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Author of Chinglish

The Blossom Awards

I'm an EmpathyLab trained author!

Hello

I'm Sue Pickford Cheung, a multi-award winning author and illustrator of books for young people of all ages

Mug and pens

EmpathyLab asked if I wanted to be an Ambassador t

EmpathyLab asked if I wanted to be an Ambassador this year and I was like, “Yeaah, why not?” I’m already talking to school kids about being nice to each other, so why not double down - especially now, when the world’s gone mad.

So here I am with 8 other big hearts signed up to do our bit - showing next generations how rich it is to learn about others by chatting, sharing and reading (scroll for latest Empathy book list).

See you out and about! 💛

@empathylabuk
#ReadForEmpathy #EmpathyEducation #GoAllIn #teamwork

Back at the publishers today for next stage of my

Back at the publishers today for next stage of my new novel.

Writing’s hard for me, sometimes painful - maybe it’s meant to be, I dunno?
People get this impression that writers must read a lot, but I don’t and when I do it takes an age. So I say don’t be put off by that myth and that you can read whatever you want at whatever speed you like. It’s not an intellectual sport.

The first draft of my novel was accepted with hardly any changes so you see, you can come from any background, academic or not, and come out with a good story.

The trick is to write what’s true to you, without trying to mould yourself or your work into something you think people/the market might like. People sense and like realness. Or (and I’ve seen this so many times), without shaping your book around how much dosh you could make out of it - sure way to fail.

Just tell it how it is raw form, and see what happens from there.

@andersenpress @thecatchpoles #writertips #bereal #bebrave #anybackground #tellityourway

Speaking as an old school advertising art director

Speaking as an old school advertising art director of 20 years, this is one of the best concepts I’ve seen for a long time in this age of marketing dross.

👏 @waterstones #traitors #mashup #bookmarketing #geniusidea

My little boy is 35 today…hold on, what the?!

My little boy is 35 today…hold on, what the?!

This is us circa 1995, on one of our foraging expeditions on a bright September day in the County Durham countryside.

We’d pick delicious ceps, puffballs the size of footballs, and tie a penknife to a stick to chop down oyster mushrooms high up on old trees. We didn’t need lunch cos we’d snack on wild blackberries, apples and cobnuts as we went.

Every now and then we’d stop to watch a hovering kestrel, figure out what plant or insect we’d found using our guidebooks, or carefully lift up a rock or log to have a nose under - we found a nest of voles once!

Then we’d go home and make ‘eggy bread’ with the puffball, drizzled with honey on top, and plan our next adventure together.

Ah them days were magic, but it doesn’t end there. Cos now I’ve got a grandkid - we can do it all over again 💛

#happybirthday @rhianwilkinson #naturelovers #mam #son #foragingteam

Call me easily pleased or whatever, but I get WELL

Call me easily pleased or whatever, but I get WELL excited whenever I see a well-thumbed book of mine in the library.

I’ve just received a list too, of my top books borrowed from UK libraries last year (pic 3 is guest model, my agent’s daughter - a natural, don’t you think?) Along with that is a statement telling us how much we authors & illustrators earn every time a book’s taken out, which is much appreciated income.

Most of all, I’m chuffed to see ‘Maddy Yip’ up top, because many people have told me over the years, how their reluctant reader kids have picked up one of these books and got the reading bug as a result - I mean, can’t get better than that!

Big thanks to all my #readers #UKlibraries @plr_bl @thecatchpoles @andersenpress 🙏
#readingforpleasure #authorgoals #saveourlibraries

Should I call Guinness World Records? This is a

Should I call Guinness World Records?

This is a whole, for real publishing house telling me there’s hardly any edits for my 60K+ word novel I’ve just handed in - and it was the FIRST DRAFT submitted!!

Ok, ok, I can’t take all the credit. My bloody brilliant agent @thecatchpoles made me sweat for this and I thank them now even though I cried inside many a time while under the cosh.

This means I can skip the painful rewrites and get straight to artwork- which we have VERY exciting plans for, so keep an eye out.

@andersenpress #thankyou 🙏#authorwins #bookediting #novelwriting

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