joanna Nadin, KES, Penny Dreadful, Usborne
4 Comments
The Life of Riley
I never wanted to be a writer when I grew up. That is to say, it didn’t occur to me that writing was a “real” job, much less one that I would be capable of, or derive enjoyment from, my … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Reading, Teen
Tagged Dirty Dancing, Enid Blyton, Famous Five, Fiction, Heidi, Joanna Nadin, My So-Called Life, Rachel Riley, writing
1 Comment
Joanna Nadin is a Record Breaker (potentially)
I have never been a high achiever. Until I started writing (thanks to Penny Dreadful, Solomon Smee and Maisie Morris), the only two things I had won were a Toners hair dye from Jackie magazine in 1982 and the umbrella … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Reading
Tagged Bath, Guinness World Record, Joanna Nadin, Penny Dreadful, Usborne
1 Comment
Funny ha ha
In need of a laugh? I certainly am, having spent the morning embroiled in the Francis Report and my own medical disaster i.e. a menace with flu. Then click on this link for my top ten funny reads for 5-8s… … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Reading
Tagged Andy Stanton, Dr Seuss, Joan Aiken, Lauren Child, My Naughty Little Sister, Philip Ardagh, Professor Branestawm, Russell Hoban
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Me, Rachel Riley
One of the most-oft asked questions of writers is: “Is the book autobiographical?” Or “Is there any of you in there?” The easy answer is that every book contains a little of its author: these are, after all, words we … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Reading, Teen
Tagged My So-Called Life, Rachel Riley, Saffron Walden
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Joanna Nadin 