MERMAID SUMMER acquired by IFWG Publishing

Here's the official Announcement

I'm so happy to tell you that this lovely independent press, international but based in Australia, is going to publish my middle grade fiction in paperback and e-book. MERMAID SUMMER will be available sometime in Q4 of 2026. 

I'm so excited, and have started working on the next book and a screenplay based on the book too. 

I love being able to say "My publisher..." 

Do check out some of the other amazing books, including graphic novels, that this press puts out. 

https://ifwgpublishing.com/

Mermaid Summer - the Pitch

"Eleven year old Jenna Hanson is frustrated with having to start all over yet again in yet another new place. Hopefully someone in this little crowd of local girls will accept her. Then Jenna meets an orphan mermaid, living in secret, and she learns what it means to be truly lonely. When the mermaid is in real danger, to save her new friend, Jenna has to do two things she never thought she would - break a pinky promise and lead a team."

Middle Grade Contemporary Fantasy

Currently seeking representation.

The Tortoise and the Hare

 

Remember the old fable of the tortoise and the hare? I do from my childhood, and I also remember a frenetic animated version of it.

As the story goes, when the race started the tortoise set off and plodded along steadily while the hare played around in the erroneous belief that it was fast enough to make up the difference and win no matter what. In the end the tortoise was ahead at the finish line, the hare couldn’t catch up, and the moral of the story is, as the saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race”.

I think now as I thought then as a child - it wasn't that the tortoise won the race. It was that the hare in its arrogance lost it.

Had the hare employed the same attitude of going forward step-by-step at its own best pace, it would have won that race, probably by a mile.

The truth is both could have completed the course in their own best times and been satisfied with their own consistent efforts - because the fallacy of the story is that life is a race at all.

But what if each had carried the other at different times, so they arrived at the same time? 

They might have gone even further along the road together.

Mermaid Summer update.

 I've been working on Mermaid Summer.

It seems middle grade fantasy works better in first person in the present. So that has been the change to the existing scenes. Now it's time to turn my attention to the "muddy middle". 

I have a fairly high action climax with running about in mazelike environments and some real danger. The important thing - one important thing - is the kid's lib aspect. The protagonist has to be active and deserted by their adults, even if those are well meaning and don't know their daughter is in peril - it's important the kids rescue themselves as much as possible. 

My Women in Media writers' group has been super helpful, like always, with useful notes and feedback. But you know, there is a lot of validation too in the enjoyment the ladies seem to be getting from this. My eventual plan is still to consider this IP and write a family movie script out of it, that I hope will become a franchise. 

Here's my sketch of Lira.

Excerpt:

I’m still a bit shivery as I sit on the rock ledge and check my stuff. The first thing I do is pull out my towel to get a little warmer. The sun will have to get higher to get over the trees. I wonder if Lira’s scaly tail will transform out of the water.  

“What?” Lira asks. I must have been staring. So I ask her, “How long can you stay out of the water?”

Lira thinks it over for a moment. “I’m not sure. I’ve never tested it, but if I dry out I’ll die.” Then she scoops up some lake water with her tail flukes, which are able to move independently, and splashes it over herself. Lira wants to know how I came to be living here, so I give her the quick life story. It could not possibly be as interesting as Lira’s life. But Lira is amazed to hear that I have lived by and even swum in the ocean, saying it’s “like a dream.”

I changed my mind. I will keep posting here.

Here's Virgo the studio cat helping me with my recent art commission. 

Nothing to do with writing.

 

Whether I end up changing the url or not, I AM going to keep posting about my writing here. 

It will probably be intermittent, but there will be some accountability if I keep the blog going. 

Here's what I'm actively writing at the moment. I intend to finish these three pieces before the holiday season starts. 

1/Authorized Personnel Only short film script 

2/ Mermaid Summer middle grade fiction

3/ Non-fiction - What your Grantwriter needs to Know - this will be a booklet/PDF for my non-profit and business clients. 

Next:

1/ Non-fiction - researching for Shurlock Says No - a biography of the last censor. 

2/ The Walker - sci-fi

3/ Spinning Wheel - fantasy

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This will be the last post on this neglected blog

 

...before I essentially close it down. I need my custom URL for something better. 

I've grabbed all the posts that have actual content rather than being announcements.

It's pretty sobering to see the projects abandoned (many with great ideas), the issues of time management and motivation that I still struggle with, and the sad realization that hardly anyone read any of this in the past, and certainly no-one reads it now. 

Yes, yes, I know - "consistency and nurture your email list".

So much of this was from before social media took over most of people's reading time. 

And yet there is one obscure little paragraph from 2011 in there that asks where do I want to be in 10 years time. I'm coming back a little late, but hey nobody predicted a global pandemic. Here were my answers - so about half-ish of them, some that I reached partially, and some that I don't really mind about anymore. 

Still alive and healthy. Watching my daughter's dreams coming alive. A published book author. A produced screenwriter. Having exhibited in art galleries, possibly sold some work to a permanent collection in the public art sphere. A member of a couple of really high end manufacturer's design teams in the paper crafting world. A successful entrepreneur with three business lines flourishing – Iggy Jingles Crafts, Robyn Crops custom scrapbooks, and something educational I'm not ready to announce quite yet – but I hope it will be a boon to parents and students everywhere. Oh yes – and living in a house with an actual dedicated studio/workshop space attached.

Buy my art at IggyJingles.com

Go to DervishDust.com to find a discount code to buy my book direct from the publisher.

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Go here for Resume Review, my entertainment career coaching site.

Cover Reveal

 Here it is!