Ruth Symes
Children's AuthorBlog
Here is my latest news, useful tips and other thoughts
Another writing competition!!!! 🙂
Over the last couple of months my posts have been about writing competitions and I've just found another one for you that looks very much worth entering. All you have to do is carry on this story starter to make your own story of up to 1000 words: 'The night...
Lightning Pens!
Quick quick quick - less than 2 weeks until the closing date for this year's 500 words competition  so get out that pen (if you haven't already). If you're aged between 5-13 there's still time to enter an amazing story (until the 23rd Feb) and win loads of prizes....
Do you want to be a writer or an illustrator? – Megan Rix / Ruth Symes
Are you over 16? Or do you know someone who is? Do you like entering competitions? Is this the year you're going to published? Or re-published? Is this the year you create the cover of a prize winning book? (You need to be over 18 for the illustrator one.) Floris...
Throwing Things Away by Megan Rix / Ruth Symes
Whenever I take my dogs for a walk in town my puppy Freya thinks I’m taking her on a food hoover. There’s so many tasty things to find on the pavement and although I say ‘leave it’ and she does mostly some tasty things are too much to resist. Especially when...
Puppy Freya and the Mule by Megan Rix
Next week my golden retriever puppy Freya has been invited to be part of a ceremony at the Animals in War memorial to commemorate the animals that lost their lives in Wars and Campaigns. And I've been invited to go along with her and read a little bit from...
Road Trip – Megan Rix, Eric, Bella and Freya 🙂
Every now and again (usually when I've got a new book out) the lovely people at Puffin ask if I'd like to do a week long book tour visiting schools around the country to launch the book. This time the tour, back at the end of September, was for The Great...
Live or Rehearsed? – Megan Rix / Ruth Symes
Some people prefer to rehearse a lot before they give a performance and some are more comfortable just 'winging' it. The first way can lead to a polished professional performance, or not. The second way to a natural and friendly one, or not. I think live and...
Clever Chicken by Megan Rix
I’ve just received an advance copy of my next book ‘The Great Fire Dogs’ to be published by Puffin at the end of August and sent it straight off to Zach because I loved his letter about my books and his dog 🙂 It doesn't feel like very long ago I was going through...
Mud mud glorious mud….
 Ruth Symes / Megan Rix
For stories to be exciting a character needs to be out
of their comfort zone, either by choice, or more often by
 force! Last Saturday I did something that was definitely out of my comfort zone that I'd never done before - I ran
 the 5k Pretty Muddy Run for Cancer...
The Smell of Biscuits in the Air… Megan Rix and Ruth Symes
Mmmm my kitchen is full of the smell of ginger biscuits baking. But they’re not for me. They’re for my dogs (although I might be allowed to try a little bit). They're also book research and the recipes are going to appear at the end of my next book 'The Great Fire...
Deaf Awareness Week… Megan Rix and Ruth Symes
Did you know it was Deaf Awareness Week last week? Recently I did an interview with Action on Hearing Loss about my book about a hearing dog  'Echo Come Home.' They wanted to know what it was like growing up with a hearing loss and I told them how I was often in...
Meet Freya… Megan Rix/Ruth Symes
We met Freya on the 16th March and four days later she came to live with us. Freya was born on the 14th of January and is now 12 whole weeks old and full of energy. This year is one of those 'big' birthdays for my husband, Eric, and what he wanted for his...