Bringing art and science together is fun. The Elemons project is looking for students from UK primary and secondary schools to submit their versions of what an element of the periodic table might look like.

Participate through your schools and submit your ideas to win.

What you need to do:

1. Draw what you think an element from the Periodic Table would look like as a character with a personality. From gloomy to fun and exciting. You choose.
2. Tell us why you chose this look. Hint: Research the element. Example: Is it toxic (dangerous) or inert (friendly). You decide. Make it colourful and consider what happens to it colours when it burns in various different gases like oxygen.
3. Name your creature. The ending of the name must include the suffix ‘-mon’.

Winning submissions will be transformed into a character card with your name as owner of the image.

Here’s one illustrated by Josh for the STATE MODE Battle Game:

Our reason: Helium is a light gas which makes us high pitched if we breath it in. So we decided on a round figured character with a fun personality that reflects what we think helium would look like as an Elemon. We named him Helimon.

Inside every Starter Deck is a Helimon collectible character card (along with Natrimon and Oxymon!):

The winners will get their illustration converted into a character card within the STATE MODE battle game. Your name will be a collectable card within our packs. There are 101 elements that need to come to life. Can you help?

The winners’ entire class will receive both the first book in the Elemons Quest series as well as a Starter Deck each! Including your teacher. All signed and delivered to your school.

Begin this adventure by submitting your illustrations onto the Elemons twitter handle #elemonsgame.

Deadline is June 1 2016.  Further information will be released soon….

Judges will be announced too. If you are a teacher and would like to be a judge please tweet us @elemons1000.

Good luck!

The lovely Nicole Wilson has challenged me to submit 7 sentences from my 7th page after the 7th line of my work-in-progress manuscript.

Here we go….

I laid horizontal on my side. The first sense of soft, cool, comfort took me away from my problems. As I tried to turn myself on my back, I froze, complete agony instantly reminded me of them again. My back, muscles and skin sizzled with so much pain.

“Stay there and don’t move,” ordered Matron Agatha seeing me wince. “You’ve scraped your back almost clean off. What have you been doing? No! Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.” Except she did know, and I knew she knew what I got up to, what I always got up to.

There it is. Sebastian is having a tough time already.

This is it. I have finally entered the submission stage of traditional publishing. To note, this is where you cosy up to your laptop a little more preferably with a cuppa and get to know agents through their agency site and social media if they are on there.

At this luxurious, naive stage of submission I get to choose which agent has the opportunity to read my work first.  Ah yes, the opportunity indeed.

What I realised very quickly is that there are very few agents in the UK that accept children’s manuscripts.  At least in comparison to the US. So I have begun working through a few at a time. Well one at a time to be precise.  So it has started off slow.

However, 3 weeks later my first ever submission has a response.  Only the next best thing to meeting an agent….a request to see the FULL manuscript! First time lucky indeed. Had I mastered it all already? With just one submission?  Don’t be silly.

What it did tell me though was that my query was good enough for an intrigue. That much at least. Now it was time to test the manuscript. And tested it was. Approximately 2 weeks after I sent the full manuscript the reality came home. No representation so this was my first rejection. Insert sad face here.

However, the feedback I was given was to strengthen my writing. Which I wouldn’t have known if I had a standard rejection. So am very grateful for this first step into the traditional publishing route.

Ah well, I was still riding the high of first submission success that I started pursuing other agents. And at this stage still no request for full manuscript a month and 11 agents later.

So here I am again. Thinking, trying and working at building the Elemons series. The first book ‘Noble Beginnings’ is still available for offering (if anyone is interested!). Hoping it soars soon as much as my ambitions do!

I am at that point where I hold my destiny in my hands.  Isn’t it always the case for us all. It just feels more real when you can see the path you want to tread so clearly ahead of you.

After all it’s only a few steps away:

Step 1 – Write first draft of a novel

Step 2 – Edit it to perfection

Step 3 – Beta Readers

Step 4 – Repeat Step 2

Step 5 – Submit

Step 6 – Repeat

That’s the basic formula for my publishing journey.  I find myself in between step 2 and 3.  The path is clear to get to that submission stage and I am at that point where I haven’t quite reached ‘the point of No Return’ so am still at the precarious self-sabotage stage of throwing away all that hard work thus far.  But the excitement within me to create a book – my first book – can’t be ignored.  So I turn to my blog to reflect my journey and to glean some much needed motivational energy from the ethereal online world.

I can never forget the feeling of holding that physical manifestation of an idea in my hand. I remember it most strongly with my card games.  Like giving birth – seriously, and I’ve done this twice – an idea that started in my head can magically appear in my hand is truly miraculous.  All the hard work that went to making it happen – like birth pain – goes away and in its place only love and joy for the thing that came forth from my head.  I will stop with the birth analogy for now it was weird to begin with but I’m sure the point is now understood.

So it is this feeling of knowing how wonderful it will be once I complete this journey and adopt it as my forever ‘thing’ that I want to maintain and keep creating those wonderful ideas in my head to hopefully share with others – that is what is keeping me going.

I therefore cannot wait to get to Step 5 and press that submit button.  However long it will take.

 

 

While I am on a euphoric plateau, I want to pen down my reflections on participating in the April 2015 Camp NaNoWriMo.  The CampNaNoWriMo is more of a baby sister or brother to its November counterpart.  So a perfect and gentle way to ease myself into the world of professional writing by being a participant in it.   If you don’t know anything about Camp NaNoWriMo (and I happened to stumble upon it by chance) see this link.

The advantages for me (of many) include:

1.  I can set my own writing goals.  Whilst 50,000 word count is the bare minimum for a novel by most publishing standards, the children’s MG genre is more towards the 20k to 40k word count.  So I skewed towards the median 30k at first then I realised the book was nearly completed and brought it down to 25k word count.  Realistic for me.

2.  It’s flexible.  As I said you can change the word count up to 10 days before competition finishes.

3.  I felt part of a live community, if somewhat an inactive one at the start.  My first cabin had zero interaction so I changed it to another one more in line with Scifi genre.   Much more lively and motivating so even if you are allocated a cabin (which consists of up to 11 writers) you can still find something that suits.

4.  I learnt more about my characters and looked at my novel from different perspectives whilst also receiving great tips periodically by the organisers network of professional authors.

5.  Involved myself in my first live writing sit-in via Youtube link.  Wonderful to see the level of enthusiasm and comradeship.

So my baby learning steps all lead me to this point.  Achieving my 25k milestone surrounding myself with positive energy to get here.  Hooray!

Now what?

This is where the fun starts.  I ended my writing on a high…high action that is.  So with that I continue onward with the re-writing and re-writing.

Each chapter will be meticulously scrutinised and rewritten with intentional perfection. I hope!

I have been advised to leave it and come back to it in 6 months.  But I still have some writing in me and I will continue with the writing for now.  Plus there is a competition I aim to submit to in 3 weeks time.  They want a polished manuscript and it is all hands on deck for now to ensure that the adventure is as exciting and riveting on paper as it is in my head.

You are very lucky. Unless you are like me. Raw and disliked. I stopped liking myself when they told me who I was.

Since then, I started hearing their voices echoing in my mind repeating their dislike of my existence. I live with it, somehow. But today I decided to change that. It was all going to stop. I wasn’t worth the trouble I was giving myself. I stood at a cross junction. It was rush hour. Lot’s of cars but not much speed. I crossed myself to the other side.

Shoved about the crowd like a pinball I zigzagged to the bridge over the train tracks. Trains were not fast below here either as they approached the station. It wouldn’t be clean. No guarantees. Too much of an inconvenience too.
Onward and by now I was walking against the commuting crowds. Not seen. Why should they, not even I can see myself anymore.

I entered a park. It was small and deserted. I walked myself to the furthest bench under a large tree hiding my lonely existence beneath its weeping branches. A small bird flew down not a few yards in front of me. Its hopeful gaze for a crumb on its delicate face. I had something. A sandwich I had made this morning in case I lasted until lunch.

It hopped in anticipation for a reward just for existing. Just for trying its luck with a stranger. I scattered some crumbs for its efforts and for any of its friends that should be lucky to be acquainted with it.

My existence was useful to this hopeful robin. That made something sparkle inside of me. A small seed of light nestled inside of me. A foreign welcoming feeling. Soon overtaken by a heaviness in the throat followed by a tear down my cheek.
Sorrowful tears dared to show themselves sliding down my face putting out my sparkle. I barely held onto it and it was gone again.

It flew away leaving me dry and alone again.

Another presence was felt in the park. A kindly grandfather figure walked in, aided by a walking stick. Time for me to leave.

I smiled at him and his sparkly eyes returned it back. I caught the sparkle this time and felt it grow lovingly inside of me again. It lasted a little longer. I heard my dull footsteps for the first time this morning. The sparkle had been trodden upon.

I had to find more sparkly moments. It wasn’t long before I found them in the laughter of a baby pushed along in a pram as I pulled a contorted face only babes would understand or the kind appreciation of a held door for someone.

I kept walking feeding this energy that began to grow exponentially and stuck with me like a swan’s mate. Forever, I hoped. It was worth keeping my existence going just for that. For others. Maybe one day for myself too.

[The above is a 500 word story, a step towards my million word journey.]

 

For over 9 years now I have been working on and off on a simple project.  I called it ‘Top Careers in Science’.   It started with an idea and just grew organically with little marketing and many phone calls.  Some may wince at the thought of cold-calls but the project had to come to life somehow.

It was after the fourth call that my hands stopped shaking nervously.  I started just talking from the heart.  A project to promote science careers for children in secondary schools.  I had only an idea and many encouraging colleagues.  No money, no artistic ability, no experience.  Only a science teaching qualification and an NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) status with a brilliant idea!

A trump-style game with a twist.  Depict a range of science careers with their corresponding skills score that was supported by a relevant umbrella organisation.  It worked!  Sponsors started to pour in one by one.

You never forget your first sponsor!

Boots were our first sponsor.  But it was the kind patient way that Boots dealt with me that turned things around for the project.  The questions that Ms Woolley asked me back in 2005/6 was the basis of a project proposal.  The project proposal was redesigned to make it look professional by a talented graduate.  And off we went with it.  Sending it out to many companies.  Eventually achieving and stopping at our target of £14,000.  We could have gone on but decided instead to get it done ahead of schedule.

In my hands at last!

Six months on and I was holding the first pack!  Manufactured in the United Kingdom.

It was cellophane wrapped and I have the final one at hand with me all the time.  They were eventually all distributed to schools (except the one I have with me).  Half for free half sold to sustain the project.  Although I had underestimated costs so we approached retailers thinking it was enough to go mainstream.  I was wrong.

Top Careers at the Science Museum

It was the buyers at the Science Museum that gave us the advice to create the Top Careers in Maths and Top Careers in Engineering as well.  So back to the drawing board.  This time with a new proposal.  Two years and £21,000 additional sponsorship later they were created.  And true to word the Science Museum took the new games onto the shop sales floor….twice.

 

Hooray! Now what?

Was I losing sight of the big picture with these great milestones achieved?  The big picture was to increase awareness of the variety of careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).  So the games needed to be tested with students and teachers.  With the help of Dr David Smith from Brunel University a science paper was co-published with me following some research into both our card games in schools.  The results were good but there was room for improvement.  The report can be found here.

Teachers and older pupils needed a resource that complemented the National Curriculum (NC) directly.  Another lucky twist came into place.

Making a dream come true

Well sort of.  One of our customers became a designer of a complementary board game resource.  She submitted a crude version of it and showed how the Top Career cards could be used directly complementing the NC.

I had no funds, but I loved her idea.  And somehow I had to make it happen.  It took literally years but we did it with the help of just 3 sponsors.  Minimum cost of just £7k we managed it.

 

And so with the motivation of Science Week ahead of us next month I hope the condensed adventure of bringing a novel idea to life will keep the project sustained.

Top Sellers!

Please support our science games through social media, sponsoring, and obtaining the games directly from our distributor where they are STILL best sellers at Prospect Education Resources. 

In the mean time, my adventures of turning science concepts into games hasn’t stopped there….with my colleague and illustrator, Josh, we are working on another ambitious project…bringing the elements of the Periodic Table to life as Elemons….

In a world where it really is taboo to be seen as defending the existence of God I’m going to go ahead anyway.  Although no defense is really needed but for the interest of this blog ergo improving my writing I shall give it a stab (oops another cliché. I am certain that clichés will be replaced with wittier lines as I close in on the million word mark – see previous post).

So what happens when someone, deemed an intellectual, contests provocatively the existence of God?  Of course that someone, in the public eye, will have more than some sway and influence within society and will create a spectrum of emotion amongst the masses.  Of course they will be aware of the power words have and how they will be held by their audience.  And of course I am referencing Mr Fry’s attempt to discount the existence of God with his one simple line “Bone cancer, what is that about?”  Which is said with so much concern that one is to believe Mr Fry must be more compassionate than God!  Ironically I do wonder if Mr Fry ever thought about where compassion and love comes from within humans.  It certainly not something science can explain conclusively.

Nevertheless it is a serious question that is brought forth.  Mr Fry is demonstrating his concern for children must be greater than God’s concern for these same children who seem to be forsaken by Him, if he exists hypothetically.  How dare God even bring such a disease or any disease for that matter to the world?  For surely we are inherently good, all of us – or most of us – that don’t deserve to be thrown into the pit like this.  A world peppered with murder and hate.  Let’s ignore the fact that many of us experience love, joy and laughter in our lives too.  No – Mr Fry is challenging the logic of those who believe in God to answer this question. “Bone cancer in children.  What’s that about?”

Unlike Mr Fry, I believe that all diseases and disasters are both directly and indirectly a consequence of mankind’s actions.  Whether it’s pollution in the air, chemical in the food to ignoring the plight of our poor neighbours; consequences happen as a result of distorting and/or ignoring the natural harmony of life around us and within us.  Call it an absence of good since evil doesn’t really exist like darkness is an absence of light.

Some consequences we can explain easily others not so.  Adults have a responsibility, if not for ourselves, for our children’s sake and the generations to come to continue endeavouring to search, learn and apply methods and cures that are available to use (how convenient for us) for all our self-inflicted problems and disasters.

But what is most interesting is listening to Mr Fry’s last statement.  He believes that only in dismissing the God figure does he find peace.   Yet bone cancer in children still exists.  Suffering still exists but apparently it is through disbelief in God that peace is attained.  Yet if God does exist then even the dismissal of God by the individual will surely have its own natural consequences.  So too is eating an extra slice of cake….

Got to start some where…so why not begin with a cliche.  To be honest I don’t know where my ramblings will lead to and for the first time I am glad not to know. I have been planning and acting on those plans for many years with many expectations along the way.  Amazing journeys in themselves but not always working out to plan, which is a good thing isn’t it?  I think so at least.  Well I do now;  “Weren’t meant to be”, “all for the best”…blah blah… yep wise old sayings are wise for a reason.

But if I was to really think about my real motivation to start this blog is this…about a year or so ago I sat at a presentation by Eela Devani from Bloomsbury Publishing who said something along the lines that the first 1 million words you write are crap.  I’m not quoting her that’s just how my brain registered that piece of nugget.  Although she isn’t the first to say this, it was the first time I had heard it quantified.  Numbers stick and a million is a nice number that stuck.  So here I go….. 188 (public) words down.