Don't miss #ukteenchat on Tuesday to celebrate 10 years! 🥳💖

How can it be 10 years?! We are still delighted to chat about teen fiction! Please come and join us on 3rd Feb on #ukteenchat to talk about our favourite subject 📚

Very excited for this on Tuesday 3rd Feb. If you’re writing for young people, please do join us for a chat about all things Teen fiction. 😊

Celebrating 10 years of #ukteenchat the fabulous 1st ever guests @ambercaraveo.bsky.social & @joannamoult.bsky.social of Skylark Literary will be joining me on Tues 3rd Feb 8-9pm GMT right here on BlueSky. Hope you see you there 🙂 #writingcommunity #writerslife #literaryagents #SkylarkLiterary

Only an hour to go until our first #ukteenchat of the year!

Join us on Tues 27th January 8-9pm GMT for #ukteenchat with the fabulous Monica Turner, who will be chatting all about her new YA Thriller - Sweet and Sour 🍜 All welcome to come and join in the chat over on Twitter/X 🙂 #YA #SweetandSour #Mukbang #Thriller #writerslife

This week's Notes from the Graveyard Shift is now posted over on Substack 🪦 #NotesFromTheGraveyardShift #writing #writer #author #writerslife #WritingCommunity #northernlights #followyourdreams #substack #gothic #horror open.substack.com/pub/finlayso...

This week's Notes from the Graveyard Shift is now posted over on Substack 🪦 #NotesFromTheGraveyardShift #writing #writer #author #writerslife #WritingCommunity #christmas #newyear #StrangerThings5 open.substack.com/pub/finlayso...

That's a wrap for 2025, #ukteenchat will be back in the new year. Keep an eye out for details of upcoming chats. Thank you to everyone who makes the chat such a wonderful place to be. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🎉🎄❄️ #writingcommunity #writerslife

Thank you so much for having me @finlaysonpalmer.bsky.social and to all you lovely lot who joined in and liked and shared. I have had a blast - the hour has flown by. Best of luck to all of you and thank you again Emma. #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

Mulling time is SO writing time, I totally agree #ukteenchat

What a lovely hour that has been. Thank you so much for being such a fantastic guest @juliathumwrites.bsky.social, you're welcome anytime on #ukteenchat 😊

Also, don’t judge your progress or success against others. We all have our own route to story writing. 
And finally - enjoy the journey! #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit


Don’t fixate on word count. I know so many people who seem to think high word count equates to a successful day’s writing but for me the skill is in paring it down, keeping it tight, trimming and condensing my words. tbc

10, Do you have any writing advice or tips you’d like to share? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

SO Louisa is currently scribbling away drawing me a whole new choir of songbirds for this story 
I am also on a third draft of another MG story about a circus panther who accidentally released on The Somerset Levels. What could possibly go wrong? #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

Yes - of course. Thanks for asking. I am just finishing a sequel to The Songbird Army called The Mayday Choir (or should it be May Day - it is a pun on the two meanings of the words and I am still undecided on the title. All thoughts welcome! ) ... tbc #ukteenchat

9, Can you tell us anything about what you’re currently working on? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

Yes - all the pictures from the writing shed and stuff on instagram - I am obsessed with it! 😂 #ukteenchat

I am - I should have said I would like to be a lark! 😂

Here she is with me now, trying to muscle in on the action #ukteenchat

I like to write early in the morning and watch the day break. No particular rituals except gallons of green tea and my trusty English bull terrier Muttley snoring in his basket by my side. #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit


I tried being a pantster once, but the story never went anywhere because I kept getting bogged down in long descriptions of the natural world. #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

So when I sit down to write I know what needs to be in each chapter. When I get a bit lost I do a big diagram - check out the story shapes in Allison Williams’ brilliant book Seven Drafts. tbc #ukteenchat

Hah - I literally want to know this about every author I read! I am a plotter. I like to know my beginning, end and midpoint, then I fit in the end of act turning points and the climax. After that, I do a chapter breakdown of each act. tbc #ukteenchat

8, Do you have any writing rituals or a favourite place to write? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

7, Are you a plotter or pantser? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

I love this question, and I think it has to be a robin, a) because The Songbird Army has a robin narrator b) because they are so cute and brave and nosy and c) because they are kind of a national treasure, particularly at this time of year. #writerslife #writerscommunity #ukteenchat #mglit

6, If you could be any garden bird for a day, which would you choose? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

Yes - and their behaviour gave me a useful 'in' for a bullying theme in my book, but because it is handled through animals I was able to do it with quite a light touch (I hope!) #ukteenchat

Magpies also dominate bird tables, scaring smaller birds. But they are highly intelligent, territorial, birds and I have tried to reflect this in The Songbird Army, making them clever and devious antagonists. #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

As a child (I grew up on a farm) I used to watch them working their way along the hedgerow in spring, when the tiny songbirds were nesting, and raiding the nests for eggs and chicks, especially during their breeding season. tbc #ukteenchat

Absolutely - they all do! The main one - which created the inciting incident for the adventure - is the behaviour of magpies towards the songbird community. tbc #ukteenchat

Thanks - isn't he cute. Yes I feel very lucky to have shared this project with her. #ukteenchat

5, Do any of the birds in The Songbird Army reflect traits seen in specific species of birds? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

Hi Lynden! It was yes, but I love the subject so all good. Although I am still rubbish at recognising birdsong which annoys me #ukteenchat

This is Parus!

We needed a few tweaks - some weren’t mean enough or cute enough or brave enough looking but it all worked out well in the end and her illustrations are getting as much praise than the story which I love! #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

From there, I briefed her on the main characters (ie those with an arc) and their role in the story and she went off an produced my cover and the internal illustrations. #ukteenchat

Thankyou. Poor, Louisa has patiently lived and breathed through many iterations of The Songbird Army story, and she is a great illustrator, so it really started with her doodling on a day off work and creating a lovely version of everybody’s favourite character, Parus the baby blue tit. (tbc)

Me too - I have a bird table and observing the characteristics around that (who was a bully, who was shy etc) really helped me build the characters. #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

4, I love the artwork, you work with your daughter, on the artwork - what is your creative process together like? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

So I spent a lot of time watching and listening to garden birds and more time than is healthy on the fabulous #RSPB website and the #SongbirdSurvival site too! #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

Yes! Although #TheSongbirdArmy is obviously a magical adventure, I was determined all the birds mannerisms, nesting habits, flight patterns, diets, songs and so forth should be totally correct. (tbc)

Thank you Emma - it made it much easier to write because I knew exactly who my audience / reader was ! #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

He really did, although it has changed quite a lot since then it was a good motivation to get the first draft out.#ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

3, Did you need to research anything for The Songbird Army? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat #TheSongbirdArmy

Well the theme in all my writing is the magic of nature, so that was the starting point. At the time I wrote The Songbird Army I had a reluctant reader son who was obsessed with birds, so the first draft of the story was for him.
#ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

Me too - it was a bit of a challenge getting the voices right but once I got into it, it was a joy to write #ukteenchat #writerslife #writerscommunity #mglit

2, Was there anything in particular that inspired The Songbird Army? @juliathumwrites.bsky.social #ukteenchat