April 2011,
For someone who writes about pirates it may surprise you that I'm not very comfortable on water! As a non-swimmer I'm a bit of a landlubber but even I couldn't resist the chance to try out a new canoe safari at my local Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve Martin Mere.
I vagely remember my last attempt at canoeing being pretty hopeless but that was when I was around nine at Butlins! Well this time I had two people, volunteers from Martin Mere, to help me. I was given a life buoyancy to wear - amusing photos may follow! Getting in was pretty tricky although we were assisted by a man in waders who stood in the water! The canoe was very wobbly at first until the organisers tried those in the front and back the other way round. Then it was time to set off, paddle at the ready. I was a bit nervous as we got further and further away from land - but we had been told the water was only a metre deep! I wasn't too sure what I was doing with the paddle but we made steady progress around the reedbeds and even spotted three adorable ducklings.
Eventually we made our way back to the jetty, and then the next tricky bit - getting out again! I'd done it! I was grinning like a Cheshire cat, I'd really enjoyed myself, and of course I can now edit the sections in my book where Charlie is in a dugout!
March 2011,
Did you watch the Oscars? I am a big animation fan so the the animation categories are the ones I want to know about.
This year among the nominees for best animated short film was Magagascar Carnet de Voyage.
It is a beautiful piece of work with a watercolour feel to it and it features the famadihana ceremony (yes you've guessed there's one in my book) and lemurs. You can find out more at the director's website at http://www.bastiendubois.com/mada/ and I viewed the whole animation on Youtube.
Even more good news for Madagascar fans and I know you're out there! There's another documentary coming onto TV this February - Attenborough and the Giant Egg.
As you've probably guessed it features Sir David Attenborough and is about the elephant's birds egg which also feature in my book.
In 1960 when Sir David was filming Zoo Quest (I was given the book as a present and loved it) in Madagascar he was given pieces of an egg. In the show he returns to the island to find out all about the amazing bird, which was like a giant ostrich.
The programme is on BBC 2 at 8pm on Wednesday 2 March.
February 2011,
I can't wait to see Madagascar the new David Attenborough series that is going to be on BBC2 from February 9th. It's in three parts and the first episode will be looking at lemurs, male red-giraffe-necked weevils, chameleons, spiders and fossas.
January 2011,
I am now an Education Intern with the National Trust and I am loving working on a number of projects at Quarry Bank Mill. The site is amazing and I have especially enjoyed shadowing a rivers session and learning the Apprentice House tour. One of the highlights of the house has been seeing real leeches! They are quite small and haven't been moving round much as the weather has been so cold. One of my characters gets covered in leeches so it's been brilliant seeing live ones!
July 2010,
As part of my big rewrite I've been spending time thinking about how Charlie would cope on her own on a strange island. She has to survive in the rainforest and needs to find somewhere safe, warm and dry to sleep. She also has to worry about where she can source water and food that will be fit for drinking and eating. Then there are the bugs - scorpions, giant cockroaches, mosquitoes and leeches!
I have been reading books and websites on survival skills and was really excited when I discovered that The Woodland Trust & Forest Schools were running a Woodland Survival and Bushcraft Skills day in woods near where I work.
Even though I was a Brownie and a Guide I never went to camp so I was really excited! I was told to to wear waterproofs and walking boots and to bring a packed lunch so I wasn't to nervous!
On arrival we were split into three groups and told about the toilets - a special bucket under a tarpaulin!
The first challenge was to imagine we were lost and had to spend the night int the woods. We had to look around and decide where to build a shelter and then had to find things to build it with. Luckily there were lots of big branches and foliage that we could use.
We started by placing branches along a tree trunk that looked good and sturdy. Then after doing that for about an hour we started to add the branches. Even though it looked like it would rain it stayed dry under the trees and everyone was soon feeling really hot from all the work.
We had to leave a gap for an entrance and a carpet of ferns made it seem very homely!
We also got to find out about building a fire and I helped make and cook some very tasty damper bread while others made nettle soup. I also had a go at making a necklace out of elder wood. It was a wonderful day and I went home smelling of campfires and full of ideas and knowledge for my book!
June 2010,
I have had a little success by getting through to the third round of the Brit Writers' Awards in the children's story category with Midas and the Pirates. Apparently there were over 21,000 entries narrowed down to about 100 per category at this stage, and I'm pleased to have got that far, especially as it included short stories for children too.
April 2010,
You may have noticed some more changes to this website, I have uploaded a new version of Chapter One following some useful advice I received from an agent I had approached. I hope you like the revisions. I have decided to make a couple of changes to character names, including Millie becoming Charlie, mainly to avoid to many M names. I have also come up with a new way for the adventure to go back in time - so it's farewell to the time machine and Sniffer is now a real dog, not a robotic one.
March 2010,
I have been busy working on another rewrite, this time on a book set in South America. As usual I did lots of reading up on Peru and the Amazon and have been visiting zoos to study the animals. I recently was able to have a close encounter with two of my favourite animals from the country, the tapir and the capybara. I had to get up very early to be at Dudley Zoo with my mum for a very special Mother's Day! The tapirs were really friendly and very hungry! I was even able to stroke one and it's skin was surprising having a coating of very soft hair. There was even a baby which still had its distinctive stripes. The capybara were suffering from a skin complaint but I still got a nice look at them.
February 2010,
I am working on giving my website a bit of an overhaul and hope to change some of the content and photos around over the next few months. I also have a second casual job now at Catalyst Science Discovery Centre helping with education sessions. I have particularly enjoyed learning all about the science of chocolate which of course was discovered in South America!
October 2009,
I now have a casual job as an Education and Events Facilitator at Norton Priory Museum & Gardens. This means I can be called upon to lead workshops using objects and costumes to inform school pupils, ranging from Early Years to Secondary about different time periods, including Victorians, Tudors, World War II and medieval times. I have been helping pupils learn how to use quills, make herb pomanders, conduct mock Tudor period trials and Victorian manor house servants skills.
I've also been helping with outreach projects and holiday events including showing families how to carve pumpkins and make bouncing bats and werewolf masks for Hallowe'en and how to make bird boxes.
September 2009,
I hope you've been watching Last Chance to See with Stephen Fry - it's been a brilliant series so far, but the best is yet to come this Sunday (September 20th, 2009, BBC 2 8pm) because he's going in search of Madagascar's aye-aye.
In an interview with the Radio Times he was asked if he had a favourite animal from his trip. Stephen said: "We met a captive aye-aye eyeball to eyeball - and what strange amber eyes they have - and watched a wild pair from below a tree as they tapped and sucked at a coconuts. They're astonishing, but spooky too. I think the Mme Berthe's mouse lemur takes a lot of beating for sheer, unadulterated cute."
Soon everyone will know what an aye-aye is and hopefully people will stop saying they're ugly!
The National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, photo by Susan Humphreys.
I've been very busy over the months since I was made redundant volunteering. I am now helping out with marketing at the fantastic Wildflower Centre in Knowsley and with education, events and activities at the brilliant Norton Priory museum & Gardens in Runcorn. I have dressed up as a Victorian maid, helped a potter who made an almost life-sized knight out of terracotta clay and have been pond dipping, identifying bumblebees by their bums and on bat walks and have branded children at a Tudor trial. I also helped out at Norton Priory's heritage open day which had a Victorian theme at Halton Castle. One of the attractions was an amazing curiosity stall by Professor Josiah Mace. It was great to see that this explorer's finds were popular with children (and adults!) as they included the sorts of things from the places Dr Midas visits including Peru. There were shrunken heads and giant chicken eggs, a strange skull and a werewolf's ear among his finds.
September 2009,
Recently I took part in a Cheshire Wildlife Trust workshop all about how to trap small mammals so that wildlife experts can find out what lives in a certain area.
A Common shrew - you can smell it even before the trap is opened (left) and a wood mouse is sexed, weighed and marked by having it's fur trimmed. Photographs by Susan Humphreys.
I helped empty traps and we found lots of wood mice and one common shrew who was really cute if a bit smelly! I now know how hard it is to pick up a mouse by the scruff of its neck and how to weigh one (you use a special scale and a plastic bag.) It must be brilliant to work with wildlife out in Madagascar and I'm sure they use similar techniques to find out what lives on the island.
May 2009,
I am currently working on Dr Midas and the Khmers, and one of the main characters in it is Tomistoma, who wants to be an acrobat or high wire artist. So when I heard about a special free event in the Lakes called Walk to the Stars I had to go!
The dramatic show took place at Maryport Harbour in Cumbria. I watched in amazement as Ramon Kelvink Jr and Jade Kindar-Martin (Sky Productions) made their way to the high-wire which was stretched between two masts 60 feet above the ground.
Before setting off the two men embraced and placed a hand on each other's heart. Then they carefully made their way up to the top and took their balancing poles. The music was electrifying and the crowd craned their necks to follow the men as they made their way to the middle of the highwire. There one knelt, and they crossed over, still holding those incredibly long poles.
Los Kaos, the Penny-farthing stunt riding twins, and Bongo Bolero were among the other acts performing.
The men then continued to the other side, kissing the mast having made a successful trip. Then one of the men climbed even higher and from the very top of the mast performed the most amazing feats of agility, hanging from a circular bar by his feet, or one hand as it swung dramatically!
April 2009,
I recently visited Edinburgh Zoo for the first time where I got to meet this friendly bird! He's a lorikeet and he was very hungry! You can feed the lorikeets special nectar in the Rainbow Landings exhibit. I must admit to being a bit nervous when he came into land and his feet where not at all as I expected. I thought they would be hard and cold, but they were warm and soft on my hand. he had great grip and he sure knew how to use that beak when I tried to move the empty cup away! I'm going to have to double check how it would feel for Millie to have the vasa parrots in Dr Midas and the Pirates landing on her! They're not much bigger than a lorikeet but they are very different in colour!
They also have an aye-aye at Edinburgh and I got to watch him running around his enclosure and drinking water. He was very popular with other visitors but I had to explain he was a kind of lemur. Most people thought he was a bush baby. They also have a special lemur walk-through but it was too cold for them to go outside - well it is Scotland! They have gentle, ring-tails and blue-eyed black lemurs too. The blue-eyed lemurs have really striking eyes.
March 17th, 2009
I have just returned from a short break in Stockholm, where I went to see the Vasa warship in the Vasamuseet. The ship is absolutely amazing, and incredibly big, there are six levels in the museum too so you can see it from every angle.
The ship sank in 1628 with the loss of 30-50 lives and was salvaged in 1961 and the ship on display is 95% of the original! There are also excellent displays all about the ship and life on board, including items found and a reconstruction of the deck and Captain's cabin that I was able to walk through.
I got to learn lots of interesting facts and was able to double check things I have written about to make sure they were accurate.
I was also able to visit the Skansen Open-air museum, also at Djurgarden, and enjoyed seeing the Scandinavian animals and a few more exotic ones in the Akvariet (aquarium/terraarium) including these gorgeous grey gentle lemurs who were huddled up in their enclosure, they also have ring-tailed lemurs but as it was cold they weren't in their outside enclosure.
It was also snowing heavily in Stockholm which was great fun, and I would really recommend visiting this beautiful, welcoming city.
March 15, 2009,
I'm following in Dr Midas's footsteps! Yes just like my hero I am now working in a museum! I'm now a volunteer with the Harris Museum & Art Gallery in Preston. I help out once a week with their marketing, building up their profile and publicising the wonderful exhibitions they have, on social networking sites. So far I've set up a group and fan of pages on Facebook - so why not take a look. The museum is in a wonderful Grade I building in the centre of the city.
Find out more about the Harris at www.harrismuseum.org.uk
March 2, 2009,
Photographs by C Humphreys
I've just enjoyed a day at Lakeland Wildlife Oasis, Cumbria where I spent the day being a zoo keeper. Some of you may remember I promised to use my winnings from the Writer's Advice Centre competition on a close up experience with Madagascan creatures as part of my research. Well I've finally gotten round to it.
I spent the day cleaning out enclosures - I'm now familiar with all kinds of animal poo including lemur! - changing bedding, and collecting old dishes and replacing them with new food and water.
I also helped put down new bark in the brown lemur enclosure and moved round some of the ropes and branches they use for climbing with my guide for the day Adam.
I also got to feed the brown lemurs by hand - they like to help themselves and love banana best. I also got to feed a stick insect to the centre's rare panther chameleon, Gary, who has an incredibly long tongue.
April 29, 2008:
Charlotte Anne Braden, a fellow children's writer and blogger, has kindly reviewed Writer's Block.
"A blog I’ve run across and quite like is Writer’s Block by Susan Humphreys. Susan has a very eclectic site with some very interesting articles like the double nosed dog called an Andean Tiger Hound but she also includes lots of writing news, too. Her most recent is letting us know of a writing competition, The Commonwealth Short Story Competition and an article on the Young Bond books. She also directs us to a poll by Bloomsbury asking us Who is the best villain in children’s books? Writer’s Forum magazine and announcing Writer’s Advice Centre Competition for 2008. Susan won the competition last year! WhoHoos for Susan!
"I think it’s a very clever and informative site. She’s great at using news to inspire her in her writing. She has inspired me to open my eyes and see what I can find to spark a story. I can’t wait to what she what will pop out of her hat for my next visit.
Take a look you won’t regret it. " Here is the link http://www.writersblock.merseyblogs.co.uk/
Charlotte's blog is Butterfly Blues at http://charlottebraden.blogspot.com/
April 7, 2008:
I've got Writer's Block - but don't worry that's the name of my new blog about writing. You can find it at http://www.writersblock.merseyblogs.co.uk/ or http://icseftonandwestlancs.icnetwork.co.uk/visiter/blogs/
Please note this blog is no longer available as I no longer work at Trinity Mirror Newspapers
February 14, 2008 :
I have posted a short story in the Johnson's Press competition called 'Earning Her Stripes.' If you would like to read it and vote for it (there are five categories to choose from ranging from utter rubbish to world class) then you need to register at authorvauthor.com and choose Lancashire Evening Post (LEP) as your newspaper choice. Deadline April 30 2008. Thank you. Susan.
December 7 2007:
Susan features in the January issue of Writers' Forum magazine in an article on the benefit of entering writing competitions. 'Everyone's a winner' is the latest 'The Kids' Book Doctor' article by Louise Jordan, head reader for Puffin and founder of the Writers' Advice Centre.
Writers' Forum is available from WH Smith and Borders.
October 13, 2007:
Susan has won first prize in a nationwide children's short story competition.
The challenge was to write a 1,000 word manuscript aimed at the writer's chosen age group (anywhere between 0 and 16 years of age) on the theme of diversity.
Susan's story Diversity for teenagers was about fifteen-year-old Jodie, and her dad. Together they happily run a seaside shop until a bigger, modern store opens opposite called 'Divers' City'.
The Writers' Advice Centre, a literary consultancy agency which specialises in children's publishing, were looking for an imaginative tale from an unpublished writer.
Louise Jordan, founder and manager said she also wanted a manuscript which the centre would feel happy to send out to publishers if that was the purpose of the competition.
The judges said: "This was a charming, excellently written story for older children which had an original take on the theme 'diversity.'
Susan wins £100, a critique of her story worth £75 and a copy of Louise Jordan's book 'How to Write for Children and Get Published.'
For more details about The Writers' Advice Centre and their 2008 competition visit www.writersadvice.co.uk
April 5, 2007:
Children's writer Susan Humphreys proved she had the Midas touch after winning a nationwide novel competition.
Susan, 32, was one of the lucky few chosen after submitting the first 10,000 words of her unpublished book 'Dr Midas and the Pirates' to the prestigious Writers & Artists Yearbook 100th edition novel writing competition.
Susan, a section head and sub-editor for Liverpool Daily Post & Echo weekly titles, began her writing career as a journalist.
She said: "I've always loved writing and I dream of being a published author. I couldn't believe it when I checked the competition website and saw my name in the list of winners. I was so excited. I just hope this will help me find a publisher."
Contest organisers, publishers A & C Black set the challenge to mark the directory's centenary, with 100 winners each receiving a £150 critique of their work from The Literary Consultancy.
An A & C Black spokesman said there had been a massive response to the competition: "Entries were of a universally high standard, covering a huge range of subjects and situations. Each had something original to say; each showed enthusiasm and love for the written word."
Susan's critique by Sibyl Ruth, a poet, was extremely helpful and the redrafted first chapter is available to read on this site.
Susan has studied Malagasy wildlife at various European zoos to maintain accuracy in her stories and has been aboard the docked HMS Bounty as part of her research into life at sea.
