Christmas is coming...

Well, December is upon us and it seems like only yesterday that Jennifer and I were setting up this blog page and I was writing my first post about Cornelia Funke at Bath Children's Literature Festival. I can't believe it's been over a year.

It's been an unusual year for us at Creative Creatures. We have smuggled stories with over a hundred children at Ferndown Middle School, we have explored countless wonderful worlds, created numerous creatures and enjoyed reading all the many stories students have come up with.

Our courses are winding down now after a hectic November of dashing about from Leeson House in Dorset to Kilve Court in Somerset and back again. Our latest course was Funtastic Fairies at Leeson House, and we had a fabulous time. We discovered all sorts of fairies fluttering about including a Lose-It Fairy (the sort that always steals your house keys when you most want them), Thought-stealing fairies, who fly into your ear and extract your thoughts just when you're putting your hand up to answer a question (apparently these thoughts are then used to generate light for the fairies) and we also met plenty of Leaf Fairies, a Mud Fairy and a Sparkle fairy (her wings are pictured below).

It was a wild and windy weekend and we all got covered in dirt on a rather sloppy, mud-soupy walk over the hills to Dancing Ledge where inspiration and ideas seemed to be carried in on the sea breeze. All the students exercised their description muscles when they were asked to come up with 'sense' descriptions. Including senses (Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell), is a great way to make your writing zing with excitement and life.

On Saturday evening we even managed a night-time fairy hunt, although it was really too wet for all but the toughest Mud and Rain Fairies.

We have another course this weekend called For the Love of Books. We'll be writing some sensational stories as well as making books to keep them in. We're also visiting Corfe Castle, one of the many places in Dorset that inspired Enid Blyton. We're really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

We've got more courses running next year, so make sure you check our website for details. Our Winter Festivities competition is open until January 8th, so make sure you send us you non-fiction stories, poems or reports about your Winter. You can email them or post them; see our website and newsletter for full details.

That's about it for now, don't forget to send us any book reviews, news or writing and they might be featured in our next newsletter.

Bye for now!

Rosie (and Jennifer) x