Did you miss Sara Grant's talk in Rodmell? If so, no worries, because you can now listen to it here.

Sara was generous in sharing her time and knowledge, as many people said to me afterwards. This 1.5 hour talk introduces the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), British Isles section. This is a great organisation that I always recommend to people who are keen to get their work published. The deadline is fast approaching for the Undiscovered Voices competition, which Sara runs along with another colleague. She shared some of the impressive statistics from past winners who have been published and/or found agents since being included in the anthology. The deadline is June 1st, so check it out quickly if you are interested. And listen to Sara's talk for tips.

She went on to talk about her own 17-year process of getting her first book for teens published. It's called Dark Parties, and is a dystopian futuristic novel being published in the US, the UK and Germany. She worked with three editors, and the day before she spoke to us had just had feedback from all three at once!

Sara is also an editor at Working Partners, creators of popular series such as Beast Quest and Rainbow Magic. It was fascinating to hear about the process of how they commission authors after an initial submission period. I'm sure people from my writing group will be giving it a try.

You can read more about Sara and her upcoming book on her website.