Meeting Kyle Mewburn

The Crafty Crew were lucky enough to get to meet and talk with award-winning NZ author Kyle Mewburn after he spoke with the whole junior school.  

Here are some of our thoughts after his visit.....

Meeting Kyle was fun because he showed us some other books that weren't out yet  (Mac)

Meeting Kyle was awesome because we got to hear his first published books (Jessica)

Meeting Kyle was interesting because he told us all about being an author (Autumn)

Meeting Kyle was a great experience because it's not every day you get to meet a writer (Lachlan)

Meeting Kyle was interesting because he was really funny in person like he is in his books (Sam)

Meeting Kyle was totally cool because I was actually face-to-face with an author (Milz)

Kyle autographs some of his books for us

 

Kyle presents Andrea, our librarian, with a copy of the 3rd book in his Dinosaur series.  Lawrence Area School is the first school to have a copy of this book as it isn't available to buy yet!!!!!

Kyle inspires the Crafty Crew

This is the book that Kyle had to re-write 14 times before it got published!!!!!

 

 

The Crafty Crew soak up all of Kyle's writing tips and hints

The Phantom Tollbooth is Kyle's first favourite chapter book from his childhood.  This is the book that motivated him to be a writer.

After the Crafty Crew left, Kyle signed and commented on every book that he has written that we have in our school library.  So come on in and check out his comments!

Something interesting that I found out was

He started out writing adult books and only found he was good at picture books by chance (Lachlan)

He got one of his ideas while digging a hole! (Autumn)

He has 40 books already published (Lochie)

That he writes every day (Rylee)

That publishers can sometimes let down authors (Jessica)

Even if you send two books to a publisher you would be lucky to get two accepted (Sam)

Some books are quick to write, for example only taking a couple of hours, while others can take up to 2 years to finish!

Authors don't get to choose who illustrates their books.

You don't have to go to university or do a course to be a successful author.

That Kyle loves writing because he can do it in his pyjamas!

It is about one and a half years after Kyle has written a book that it is published.

The best piece of advice that Kyle gave us was

Keep practising and use more detail (Mac)

We can make our stories better by re-writing (Jessica)

Don't give up writing if you don't get your first book published (Lochie)

To keep writing  (Keegan)

That even if we were turned down by a publisher, don't give up (Rylee)

To think about what the character was feeling before writing (Milz)

Don't give up - writing is hard work!

You have to finish a story and show it to someone for advice.  They might not always be right but listen to their advice.

Writers should try new things.

Keep writing what you like.

Something that you may not know is:

When he was young his family didn't own any books (Sam)

Kyle wrote one of his books 14 times before it was published!  (Rylee)

Kyle is in a FaBo challenge online - check it out at http://www.fabostory2.blogspot.com/  (Mac)

That Kyle Mewburn is very funny (Keegan)

That Kyle doesn't like all of his books (Milz)

He writes for 4-6 hours each day (Lochie)

Kyle has sold 30,000 copies of Kiss, Kiss, Yuck, Yuck!

Kyle built his own house at Millers Flat.

Old Huhu took 2 years to write and 9 months to illustrate.

It is not easy to make a living as an author.  Writers have to work hard to make money from writing.

If Kyle wasn't an author he would like to be a bloodthirsty pirate!

Crafty Crew listen intently to Kyle's words of wisdom

Kyle explains how the illustrator came up with the pictures for Old Huhu

Kyle shows us how the illustrations and cover page of picture books can change from their original design to the published format

This book took two years and one day to write and 9 months to illustrate!  Kyle shows us the original cover beside the published version of Old Huhu